Last time I updated C&C with a new entry, I discussed my trip back to Philadelphia this summer (June 2012) to participate in the 2012 Philly Tri. Good times. That leaves us with only two more catch-up topics on this list:
(1) Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon in Ft. Sumner, NM
(2) Hexy finally gets his drink ware
(3) Philly Tri back home in Philadelphia, PA
(4) Traveling to San Francisco, CA and my swims in the Bay
The Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon and the Kings winning the Stanley Cup both happened in the beginning of June. That was a long, long time ago, my friends, but I will do my best to recall as best as I can. I'll rely on Mr. Internet to fill in any blanks.
Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon
The 2012 Chasing3 New Mexico Open Water Triathlon Series began with this race in Fort Sumner, NM. Race day was scheduled to be Saturday, June 9th. Luckily the day before was my Friday off and I took off for Santa Rosa early in the afternoon. Reserved a [cheap] room at some no-tell hotel in "downtown" Santa Rosa. It was a gem. Hit the streets looking for a grocery store (or anything) to procure the necessary nutrition for race morning. It was slim pickings. Luckily I was able to dig up enough after a couple stops, headed back to the hotel and called it a night early. Never been to Santa Rosa? Yeah, you're not really missing much.
The transition area, just outside of Fort Sumner at Sumner Lake, was about 30 minutes or so from Santa Rosa. The ride down was very pretty as the sun began to rise in the east. Not a whole lot going on out there. Just one ranch after another. You could almost imagine seeing Billy the Kid and his gang rolling through on their way to Fort Sumner.
A little history on Fort Sumner. Any fans of the wild, wild west may recognize the location as a frequent stopping point for the legendary William H. Bonney, AKA Billy the Kid. I'm not much of a historian, and you can find much more detailed information just about anywhere else on the history of Mr. Bonney, but the name of this race came from the fact that Billy the Kid's final resting site is located in Fort Sumner. I had good intentions to check out his grave site after the race but was derailed by some parade going through Fort Sumner which blocked my path. Instead of waiting it out, I flipped a U-turn and headed back to Albuquerque. Maybe next year.
The race started with a 1500m swim in Sumner Lake. It was a deep water start that was a two-loop, out-and-back course. Between the lake and the transition area was a steep-but-short boat ramp (that was nothing like the "wall" at the Cochiti Lake Triathlon). I finished the swim in about 37 minutes and headed up the ramp to T1. Although it was a wetsuit legal race, I went sans wetsuit.
Standard length for an Olympic triathlon bike leg is 40K, which is roughly 25-some odd miles. For whatever reason, the bike leg on this race was short. I don't recall the actual mileage. No biggie. Sometimes you have to take what you can get. Usually there are some tight space constraints and race organizers just can't squeeze out enough mileage. Understandable. Except for the fact that this race was in the middle of the desert with gobs and gobs of space! What gives? If races in the middle of a busy city (see Philly Tri and ITU San Diego) can find the real estate to make the bike leg a legitimate length, why can't we get that done out here? Boggles my mind. Any who, I digress. I was on the bike for about an hour with an average pace of 18.8 MPH.
The run was an out-and-back course with some nice rolling hills. I call them "nice" now but recall they were beating me up pretty good back then. This race had both Sprint and Olympic lengths, so there were two turn around points for the two lengths. At each turn around there were refreshments and ice-cold sponges. In the hot desert heat, they felt amazing. Cruised back to the finish line after the 10K race in about 53-1/2 minutes (8:37/mi pace). Total race time was about 2.5 hours. Here are the itty-gritty details:
Swim: 37:10
T1: 1:27
Bike: 1:00:11 (18.8 MPH)
T2: 1:34
Run: 53:28 (8:37/mi)
Total: 2:33:50
Overall it was a fun race and probably at the top of my list for repeated events next year. Plenty of things to do differently next year, including finding a better place to stay the night before, and definitely visit Mr. Bonney's burial grounds after the race.
Hextall's Cup
Growing up a hockey fan in suburban Philadelphia it was hard to not be a fan of Ron Hextall. He was everything a sports figure in the City of Brotherly Love should be: tough, blue collar, passionate and exciting. He was, also, on hell of a goaltender. The Flyers have been looking for a solid, franchise 'tender ever since. Is Ilya that net minder? Ummm....
So it's November of 2012 and there is no NHL hockey being played due to the lockout. Major bummer. You'll have to think back all the way to June if you want to remember the last time a puck was dropped in a professional NHL hockey game. It was the 2011-2012 Stanley Cup Final as the Los Angeles Kings faced off against the New Jersey Devils.
I had mixed motions on this match up and went back and forth on who to root for. First off, the Devils are the Devils and, as a Flyers fan, it's hard to root for the bastards. However, they beat the Flyers in the playoffs and, to some extent, you want the team that knocked off your team to do well. But again, it's the Devils.
Now the Kings, well the Kings were another story. Some called the Kings the "Flyers in the West." That referred to the high number of ex-Flyers within the organization, most notably, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and John Stevens. The first two were the biggies. Flyers let Richards (their Captain) and Carter go (to separate teams) because they felt the Flyers were unable to win the big one with them in their lineup. Richards went to the Kings and Carter to the Blue Jackets. A mid-season trade sent Carter to the City of Angels.
