Holy cow, this is a big country.
And hot too. The "heat index" was about 105 in St. Louis, MO
where we were over the weekend. This is my first time sitting at a
computer all week in the Cornell University library in Ithaca, NY. I don't
think I'll try to read 100+ emails, just a quick update on travels and
final workouts.
Let's see, first route was US-50 from Reno
to Utah, spent the night in Ureka, NV and did a nice easy ride through the
flat roads of the Great Basin.
Next day to Moab, Utah, saw Delicate Arch
at sunset, did a morning run surrounded by the beauty of red rocks and
Arches National Park and got a broken spoke fixed at the Moab Cyclery
at 8am before hitting the road again.
Then straight through Colorado on US-70 to
somewhere in the middle of Kansas, town called Hays. More flat country
roads for an early morning spin, Kansas may be flat, but a 20+mph headwind
coming over the corn fields seems like uphill, beautiful ride at sunrise
as the humidity settled in for the day.
St. Louis, like I said, hot and humid, did
one run in the park and couldn't believe other people were out there doing
the same. Clayton town public pool provided my first chance to swim, nice
Olympic size pool with three lanes dedicated to lap swimming and the rest
to townfolk sitting around. Did I mention how hot it was?
Then over to Cleveland where it poured rain
and people are mean to you at Tops, McDonalds and gas stations. The
thunderstorm must have signaled the front holding back all the mid-west
humidity because it hasn't been that bad since.
Another swim outside of Buffalo, NY in Lake
Erie and then to Rochester, NY, where I grew up and all my friends have
houses and babies. Did a little ride through my old hood, and we're
proceeding westward, stopping in Ithaca right now and will get as close to
Lake Placid as we can tonight. Tomorrow we'll drive the bike course in the
car with the bike in the back to jump out and test some of the winding
downhills and some of the infamous uphill stretches getting back into
town.
This trip has been a great way to approach
Ironman USA, so named because it was the first in the country, doing
workouts throughout this great land, letting the big day come on me slowly
without sitting in my apartment in SF obsessing about a plane trip and
packing my bags over and over and double checking everything while I
ride through GG park one more time. (Nothing against GG park, imagery of
the cool breezes off Ocean Beach helped a lot through the mid-west
inferno.)
That's all for now. Appreciate the comfort
of Northern CA weather because, man, it's hot out here.
Chuck
