Motorhead

A departure from the ultra & tri world we live & breath to the music that moves us. Yes, my all time favourite band since early high school,......Motorhead. In less than a month Keith & Kevin two Ultra-Runners and extremely viscous ones at that will join my wife Heather & I at the "Docks" for my tenth Motorhead concert. I've lost tract, its been a lot of friggin concerts. My first concert was May 12, 1982 at the old Sports Collisium in Toronto when Motorhead was Lemmy, Fast Eddie & Philthy Animal Taylor. Since then & now I've seen Motorhead perform at Harpos in Detroit, at the old Concert Hall at 888 Yonge St which I believe is where the young Mulroney does his show now. One day I would like to meet Mr. Kilmister. Motorhead truly one of a kind band.

Bala 2009

Bala is one of the better Sprints in Ontario. This year ChipTime did the timing versus 2005 when SportsStats did it. The bike course had one turnaround which meant you weren't going to lose precision time from cornering. That said the bike course was a continually a non-flat adveture. Road & asphalt conditions were solid & enjoyable to ride on. The only adverse condition was the transition area to mount /dismount which was saturated with rain water. The evening before 5 in. of rain had fallen within a 3 hr period leaving the stretch of grass from inside the transition area to the mount/dismount area a mini-swamp. Avoiding all mud, I carried my bike on my shoulders both in & out. The run course as well was very hilly, with some side shoots of true cottage roads. The water in the lake was perfect but i heard many say it was cold by previous years standards. As our age group was waiting at the dock for the horn, we saw Buddy Green of Sudbury in the lead group finishing his swim. It truly was an amazing site to see. The power in his catch & stroke almost looked like he was doing a butterfly stroke. His upper body literally cam e out of the water before his recovery arm sliced back into the water just above his head. If you have ever seen a dolphin swim, this is the only analogy i can think of to describe what we saw. He was clearly well ahead of all the other "pros". His swim time was 8 minutes so many seconds & I later learned that he had come from a swimming background.
For me who has always struggled with my ability to get faster in the swim, I had my best swim time yet. 15 mins 10 secs. First, i swam straight, learning to site much more frequently, and i was able to get myself into a rhythm that worked. The other key secret i have learned is stay relaxed. When you tighten up or try to overwork ; your swim stroke works against you. In other words you're being counter-productive and wasting valuable energy. to see all the results go to www.chiptimeresults.com

Gravenhurst Olympic Distance Jul 18 (race review)

If you haven't done this race ; do it. The two Tourist Steamships take the 300 participants 1500 m out into Lake Muskoka. That in itself is worth the entry. I had the privilege of getting some valuable insight from World Triathlete Mark Herbst who by the way finished 6th overall at this race. There were many familiar faces at this event including Dean Beaudry & Allan Johnson. Marilyn Preece, Jack Strickland, Carlos Vilchez, Darrin Smith, Mark Potter, Marie White, Roseanne Sexton, John Pawley from Barrie also competed in this years Olympic Distnce Gravenhurst race.
I personally had a successful race with an overall place of 49th and 7th in my age group out of 40. My swim was straight and please with my time considering we ran 500 meters from the water along wet dock around Transition before crossing the timing mat. The bike course had three 180 degree turnarounds which will effect your avg speed. The only advice I would give the Race Director is look at ways to improve the bike dismount. It was sudden & placed in a high traffic area which could have been dangerous with much pedestrian & vehicle traffic. The run was hilly, typical of cottage country. see Chip Time Results for all the times.

www.barrietri.com Aug 9th

I believe the race is limited to 550, and as a rule generally sells out. Although many will have just completed Ironman UK, or 70.3 Calgary, or Ironman Lake Placid, or might even be doing the Half Iron in Bracebridge just a little reminder that our City's race is on August 9th. visit the web page for for info. www.barrietri.com

Barry's Bay Tri 2009

I love this race. This year my good friend Tim Hatch joined me in the 114 competitor race. It was the17th year for this race and i am simply amazed how this local race is now attracting some wicked serious athletes. Several years ago i said to myself that if i was able to improve my own performance to a self-satisfying level i might even be able to finish in the top ten overall. Well, that was 4 years ago & i did not anticipate the calibre of racer this event now attracts. I think even Tim was somewhat surprised by the fine quality of competitors. I mean after all, can you blame me ? Back in 2005 this was my very first Triathlon where i used a mountain bike. This year the bike course was changed to Hwy 60 leading out of Barry's Bay heading toward Algonquin Park a much more hillier landscape, and it showed in the times. In the swim, thank god i swam crooked again or else i might have had a decent time. Sheeit, as Bobke would say.

Guelph Lakes 1 (Olympic)

While i push all limits at this race, i'm going to self-hallucinate i'm none other than Olympic Canadian icon Sir Simon Whitfield. Holy Foggy Day, wouldn't it be strange if my race strategy worked. Changing directions. The local pool i swim at has been closed for maintenance for 2 weeks now which means i haven't swam for 10 days or so. Not a good thing. Yes folks, that's right there were 3 days where i was swimming at the bottom of the pool without water. Traveling to the south end of town yesterday i swam for an hour ; glad i did just to expunge all the cobwebs. Swimming is one of those arts you just have to continually be at. I typically find to go more than three days without a good swim you begin to lose the complete recipe, and you know it just doesn't taste the same? My swim is by far my worst discipline of the the swim, bike & run. My friends are extremely polite & supportive of my swim. They see the gobs of time i invest in improving and they more than not, just keep silent, not to discourage me. I have vowed to become a 1:30/100m pace swimmer before i leave this planet even if i have to have a propeller surgically implanted in my bow. Well folks i'm off to Guelph, I'll let you know monday if my strategy worked.

Zoot Ultra TT (new shoe review)

recently bought the lightweight bright yellow Zoot running shoes. after four runs, i'd have to say i like them. they will be great for short to medium tri races. i certainly wouldn't recommend the Zoot Ultra TT for any distance further than 21k (and even that you may find the ball of your feet starting to heat up). The slip on heel grab has caused one of my feet to blister but i'm sure this will be a temporary thing.