I was indifferent on the move. Richards was a hard nose player with some solid skills and the rumor mill was fun to listen to in regards to Carter and Scott Hartnell's wife. I digress. The players/picks that the Flyers received in return for Richards and Carter were great additions to the Flyers that produced many points. However, Mike and Jeff had some good chemistry together and were hard to count out once it came time for the playoffs. Their experience in the post season proved beneficial as the Kings dominated their opponents on the way to the Cup.
In the end, I felt pretty good with the Kings hoisting the Cup. Once the sting left after watching Richards and Carter hoist the greatest trophy in sports, I came to terms with the result. The ointment that soothed the cut was the fact that Ron Hextall was in the front office of the King's franchise. He's currently the Vice President and Assistant General Manager for the Kings. After all those close calls and amazing games between the pipes for many teams, Ron finally got that big prize. Way to go!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Let's keep this ball rolling
It's been a few nights since my last entry and I wanted to pick things up quickly from where I left off. If you recall, I was rolling through some updates on the following topics:
(1) Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon in Ft. Sumner, NM
(2) Hexy finally gets his drink ware
(3) Philly Tri back home in Philadelphia, PA
(4) Traveling to San Francisco, CA and my swims in the Bay
In my last entry, I went into great detail about my amazing trip up to San Francisco to swim in the Bay with my friend Keith. Great time. If you enjoy open water swims and haven't swam in the bay yet, put it on your to do list. Right now. You'll thank me later.
Philadelphia Triathlon
I traveled back to Philly this summer to do the Philly Tri (Olympic). All the years I lived in Philly I never knew this bad boy even existed. I'm sure I was detoured around Kelly Drive due to the race at some point, but never even realized it. Go figure I moved 2,000-some-miles away before becoming interested in triathlons. Oh well. A good excuse to head back "home" regardless.
Flew into PHL Friday night and it was raining. Raining! Something I hadn't experienced in quite a while. And it wouldn't stop. What's up with that? Picked out a shiny Prius from the car rental lot, threw my bagged bike in the back seat and headed to the hotel on City Ave. Met up with my buddy Sean (who was also doing the race) downtown for a couple beers and dinner while catching up on life. After he bounced out to the suburbs I met up with some co-workers at the Urban Salon to surprise a friend at his surprise birthday celebration. It was a surprise within a surprise. After the normal debauchery, we ended up cabbing (oh, how I miss those) over to NoLibs to some hipster bar for a few more drinks and socializing before calling it a night. Luckily the change in time zones helped me keep up with the young kids.
Saturday was a relaxing day which started off with a brunch with Jon, a good friend/old coworker in Rittenhouse Square. Then headed off to the Please Touch Museum area to meet up with Sean for race check-in and to browse through the pre-race festivities. Luckily the rain had stopped and the weather was comfortable. The rain hadn't spiked up the river enough to call off the swim portion of the race. That was good news. Saturday night was quiet and ended with an early night in the sack. Was going to be an early morning Sunday for the race.
Sunday morning came fast. Race morning. Sean picked me up and by the time we parked, walked down to the transition area and found our rack, we had about 5 minutes to get everything ready before catching the last bus to the swim start. Hurry up and wait. We were practically the last wave to start so we had plenty of time to hang around (in the line for the bathroom) before we started. I think our start time was about 7:45. It was a deep-water start in the Schuylkill River. Water temperatures were over 80 deg F and wetsuits were legal but not eligible for points or rewards. Most people went without. Oh my, the river was warm. The horn went off. Go time.
Sighting in the river was a breeze. It was, for the most part, a straight shot until a "J" shape turn at the end. Didn't swim into any dead floating bodies as many people expected I would. Swim time was in the area of 1/2-hour for the 1500m current-assisted swim.
The bike course was a two-lap trek through Fairmount Park. Some decent climbs and fast flats. Was having some gear-shifting issues. After climbing a few of the hills in my small front gear I was running into some issues shifting into my large front gear to go down the hill and speed off into the flats. Was an enjoyable bike ride nevertheless. Final time on the bike was around an hour and twenty minutes.
First half of the run was in the shades along MLK Drive. Legs felt pretty good off the bike and with the exception of fighting my normal post-bike cramps/bloating, the run was decent. Around the 1/2-way mark started feeling more comfortable on my legs and picked the pace up. The second half was a bit more sunny and it was a hot sun beating down on us. My final run time was around 55 minutes. Here is the breakdown:
Swim: 30:31
T1: 4:20
Bike: 1:18:23
T2: 2:59
Run: 53:43
Total: 2:49:56
Some interesting facts:
My return flight wasn't until Tuesday. I purposely gave myself an extra day in Philadelphia to soak in what I've been missing. On Monday I met some old coworkers for lunch down by my old office to catch up on the dirt. Then Monday night I had a ticket to see the Phillies take on the Pirates at Citizens Bank. Coincidentally the guys had tickets to this game in the season ticket package I used to be a part of. I checked out a few innings of the game from my seat before meeting up with the guys to hang out in the concourse. Eventually we ended up heading across the street to the new Infinity Live complex (where the beloved Spectrum used to stand). Enjoyed some beers and conversation along with the usual debauchery.
