Giving Back

Well it seems I have a soft heart lately.  A lot of my coworkers have tickets to Rockets games and Rodeo performances and they haven’t felt like going.  So instead of me taking them for myself, I had decided to give them away to friends that I know will go and appreciate it.  I’ve posted them on Facebook and emailed friends.  It has worked out really well: 4 tickets to Miranda Lambert, 4 tickets to Zac Brown Band, 2 tickets to the Rockets game on Wednesday night and 2 tickets to this Sunday’s night game.  I know I didn’t purchase these tickets but I could have also let them go to waste instead of offering them to others that would like to go. 

Carrying on this same theme, I was on the way home from the gym last night and ran into a big Husky running in the middle of Kingwood Drive.  The dog definitely looked lost and out of place, he was far away from any subdivision entrance when I came across him.  A couple cars went around him and I got to thinking someone is going to miss this big guy when they get up in morning.  So I turned the hazards on and parked my truck in the right lane on Kingwood Drive so I could load him up.  He was really friendly and jumped right in.  The dog had to weigh around 100 lbs, he was a big boy.  He started licking my face and what not as I was trying to read the phone # off his collar.  The dang dog would not sit still so I had to remove his collar to get the phone #.  The phone number listed was to his vet and not to his owners, so I called Bambi and told her I’m bringing a big dog home tonight! 

Charlie

Stormy and Shiloh were petrified as expected, they are not fond of bigger dogs.  They were scared for their life but the big Husky named Charlie was friendly and just wanted to play.  We had to keep the dogs separated due to our spoiled dogs wouldn’t share their space with him.  Bambi called the vet this morning and found out he was 10 month old Husky named Charlie.  The owners came and got him but they even offered if we needed a pretty white dog.  I was glad we found the owners but not glad they really don’t want the dog.  I’m sure they will remove his tag when they get home so next time he gets loose, he doesn’t get traced back to them.  But a 100 lb. Husky is the last thing we need right now.    

I was asking myself why I’m trying to help others more so lately and I can’t really figure it out.  I mean, we've always been ones to unselfishly give and do.  It may be circumstance or me coping with losing the baby.  Bambi and I try to be really nice people and do the right things.  We live our life that way, I would much rather give than to receive.  I just wish I had more to give.     

Picture of Kid Rock from the Rodeo on Monday night

We went to see Kid Rock on Monday night at the HLSR; not a great voice but a great entertainer.  His show was very patriotic which was nice for a change.  No PC from him.

Update on Bike Frame

So mid last week I decided to take matters in my own hands in regards to my damaged bike frame.  When I discuss my bike frame issues with others it tends to get people upset and it seems they are more upset than I am on the situation.  It really provoked me to do more, so I went to Trek's website and they don't have a phone # to call.  But they do have an option where you submit your contact information and they contact you.  So I submitted my info and was surprised to get a call later in the day.  I explained the whole situation to the guy and he seemed to understand my frustration.  I clearly explained to him that I understand the second frame I cracked was most likely my fault but still felt I got screwed on the first one and would like them to make it up to me.

He looked around in their system to make sure they had a frame my size and sure enough they did.  He said he will contact his warranty rep that handles Bike Barn and will get it taken care of.  So I'm getting a new frame at cost from Trek, I believe it will be around $225.  I definitely feel like they did the right thing in this situation now.  I know there will never be another Trek frame in my future but I will ride the new one while it lasts (undamaged).  I know I'm hard on bikes, but so is most everyone else who races and rides.  It's the nature of the sport.    

Eco Lonestar Wrap

This past Saturday was the Eco Lonestar Adventure Race put on by Terra Firma Racing.  I’ve done quite a few 12 hr races but this is only my second with Terra Firma.  I usually do most of their summer sprint series AR races.  I was racing with Werewolves of Houston (Austin), Ashley Edwards (who has been participating in Adventure Racing the longest in Texas) and Doug Mammoser, a great navigator out of Austin.  Ash and I went back and forth whether or not we wanted to drive up Friday night and get some sleep or make the 4 hr drive early Saturday morning.  We checked the weather on Monday of last week and it looked very promising, low to mid 50s at night and high of 65.  We ended up getting on the road around 7:45pm Friday leaving Houston and got to Reveille Peak Ranch around midnight. 

