Solvang’s Finest
Century Report
On Wednesday,
November 12th I headed down to Southern California to visit some
friends and volunteer for the Solvang’s Finest Century benefiting the Challenged
Athletes Foundation (CAF). It was nice getting down south a few days early and
with the warm weather I was truly enjoying the training I was getting in. On
Thursday after my swim I headed out for a 9 mile trail run and it was absolutely
gorgeous out with temperatures in the mid to upper 80’s. After another swim
Friday morning Debbie Bowling, my friend and organizer of the event, and I
grabbed a couple of vans and drove to the ride venue. Even though there were
some fires along the way the weather and air quality in Solvang was perfect and
after getting settled in I hooked up with a few friends for a 25 mile ride
through the Santa Ynez Valley. After getting cleaned up I headed down to rider
registration and grabbed some dinner. We had a great turnout with 250 riders
coming out to support a great foundation and after checking the riders in we had
our volunteer meeting to get everyone assigned to their aid stations for
Saturday’s ride. I was hoping to get in a run before Saturday’s event but I was
pretty beat and opted for some extra sleep and a trip to the local coffee house
before getting out to my aid station to get set up. The day was perfect for the
participants and temperatures were climbing into the upper 80’s with some light
winds. After getting the last riders through we packed up the remaining supplies
and I headed down course to the next rest stop. We had a blast hanging out and
taking care of the riders and after a couple of hours it was time to pack up and
drop off the last of the perishables to the last rest stop before heading into
the finish. When I got back to Solvang the post ride meal was being served so we
sat down for a late lunch and swapped tales from the day. Afterward I set up to
do a few massages before heading up to the room to kick back and get some rest
for Sunday’s ride. Sunday started out rather chilly so I told my roommate John
that we should wait to head out and went down to the coffee shop to chill out
and surf the internet. At around 9 am I went back to the room and John told me
that he was going to head back home to look after his family because his wife
was concerned about the fires. So with everyone else opting to do a shorter
route I was on my own for the century and was stoked to have my iPod with me ;-)
I rolled out of town a little before 10 and the weather was perfect. The first
60 miles of the course are fairly rolling with a few short climbs and the
landscape is pretty spectacular as you cruise through the valley surrounded by
mountains and lots of vineyards. I was making pretty good time but then with
about 35 miles to go I started getting really tired and the past few weeks of
training started catching up with me. I made my way out of Lompoc and started up
the first of the days 2 big climbs, Harris Grade and rolling over the summit I
made the long descent to Hwy 135 heading into Los Alamos and the last climb of
the day up Drum Canyon. I’d been looking forward to getting into Los Alamos all
day and grabbing a coke, and on a warm day it totally hit the spot! I started up
the days last climb feeling pretty worked but was so stoked to be
heading up the twisting ascent with no traffic and no one else around it was so
peaceful and quite… I love times like this on the bike! I made the bumpy descent
to Hwy 246 taking me back into Solvang and when I got back to the hotel I jumped
in the hot tub, cleaned up and grabbed some food before heading back to Debbie
and Brian’s house. It was a great weekend and we ended up raising a bunch of
money for CAF and their athlete grant program!
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
Kona Ironman Trip
‘08
Well you never know
what the day may bring you when you get up in the morning and three days after
the Xterra National Championship the day brought me some pretty awesome news! I
headed out for a swim and after I’d finished had a message from my bike sponsor
Murray Washburn at Cannondale asking me if I could fly out to Kona to help out
at the expo. I was floored and after shuffling my schedule around accepted the
invitation to Kona and got my itinerary that evening.
I flew out on Oct.
7th and it was nice not having to pack up a bike and all the race
gear and be heading to an event to watch instead of race. I’d heard so much
about the Ironman World Championships and that the atmosphere and energy there
was just amazing and this couldn’t be more true!
When I arrived in
Kona, Bill Rudell from Cannondale picked me up from the airport and we headed
into town to grab some lunch and then over to the expo to meet up with Murray.
It was so cool seeing not only the expo but the venue getting set up for the
championship on Saturday. After getting the lowdown from Murray on the ’09
Cannondale Fleet I headed down to Kailua Bay for a swim and it was so great
being back in the ocean! After the expo we headed out to dinner at the Kona
Brewery and Bill, Murray, me and some friends hung out and caught up.
