Wow. August has shaped up to be the month of racing on my front. Technically, it started with the month of July. It seems to be non-stop racing and non-stop fun. Let’s recap what’s happened in the past few weeks and take a look at what’s coming up.
Where I’ve been:
July 24 – XTERRA First Coast, Jacksonville Beach, Florida. As mentioned in my race report, I learned some valuable lessons and had a blast in the process. Had a flat and also ended up wrapped up with another biker as he endo’d on top of me (grin). I did run the fastest run split of the race. Don’t know what got into me, but I was feeling great on the run. Maybe it had something to do with my Inov8 X-Talons (more on that in my next race report).
July 31 – XTERRA Panther Creek, Morristown, Tennessee. I followed up FC with one just 7 days later in Tennessee with XTERRA Panther Creek. There, I took 5th overall and won my division with another fun race. I knew if I could just keep myself upright I’d be ok. With a brand new set of Maxxis Ikon EXO meats on the rims, I knew my chances of flatting were slim. I didn’t feel as good on the run as I did in Florida, but still had a great race. It was great to see a bunch more of my XTERRA family including quite a few that seemed to have followed me from Florida. Read Dan’s race report, starring yours truly.
August 10 – Charlotte Mountain Bike Series race, Renaissance Park, Charlotte, NC. Neal Boyd and crew always puts on a great race and his mountain bike series is no exception. Coach told me to do a couple of his races to get some good anaerobic efforts in as part of my training. He told TP (training partner) Dan to start in the back and pick off as many as you could. I followed suit and gave it a shot. Those boys in the series are some real animals. I’ve always said that concentrating on one sport would always make a person faster in that sport. Boy, you can tell these boys bike a lot. I started in the back and picked off 7 out of the 12 in the group. I guess I did ok, but those front-runners were bookin’ it. XTERRA Pete (MTB Pete around these parts) yelled at me from the sidelines to get moving. Thanks for the words, Pete. Great seeing you again.
August 13 – Paris Mountain 7k Trail Race, Greenville, SC. Meant to be another training race and anaerobic effort, I went into this race with the mindset of giving it everything I had from the get-go. I’m not going to spoil the race report, which will be coming up next. You’ll have to read it to find out what happened.
August 14 – Carolina Trail Run Series awards picnic and trail run. Had a great trail run with a bunch of the series champs. We ran for about an hour or so and it was great to run with some really enthusiastic people. I know it’s not a race, but it was still worth mentioning. Of course, this happened after a 4 hour road ride with hill repeats in the morning. (big grin) By the time I got home, my legs were toast. I had no trouble sleeping that night.
Coming up:
August 17 – Charlotte Mountain Bike Series race, Fisher Farms, Charlotte, NC. This one is up in the air. I flew to Florida for my day job and due to it being last minute, flights were scarce. Needless to say, I ended up being on a plane, stuck in an airport or on the tarmac for a total of flying for a total of 12 hours (and all for a 3 hour meeting). The other reason I may not do this race is because of what’s coming up this weekend.
August 20 – USA Triathlon National Championships, Burlington, Vermont. I found out just a week and half ago that I qualified for Nats. I call it “Roadie Nats” because all of my XTERRA friends confuse it with XTERRA National Championships when I refer to this race as “Nats”. Anyhow, the two are completely different races. The one on August 20 in Vermont is the National Championships for road triathlons. XTERRA Nationals, as you may already know, is the off-road triathlon championships held in Utah. Yes, I’m qualified for them both but will probably only do the road one. “Wa, wa, wa, whaaaat?!” you might be asking. Yep, you heard it. I may only do the road tri nats. There’s several reasons for this. First, I’ve already been to XTERRA Nats but I’ve never been to Vermont or a national road triathlon race. Second, I prefer the XTERRA Canada National Championships over that of the XTERRA USA Nats primarily from a venue/course perspective. Yeah, Utah is a great course and is beautiful in its own right. But come on, we’re talking Whistler. Lastly, USA Triathlon Nationals is a qualifier for Triathlon Worlds and to be part of Team USA… again. I was part of Team USA in Spain for the ITU Offroad Tri Worlds. It would be awesome to do it on the road triathlon side of the house. I know my chances of qualifying for [Road] Triathlon Worlds is slim, but I have to give it a shot.
August 24 – Charlotte Mountain Bike Series race, US National Whitewater Center, Charlotte, NC. Another training race for me to put in some good anaerobic work.
August 27 – Run Wild Cross Country Festival, South Carolina. Like Paris Mountain, this is another training race, but only trail running involved. I’m really looking forward to this one as it looks like it’s going to be a great, fun race.
September 4 – XTERRA Canada Open Championships. XTERRA in Whistler. Need I say more?
Well that rounds out what’s been going on and what’s around the bend. It’s been busy and will be busier as the month rolls on. I do have to throw out huge props and many thanks to my lovely wife, Alba for putting up with all of this. 
Race report for Paris Mountain and Inov8 X-Talon shoe review coming right up, followed by product reviews for Cobb Saddles and the Maxxis Ikons.
Speedy Lizard 