We were supposed to meet Doug at the Ranch since he had a three person tent, all we had were our mats and sleeping bags.  We drove around all the tent sites a couple of times and did not see Doug’s car or tent.  We tried calling him w/ no answer and texted him but we got no response.  We found out the following morning he had a campsite reserved at Inks Lake and had no cell phone reception.  So Ash and I had a decision to make, do we sleep in the car or under the stars?  I opted for the stars, meaning mat and sleeping bag only, no cover at all.  Ash lasted for 20 mins, I lasted for 2 hrs or so.  I slept fine until the winds started to kick up (20 mph to 30 mph) and blowing sand all over me, so I moved into the SUV as well.  At this point all of our gear and clothes are outside because we are sleeping in the SUV.  Sometime around 5:30 AM we start to hear clunk, clunk, clunk.  Ash screamed “its hailing outside and we need to get our clothes and gear; we don’t want to get wet”.  So I jump out of the car and she called me a Frogger (how I was bouncing around trying to get everything inside).  After this ordeal we couldn’t help but laugh, the race hadn’t even begun and we had quite a story to tell. 

So Doug calls us around 6:30 AM to see where we are at.  We tell him so he can park next to us and start getting ready.  I was in no hurry thinking boat drop was right at TA.  Doug tells us that boat drop is 11 miles away and I’m thinking: crap that is a long ways a way and we need 2 people to offload the thing.  So Doug and I left TA around 7:10 to head towards boat drop, race started at 8 AM.  Ash stayed back to get ready but most of her stuff was in the car.  I had yet to do much of anything to prepare for the race.  I hadn’t packed my food, camelback, or changed up to this point.  We got back to TA at 7:50 and I had 10 mins to get ready for a 12 hr race.  I managed it quite well and thankfully Ash let me borrow her rain jacket. I didn’t pack any cold weather clothes, as I was trying to travel lightly with car pooling.  So the race started off with a 5k run.  It was a nice run but I think I was still asleep because I don’t remember much of it.  We were the first 12 hr team right in front of iMOAT and knew this was going to be a close race all day. 

Next leg was a short bike to a Nav leg - this is where the teammates could split up to get 4 cps.  I was sent to the windmill while Ash and Doug got the other three, I made it back fairly soon and waited around till they got back.  We lost some time on this leg but nothing that would hurt us.  The next leg was the 11 mile bike (all road) to boat drop, we knew the route because we had just driven it a couple of hrs ago.  I felt really strong on the bike and did my best to pull most of the way for the team.  Once we got to the boat drop we had 3 cps to get on the paddle.  

We knew the paddle was going to be very difficult because of the wind and we didn’t have the best boat for the conditions.  Kayaks are the weapons of choice for windy conditions, 3 out of the top 4 teams coed teams all had canoes along with us.  So we did our best to paddle to the first cp, portaging across a cove.  From the cove, we walked the shoreline until we finally reached the 1^st cp.  I walked in ankle deep water the entire way with the boat attached to my camelback, this was actually faster than paddling.  iMOAT was the first team to first cp on the paddle and we saw them punch it and start heading back to boat drop.  The other two cps are a long way away and we are thinking they just took themselves out of the race.  No top teams usually skip checkpoints 3 hrs into a race especially with no hard cutoffs.  The Masters of the Universe, fellow HFAR members Scott, Gabe, and Helena; along with Ike’s Vengeance (Scottie, Kenny, and Kip) and our team all continue on to the remainder two paddle cps way out.  We had to portage, stop numerous times to let water out of our boat, more portaging, and so on.  These were the toughest 2 cps on the day.  The paddle leg took us 3:30 hrs for 3 cps, I will come back to this topic later.