The next morning I
was up pretty early (still on West Coast time) and got out for a 6 mile run
before we headed into town for coffee, breakfast and the expo. It was great not
only seeing my friends that live in Kona but all the friends I’ve made through
the industry and sponsorship. Zoot Sports had a booth right next to ours and it
was nice to get a chance to get to know the Zoot crew. Later in the day I headed
over to the other end of the expo and ran into Dr. Minkoff the owner of Body
Heath/Map and was stoked to finally get a chance to meet and talk with him!
Later I headed back down to the Bay for a swim and then back to the expo to get
things wrapped up for the evening.
Thursday morning I
headed out for a ride and managed to get in about an hour and a half before
getting back to the house to shower and head into town. Now, when I first got
into triathlon in ’06 my first “hero” in the sport was the ’05 Ironman World
Champion, Faris Al-Sultan and I got a chance to not only meet him but hangout
and spend a little time getting to know him. I was on a roll the last couple of
days and once again got down to the ocean for another swim and got in 2 ½
miles!
Friday was the last
day of the expo and when we finished up it was time to head out and do a little
partying with my friends on the eve before the World Championship. A bunch of us
started off at the Brewery and stayed there until about 9:30 before heading out
to Lu Lu’s for the rest of the evening. We got a little carried away and ended
up staying there until 2 am and after hanging out with a friend of mine didn’t
get back to the house till 4 am!
I heard the boys
getting up at 5:30 to check out the swim start and I was like no thanks and got
in another hour of sleep before heading into town. My timing was perfect and I
ended up running into my friend Mia, her mom and roommate Jenny and we all
headed out for breakfast. Afterward I walked down to the start/finish and found
the VIP lounge and kicked back on the couch watching the race. A couple of
nights before the race I got a chance to meet Scott Rigsby (1st
double amputee to finish Kona) and he and I hung out chatting as we waited for
the first athletes to finish the bike. I got down to the media are for the
dismount of the bike and got some great shots of the top men and also got a
chance to see Chrissie Wellington finishing the bike. I was pretty beat after a
late night and was running on pure adrenaline and ended up running all over the
place to watch the race. My friend Mia and Jenny have a place right on Allii
Drive so we sat on the rock wall next to their place and watched the marathon. I
kept checking my watch and calculating when the men’s winner would be finishing
and at 2:30 started walking back to the start/finish and my timing was on the
money again and I had a chance to get a killer spot right on the finish line and
about 5 minutes later Craig Alexander came down the finish shoot taking his
first World Championship on his second try in Kona! The rest of the men started
coming in and that’s when I heard that Faris was making his way to the finish. I
got down into the media area to catch up with Faris and talk a little about how
his day went. As I was heading back to the finish I heard that Chrissie was
coming into the finish and once again I got a prime spot to see her taking her
2nd title in a row in Kona. I was pretty beat so I went out to get
some dinner and relax and also decided that I was going to stay in Kona one more
week to train and catch up with the friends I hadn’t got a chance to see yet. I
rallied myself to get down to the finish line for the last 2 ½ hours of the
race. Mia and I got down to the finish and got a great spot on the bleachers and
watched some pretty tired folks finishing a long day out on the race course!
This was one of the most amazing and emotional experiences of my life and I was
fighting off the tears most of the night watching these brave athletes achieving
their dream of completing the iron distance. I made it back to the house and
passed out and slept like a stone!
I decided to take
Sunday off from training and spent the day lounging around and resting up. I
went over to some friends that had done the race and we had a couple of beers
ate and got all the stories about the race. One of my friends called me later in
the afternoon to see if I was going to the awards ceremony and I told him I
didn’t have a ticket and he was like I’ve got one for you… score! We all met up
and headed to the dinner/awards and the sprinkles started coming followed by
some serious rain. This was such a bummer and the rain’s timing was horrible
coming right before they were going to start calling up the winners. We had no
shelter so we headed over to the Brewery to dry out and have a few beers before
heading out for the after parties. A bunch of us headed to Hugo’s on the Rocks
for the biggest party of the weekend and it was a blast! The place was packed
and the organizers of the party went all out with tons of food and all drinks on
the house. Now this was a pretty dangerous environment with all the free booze
flowing so I grabbed a huge plate of food and headed home. I made the right
decision and had a great night’s sleep and woke up ready to train and had an
awesome day of swimming and riding!
The rest of the
week I trained every day and enjoyed the awesome weather and all my friends.
This was such an awesome way to end the year and a great way to kick off my rest
and preparations for the ’09 season!
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