The trip came to an end too quickly. Before I knew it, I was back on a flight headed off to the desert. Spending time in Philly reminds me of all the little (and big) things that I miss about living in the city. I really should get back to visit more often.
(1) Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon in Ft. Sumner, NM
(2) Hexy finally gets his drink ware
(3) Philly Tri back home in Philadelphia, PA
(4) Traveling to San Francisco, CA and my swims in the Bay
In my last entry, I went into great detail about my amazing trip up to San Francisco to swim in the Bay with my friend Keith. Great time. If you enjoy open water swims and haven't swam in the bay yet, put it on your to do list. Right now. You'll thank me later.
Philadelphia Triathlon
I traveled back to Philly this summer to do the Philly Tri (Olympic). All the years I lived in Philly I never knew this bad boy even existed. I'm sure I was detoured around Kelly Drive due to the race at some point, but never even realized it. Go figure I moved 2,000-some-miles away before becoming interested in triathlons. Oh well. A good excuse to head back "home" regardless.
Flew into PHL Friday night and it was raining. Raining! Something I hadn't experienced in quite a while. And it wouldn't stop. What's up with that? Picked out a shiny Prius from the car rental lot, threw my bagged bike in the back seat and headed to the hotel on City Ave. Met up with my buddy Sean (who was also doing the race) downtown for a couple beers and dinner while catching up on life. After he bounced out to the suburbs I met up with some co-workers at the Urban Salon to surprise a friend at his surprise birthday celebration. It was a surprise within a surprise. After the normal debauchery, we ended up cabbing (oh, how I miss those) over to NoLibs to some hipster bar for a few more drinks and socializing before calling it a night. Luckily the change in time zones helped me keep up with the young kids.
Saturday was a relaxing day which started off with a brunch with Jon, a good friend/old coworker in Rittenhouse Square. Then headed off to the Please Touch Museum area to meet up with Sean for race check-in and to browse through the pre-race festivities. Luckily the rain had stopped and the weather was comfortable. The rain hadn't spiked up the river enough to call off the swim portion of the race. That was good news. Saturday night was quiet and ended with an early night in the sack. Was going to be an early morning Sunday for the race.
Sunday morning came fast. Race morning. Sean picked me up and by the time we parked, walked down to the transition area and found our rack, we had about 5 minutes to get everything ready before catching the last bus to the swim start. Hurry up and wait. We were practically the last wave to start so we had plenty of time to hang around (in the line for the bathroom) before we started. I think our start time was about 7:45. It was a deep-water start in the Schuylkill River. Water temperatures were over 80 deg F and wetsuits were legal but not eligible for points or rewards. Most people went without. Oh my, the river was warm. The horn went off. Go time.
Sighting in the river was a breeze. It was, for the most part, a straight shot until a "J" shape turn at the end. Didn't swim into any dead floating bodies as many people expected I would. Swim time was in the area of 1/2-hour for the 1500m current-assisted swim.
The bike course was a two-lap trek through Fairmount Park. Some decent climbs and fast flats. Was having some gear-shifting issues. After climbing a few of the hills in my small front gear I was running into some issues shifting into my large front gear to go down the hill and speed off into the flats. Was an enjoyable bike ride nevertheless. Final time on the bike was around an hour and twenty minutes.
First half of the run was in the shades along MLK Drive. Legs felt pretty good off the bike and with the exception of fighting my normal post-bike cramps/bloating, the run was decent. Around the 1/2-way mark started feeling more comfortable on my legs and picked the pace up. The second half was a bit more sunny and it was a hot sun beating down on us. My final run time was around 55 minutes. Here is the breakdown:
Swim: 30:31
T1: 4:20
Bike: 1:18:23
T2: 2:59
Run: 53:43
Total: 2:49:56
Some interesting facts:
- I beat all other participants from New Mexico. Forget the fact that I was the only one from NM.
- My time was faster than all participants with the following names: Edward, Ron and Ralph.
- There were 18 Andrews in the race, and I was the 14th fastest.
My return flight wasn't until Tuesday. I purposely gave myself an extra day in Philadelphia to soak in what I've been missing. On Monday I met some old coworkers for lunch down by my old office to catch up on the dirt. Then Monday night I had a ticket to see the Phillies take on the Pirates at Citizens Bank. Coincidentally the guys had tickets to this game in the season ticket package I used to be a part of. I checked out a few innings of the game from my seat before meeting up with the guys to hang out in the concourse. Eventually we ended up heading across the street to the new Infinity Live complex (where the beloved Spectrum used to stand). Enjoyed some beers and conversation along with the usual debauchery.
The trip came to an end too quickly. Before I knew it, I was back on a flight headed off to the desert. Spending time in Philly reminds me of all the little (and big) things that I miss about living in the city. I really should get back to visit more often.
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