Once we got back to boat drop, we had one cp to get on foot.  Doug found it quickly and we headed back for the 11 mile road ride back to TA.  The next leg was a long nav leg and such legs (most of the time) determine the winners of the longer races.  Doug was a man on a mission on this leg. I have never seen anyone get so focused on naving when it comes to navigation.  He gets dialed in and we went to all of the cps without a hitch.  The next closest team to our nav leg was 28 mins slower for this leg.  Freaking Awesome Doug…  As we were headed back to TA we saw iMOAT going out on a trek and we started worrying about how many cps were on the last trek.  As we came into TA we had a 9 mile bike and I asked how many cps were on the last leg.  Of course there were 3 cps and if they happened to get all 3 and beat us back to TA they would win the race due to the remaining amount of time for race cut-off.  We couldn’t do anything about it at this point.  We road the 9 mile technical bike and we were gassed, Doug took a hard spill and toughed it out.

When we got back to TA we had 45 mins to get 3 cps on the last nav trek.  One cp plotted real close to TA so our plan was to go get it and hopefully beat iMOAT back into TA.  The other 2 cps were way out and we couldn’t have gotten them in the allotted time.  We got in the area of the cp but we couldn’t find it, a team comes a couple of minutes later and goes straight to it.  We eventually find the cp, we headed back to TA to stop the clock and find out it was iMOAT afterall who came in just 3 mins in front of us with the last cp.  iMOAT was declared the winner of the race, even though our team and other competitors disagreed completely.  Here are my reasons on why iMOAT shouldn’t have won the race, this is not personal but for the integrity of the sport.

·        They managed to skip one of the major 3 disciplines of an adventure race, the PADDLE (well….majority of the paddle).

·        It took the fastest team 3 hrs to get the 3 cps on the paddle, it took iMOAT 2 hrs and 14 mins to get 3 cps on the last trek.  They made up 45 mins on this leg alone (by skipping the paddle).

·        Its unheard of winners of Adventure Races not clearing the course and still able to make up those cps later in a race to place ahead of other teams.  You clear the course as each leg progresses; you don’t bank that you will make it up later in a race.

·        I feel like Werewolves of Houston (Austin), Masters of the Universe, and Ike’s Vengeance didn’t get a fair shake on Saturday from Terra Firma. 

In adventure racing, you never know what to expect when it all shakes out in the end – good or bad.

Werewolves

First TMBRA Race of 2011

Sorry this is a long time coming but I’m getting out there now.  The first TMBRA race was last Sunday at Bluff Creek Ranch in Warda Tx.  Warda sits between La Grange and Giddings.  So after working the rodeo all night, I got home at 1:00 AM and got 3 hrs of sleep before Bambi and I made our journey to Warda.  I had borrowed a bike from Jason Maloney, a full suspension 26er since I have a cracked frame that has yet to be resolved.  I’m use to riding a 29er hardtail and the bikes ride very different.  We got there in plenty of time to setup properly and warm up.  I kept on questioning my seat height because there is a very fine line between too high or too low when it comes to biking.  So I get to the starting line late and I think they have already called up my age group (19-29 Cat 2) and Cap Carter sends me up to Tobin.  Oops, they are calling up the single speed division and I thank Cap for making me look like a fool, it was funny actually.

So my expectations going into the race was top 10, but there were a lot more riders this year than last.  I only recognized one other person in my age group from last spring with 25 riders toeing the line, pretty crazy.  I lowered my expectations due to borrowed bike and working on my feet for the last 3 days and no sleep.  We got started off and I usually blow myself up at the start.  This race I was patient and slowly moved my way into the 10-14 before we hit the single track.  I felt good on the technical stuff with the 26er but could definitely tell I couldn’t just rollover stuff like I was use to.  I also had a major problem clipping numerous roots with less ground clearance.  My race was pretty uneventful from then on, I caught a couple of riders in my group throughout the 3 laps and was only passed by one person in my age group.  I ended up finishing 11^th, 45 secs behind 10^th.  I did start to fade at the end, which I'm use to at the mtb races.  I have a hard time keeping my heart rate down, I burn all of my matches fast in mtb race.

I asked myself would have the results been different if I had my bike, maybe 1 or 2 places.  But I still have a long way to go to place in the top 5 in Cat 2.  But that is one aspect of like about mtb racing, there are always people there pushing you to be faster.