IMAZ REPORTS

[GAMCOK]

I told Tony I'd put these up here.....some is a cut n paste from the
past two days... and a little something from the morning :-)

PICTURES:

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa221/GAMCOK/IMAZ_Run.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa221/GAMCOK/BikeCourse.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa221/GAMCOK/DK_SWM_PRACTICE.jpg

TEMPE,AZ: FRIDAY

Last night I found a great multisport shop here in town:
http://www.tribemultisport.com/ The guys fixed my wheel and when they
found out I had walked three miles to their store took me back to the
hotel. Super nice guys that went out of their way to help me. I also
got a new seat bag. My SEAT BAG failed (zipper broke)...WTF?!?! SEAT
BAG?!?!!? Oh well...cha-ching...there goes another 25 bucks.

Today's swim was MUCH calmer but much more crowded...which is good. I
still am battling nausea in the water but I guess it's now in the
"deal with it" category. I'm in the Navy four freaking years and have
never gotten seasick...WTF?!?! Oh well...it is what it is.

Today's early lesson: European triathletes are pricks and,
apparently, haven't learned "swim out right, swim back left". Dude
creamed into me and, then, with some Eurotrash accent said something
and looked at me in disgust (I'm guessing because I wasn't NEAR as
uber as he was). HE was on the wrong side of the buoys. It's all
good...I have his race number and it's on like f*cking donkey kong at
the start. They'll be fishing his euro ass off the bottom of the lake
come Monday morning and some village in France will be without their
idiot.

Kids are T-minus a few minutes away...now the circus begins!

TEMPE, AZ: THURSDAY

I'm bored and restless...so you fine folks are my "blogees"

Todays photo is from the Beeline Highway...beautiful ride and will be
nicer Sunday without the traffic. This photo is about a mile from the
turnaround where I had a flat tire (more on that later).

Things I learned today:

1. It's Arizona in April. It's going to be blistering hot...I didn't
know that the lake was the converse of the heat however. How in God's
name does a lake not absorb *some* of the sun and stay at a very brisk
63 degrees? I mean really...how?!

2. When the wind is whipping at 25MPH out in your swim *of course*
you're going to feel like superman. Conversely, when you make the
turn the freaking WAVES (a) slap you in the face and make you feel
like you're sitting still, and (b) can cause nausea. There are a few
folks this morning that I"m sure were wondering when they had a
banana, accelerade, and yogurt as they were swimming behind me.

3. I learned that the last 500 meters of a 2.4 mile swim can feel
like 2.4 miles.

4. I also learned that my parents never mixed our Scottish blood. I
will never ever tan and I get sunburned if I get near a 100 watt
bulb. STOCK TIP: Buy Coppertone stock now...I'm spending more on
that than I did on my bike.

5. Another lesson: women can overtrain and make themselves look
like, well, men. I've seen some out here that are downright scary.
How do womens breast actually grow INWARD?!?!

6. The biggest lesson of the day: When you are riding on tubulars
and, especially, in the desert...it would be wise to carry a spare
tire. I also learned that Vittoria Pit Stop (bikes version of fix-a-
flat) works wonderfully on punctures...not so much on GASHES.

7. Pursuant to number six, I learned that tubulars are twice the
price of regular tires. Bye bye another 100 bucks.

8. Good news of the day...I weighed in at 198 but they gave me the
benefit of the doubt and put me at 200. Hello Clydesdale division.

9. Last lesson of the day (Close your eyes Tony): In n' Out makes a
mean freaking cheeseburger. I mean REALLY good. Another Stock Tip:
Buy In N Out this week. Damn they are tasty.

So I'm riding one loop of the course...no big deal and enjoying the
beautiful desert scenery (Now I know why Moses spent 40 years in the
desert..its gorgeous)...anyway, I digress. We're riding on the road
shoulder and I, of course, nail a piece of a cars windshield that,
I'm sure, was in tact back in the day. Tire goes flat. No big
deal...everyone has told me that this Vittoria Pit Stop is the
shinizzle. So I fill the tire and watch the whole can oooze out the
side and make a really neat foamy snake thing on the desert road. My
tire remains flat.

I then realize that I'm (a) alone without a spare and (b) in the
middle of the freaking desert. THE MIDDLE. Thankfully, Scott Mackall
and Co. were killing time getting their bikes fixed and he came out
and rescued my dumbass.

Soooo..I will be carrying a spare tubular AND the wonder Vittoria on
Sunday.

I'm also thinking an In N Out burger would be pretty happy in my
special needs bag.

Thats all for now....
D

TEMPE, AZ: WEDNESDAY

I attached a couple of pictures of the swim start and the view at the
finish as you cross the bridge. A large portion of the run takes
place on the paved pathways along the, uh, "lake", so running on
concrete is going to present another challenge. I ran for an hour
there yesterday (Tony's "junk run") and felt great although the wind
was blowing at least 20MPH. I can already tell that I'm going to have
to load up on the sunscreen and be extra conscious of the fluid
intake. I had screen on yesterday and got a minor burn after an
hour...and with the "dry" heat I don't sweat nearly as much as i would
at home.

The "lake" is hilarious. It's literally only about an empty river
basin that they dammed and flooded. Very scenic but not very big...we
literally swim from one end to the other. The upside is that it is
completely square so siting isn't an issue at all.

All in all I feel great but, of course, nervous as hell. The other
issue is that my job has yet to learn the word "vacation" and I've
been buried in front of this laptop and on con calls since 4am local.
It looks like they are going to fly me from here to California on
Monday night for an impromptu Tuesday meeting....freaking great. The
upside is that they can bear the $150 dollar ONE WAY fee Delta gouged
me to carry my bike...not to mention I'm expensing my hotel bill
through Friday! (Can you say reallocation of funds for new wheels?!?!)

That's all...I'm off to the Gatorade swim practice and then hooking up
with Scott, Reg, and Kebby to do one loop on the bike course later
today after registration.

D