Sunday, March 18, 2007

Tribe Triathlon Club World Champs

Raced the Tribe Triathlon Club World Championship yesterday. WOO! Ok... it was nothing big, but 40 or so of us met at the pool in Woodside for the season finale. A new course had been laid out, the distances: 400m/16km/4km.

Unfortunately Saturday was St. Patricks day, and Heather and I HAD to go for few drinks in town. The bar strip was busy, with the Fringe festival in full swing, St. Paddy's Day, and the World Police and Fire Games in town. So, when we got up at 6am to ride up Greenhill Road (a solid 30min climb) and out to Woodside for the tri.... the legs weren't feeling that great. And it was also COLD! There was dew on the ground and the air temperature was around 14C BRRRRR! A sure sign that summer is over... cool mornings and cool evenings. By the time my wave started, it was already 20C or so... nice for riding.

It was a good hard session, I managed to get within 3-4mins of Scott, although he is a bit shelled from his preps for IMOZ which is two weeks away. Heather won the womens race pretty handily, but did not have Helen to chase this time. Helen had an unfortunate run in with a car and fractured her ankle. Ouch! Everyone stuffed themselves with pancakes, eggs, bacon and fruit afterwards... yum!

I'm not sure how other triathlon clubs work here, but the Tribe works very different from the "coach-centric" system we seem to have back home. The club only charges $25/year for membership. You can choose to come out to scheduled training sessions, for free or a cheap drop-in, free TT's, or pay a whopping $5 to do the club tri. :-) I think we could have a lot more clubs in Canada with a low-frills system like this?

The last Tribe 20km bike TT of the season takes place this Thursday. I've gone out twice already... with times of 32:37, and 30:49. It a fairly flat course, with one hill, and few tight corners where you have to slow down and watch for oncoming traffic. I'm hoping I can finally break the elusive 30min barrier.

I've also signed up for the Captain's Cup for this coming Sunday, a 4k open-water swim race along the beach in Adelaide. I'm determined to get more comfortable swimming in salt water... and what better way than to race! As always.. wetsuits are not allowed.

Also, a congrats to my friends Alan and Evarne Rees, who competed in IM South Africa yesterday. I've trained a bunch of long runs and a few long rides with Alan before they left for SA. They both had spectacular races on what seems like a difficult course.

And finally, pending confirmation from Qantas, I will be flying to LAX on April 23. I will spend one week in Newport Beach, then on to Calgary, April 30 or May 1. I am trying to find temporary (and cheap) accommodation in Calgary for a few weeks in May while I get things sorted there. Anyone have a spare closet they're not using? It is very likely I will not be living in Calgary again... and moving to Penticton (or area) at the start of June. Because of the extreme inflation in Calgary brought about by the boom, and after living there for 8 years... it just seems time to move on. I'm sure I'll miss Calgary when swimming in beautiful lakes, running up mountain trails that start from my back door, and riding along in 30C+ and sunshine. :-P

posted by Greg @ 3/18/2007