Race Report: HITS series Sprint Triathlon

Vitals
Sprint Triathlon Sunday March 24, 2013 7:00AM
Location: Carney Island Park, Ocala, FL Lake Wier
Swim: 750 meter 17:06
T1: 2:32
Bike: 12.43 miles; 33:54; 23mph
T2: 0:55
Run: 5km; 21:36

Total time: 1:16:03
Rank: 5th overall; 1st in Age group

The rundown:
Race day started early as I needed to be on site early enough to pick up my race packet and not feel rushed.  I woke up at 03:40 and we left the house by 04:30 and arrived at Carney Island Park just before 06:00.  I picked up my race packet and with Desiree's help, got prepared with tatoo race numbers and transition zone set up.  We headed down to the beach and It was still pitchdark.  We could barely even see the start line of the saloon much less the police turn around so you're 50 m out.
The swim:
I was sitting towards the front at the beginning of the swim as we headed out towards the first buoy, I was sitting about top 15.  As we rounded the first buoy, the pack started to come together and I had a very difficult time seeing where the second buoy was. The sky was still dark and I was looking to follow the lead boat light, but started to fatigue in the arms and ended up making it out of the water 39th.
T1:
The run out of the water to the transition area was pretty long and when I got to my area, I quickly pulled off my wetsuit. I pulled my bike off the rack but forgot to put my helmet on first and my helmet rolled onto the ground.  I tilted my bike up against me to pick up a helmet, but the bike slid onto the ground as I was struggled to get my helmet on. I finally picked my bike up and got out of transition as quickly as possible.  Just before jumping on month to my bike, I saw that my chain had dropped off the chainring. Fortunately, this was not overwhelming for me, so I quickly shifted into the big ring and spun the crank around to get the chain back onto the crank.

The bike:
I quickly got settled into my rhythm on the bike and was pushing a nice tempo. I made up a lot of ground and passed a bunch of people. I ended passing two females which started three minutes behind me on the swim.  So I realized that I lost a good amount to ground on the swim. however looking to make it back on the bike.  I was never passed on the bike and came into the dismount area feeling pretty good.
T2:
I quickly hustled running into my transition area with my bike mounted on the rack, took my helmet off, got my shoes on, and off I went. Desiree said I beat a few people out a transition which made up a few more places.
The run:
Once I got onto the run course, I was a little concerned that my legs would feel like bricks as I did Earlier in the week running off the bike in training.  I kept calm and consistently my legs turning over realizing I was running low 7:00s  and feeling pretty good. Around the turnaround point, I started counting how many guys were in front of me- about seven.  I run into the final straight seeing the finish line and could hear Desiree's voice cheering me on. She said that I got fifth or sixth and that I was did great.  I felt great after crossing the finish line and felt that I could have push myself harder both on the bike in the run.

Final thoughts:
I was surprised at how well I did. I realize that my training was going well as I made an effort to run every time off the bike even if it was for only about a mile. I still need more time in the water, especially in open water getting comfortable and fluid.
All in all, it was a great way to start the season with my first triathlon a good result.
Thanks for the support.

Pictures: http://imageshack.us/g/1/10081689/


 

Race Report: Dade City Road Race

Vitals:
Location: Dade City, FL
Distance: 17 mile circuit x 3 laps
Time: ~48 mins
Distance completed: 1 lap, 17 miles
Avg HR: 167 bpm
Avg speed: 22.1 mph
Avg power: 165 wts

The rundown:
Our race was set to start just after 14:00, a few minutes after the pro 1/2.  Unfortunately in regular fashion, we stated late.  14:40 and we finally line up to start our race.  This race being a B/C race, I was just looking to stay out of trouble and get some racing mentality back.  I was feeling good through the 1st half of the race staind towards the middle front and holding my place pretty well. 
About mile 11, there was a crash from another race where somebody's rear wheel came off he was lying in the middle of the road with traffic stopped in both directions.  Our race was temporary haulted as we wheezled through traffic. The race was back on and I was maintaining position in the front 10-15.  About mile 14, somebody crashed in a couple guys in front of me and I slammed on my brakes just enough to not hit the guy immediately in front of me.  I lost my momentum and fought to regoup and and gained back some kind of position before our race was haulted again just a few minutes after our little incident. 
Appearently, there was another crash up the road and the organizers stopped the pro 1/2s and they didn't want us to catch up with them.  Almost 10 minutes later, we were set to roll again and finally completed our 1st lap.  I started the 2nd lap only ot full out into the feed zone and get ready to head back as we had dinner plans.
If it wasn't for the fact that we started late and dinner plans, I would have stayed to complete the race.  I was feeling good and felt that my limited training for this race put me in a competitive position possibly scoring a top 10 finish.
More races to come.

x marks the spot

x or cross, or more specifically cyclocross.

I just finished build a new bike that I'm pretty excited about.  I decided to go with quite a different platform as the skeleton of the bike- a Ritchey Breakaway Cyclocross bike.  The cool thing about the bike is that it is versatile on most terrains being a road bike that can accommodate mountain bike type tires.  More unique to the Ritchey is that the frame is able to disassemble and comes with its own travel case.  The seat tube holds top part of the triangle together, and a coupler holds the bottom.  The cables have a coupler that screws together and apart when you disassemble the frame.  Quite an ingenius concept.  If I were to travel via airplane, ths case is only the size of check-in luggage.  The rest of the faculties of my build are outfitted with Shimano Dura-Ace, FSA, and Zipp.

Vitals:
frameset: Ritchey Breakaway Cyclocross Size 50
shifters, front and rear derailleurs: Dura-Ace
crankset: FSA SL-K lite compact
brakes: Avid Shorty 4
cockpit: Zipp Service Course SL stem and handle bars
pedals: Crank Brothers Candy 2

The bike is quite beautiful and I'm excited to play around with it and take up cyclecross racing next winter.

More Pictures: https://imageshack.com/a/IgeQ/1

exercising the mind..?

This year I embark on a journey.  As my physical training and exercise becomes routine for the upcoming season, I will also be taking online classes.  I will not gain any credits or any academic value.  These are for my own personal and mental growth and knowledge.  On top of it all, the classes are free.

www.coursera.org

The site consists of classes in any type of interest you can imagine- from music to science, business to medicine.  If there is something you want to learn, then there should be something that satisfies your interest. 

One of the coolest things about the site aside from it being free are the participating schools.  You have some of your top IV league institutions or institutions that are leaders in their fields.  John Hopkins, Emory, U Penn, Duke, Brown, Stanford, GA Tech, U of London... to just name a few.

I am currently enrolled in a 7 week class- Personal Finance and am scheduled to start another class towards the end of February- Human Physiology 13 weeks.

My goal is to be enrolled in at least 1 class throughout the whole year.

Thanks Josh for introducing me to this awesome opportunity.

custom fiberglass subwoofer enclosure

 

Just after Christmas, I install a bazooka basstube following the exact instructions from:
Easy bass addition = Bazooka tube | PriusChat

My problem with the basstube is that it doesn't fully capture the the low end well on rock songs and struggled with radio quality. With hip hop, the basstube is quite impressive. The install was very easy as described in the above link.

Therefore, I decided to use the right cubby hole and build a fiberglass enclosure. I was still able to use the wiring harness that I purchased for the bazooka install so I didn't have to re-run any wiring from the dash. It gave me a remote signal and a set of speaker line level for a line-out-converter to use RCAs.

I was able to find trunk liner for a local car audio shop that matches the carpet perfectly.

My subwoofer is an Alpine SWE-10s4 and the amp is a Kenwood KAC-8105d. This is more than enough power for my listening pleasure and catpures the full range of the spectrum with all music genres.

So after about 12 hours, 1 gallon of resin, 1.5 sheets of fiberglass, and some fleece interfacing, I am extremely pleased. I have full access to my trunk and under cargo storage bin.

Special thanks to Chuckie- my brother in law fo helping me with this project.

Pictures: ImageShack Album - 16 images

the pearl princess

About 1 month ago, I finally got a 2012 Toyota Prius in Blizzard Pearl Trim II.  This is the first car that I have had brand new and she'll be a keeper.  This is their least equiped trim level from the factor so it does not have navigation, standard sound system instead of the JBL premium, and comes with standard bluetooth phone/audio.  I'm ok with that.  It did come with tint, floor mats, and Toyoguard Elite.

To trim II level to what I want, here's my strategy for tackling the gap.

I am using the new GoogleMaps app on the iPhone5 which has turn by turn voice direction and is pretty much just as good as a Garmin Nuvi.  Additionally, the GoogleMaps app has live traffic and lifetime maps.

The basic factory sound system is actually pretty good.  The only thing it really lack is capturing lower frequencies.  Therefore, I will be looking to add an amp and subwoofer to compliment the stock tunes.  For simplicity, chose a powered sub package.

As this time, I just installed an 8 inch Bazooka basstube 2 days ago.  The installation was a piece of cake as taking apart the dash to get behind the radio took only about 10 minutes and about 3 to put everything back together.  It's amazing how cars these days are held together by clips.  Also, the Prius 12v battery was located in the trunk making the power and ground cable easy to install.  I ordered a wiring harness so that I would not have to modify any of the stock wiring.  I only had to splice together a few wires to get the sub to pump out the tunes.  I'm a little disappointed in the output of the bazooka.  I was expecting alot more from it.  The sound is actually very clean, however it seems that it's not caputring everything that it should.

Current items used for the install:
1. Bazooka BTA-8250D basstube
2. Bazooka FAST-1761 wiring harness
3. Bazooka FAST BTAH harness extension

I am not looking to install an amp, single subwoofer and build a custom box.
I'm looking at the following items:
1. Kenwood KAC-8105D mono amplifier
2. Alpine SWS-10D2
I'm choosing this specific type of amp because it will allow me to use the Bazooka wiring harness without splicing in a line out converter to run RCA wires.

Now onto the actualy Prius driving experience.  Driving the prius is like playing a video game.  There is a Hybrid System Indicator (HSI) screen this tells you which motor (electric or/and fuel) is currently being used.  The goal is to have it west or to the left of the middle line.  There are other driving technique such as pulse and glide that help with improving fuel economy.  The cool thing is that you can program the car with the current gas price and at the end of each driving trip, there is a summary which includes the cost of that drive.

I'm now looking into inpliment a grill blocking stragetry to improve fuel economy during the winter season.  The hybrid system has an optimal engine operating temperature.  However, driving allows for the ambient air temp to lower the engine temp keeping the engine form reaching its optimal operating temp.  Grill blocking allows the heat produced by the motor to stay without really dropping down with the ambient air temp while driving.

To date, I have has 2 gas fill-ups where the 1st tank I average 51.7 mpg and the second- 53.1 mpg.  Not too bad as the engine has just reached its break-in period and I am still learning efficient driving strategies.  I am hoping that the winter-blend fuel doesn't take a huge toll on my fuel economy and banking on the fact of using the grill blocking technique.

I'll report back soon to let you know how things go.

All in all I am very excited to have the car and really love it.  I think the car looks great and is a perfect fit for our needs.

Modifications to date:
1. removed plastic rim covers (removed the 1st night it was taken home)
2. high quality plastic/rubber all weather cargo liner/mat (christmas gift from the wifey)
3. Curt towing hitch for my hitch mount bike rack (christmas gift from the wifey)
4. LED license plate lightbulbs
5. Bazooka powered basstube

Upcoming mods:
1. Different subwoofer and amplifier upgrade
2. full interior LED bulb change out
3. not sure.
 

car shopping

Car shopping.
I sold my Audi A6 a few weeks prior and we had a Sunday after church without any plans. Yea I know, another car, lol. This next car will be one that I will keep till its run to the ground, not literally. This would also be my first brand new car.
The criteria would be:
1. Fuel economy- I wanted something that would be great on gas. Acceleration and performance would be traded off, but I have had a couple fast cars in the past.
2. Looks- I wanted something appealing to the eye, inside and out.
3. Features- all the standard luxuries in addition to a seamless iPhone integration with the factory entertainment system.
4. Reliability/ maintenance- low cost, high quality, and easy to maintain *no more germans/europeans
5. Functionality- I would need to be able to accommodate my bikes. Also, since this would be a car I would be keeping for a long time, I had to forecast the accommodation of a family- baby seat, stroller, luggage...etc.

The contenders:
1. Lexus CT200h- hybrid 4 door hatch. It houses the same hybrid system as the prius, but only EPA rated at 44/40mpg. Great looks, and meets the criteria above, except number 5 above. The chassis is at least a foot shorter than a Prius. Also it is the most expensive vehicle.
2. Toyota Prius generation III- it fits all the criteria above and we know that I works with kids as our friend Kristi has one. The only thing is that it is not the most appealing to look at. Some have describes its looks as a cockroach.

3. Nissan Altima- all new design with a regular fuel motor with EPA 38/27mpg. That's awesome. It looks great inside and out. What turned us off the most about the car is that the salesman sucked and was really able to tell or show us much about the car that a brochure could.

The winner:

2012 Toyota Prius Gen III trim II. This trim is the most basic o from the factory without navigation, however it is a feature that I could do without for the extra $1200. Also, most factory navigation systems are not as good as a dedicated navigation such as a Garmin Nuvi or a TomTom.



We are in no need of a vehicle now as we are managing quite well just being a 1 vehicle household at this time. I have been commuting on my bike, and Desiree as even started to as well.