Darkfoot and the Legend of Rita

Hey, tri-studs. I'm posting this as Hurricane Rita is moving in like that ugly guy with bad breath in the apartment above you back in college. The wind is really picking up, but no rain yet. We should have power for quite some time, so no worries for now. I've got the mp3 player chock full of podcasts and a handful of batteries, so I should have lots of entertainment in any case. Maybe I should go out and record myself trying to ride a bike into the wind?

This podcast (get it here) has me running barefoot in the dark at about 6 AM on Thursday morning. I discuss the koolest of the kool: Fixed-gear bikes. Here is the list of the best websites about this awesome trend - http://www.oldskooltrack.com/, http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/, http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed/. Also, if you like danger on two wheels, don't miss out on this video.

Lastly, here's the link to the newest gadget from Garmin - A GPS-based dedicated bike computer. Maybe you shouldn't buy it, but you can at least know about it first. It's a completely different way to measure distance on your bike.

Marble Falls Videos

Hey, guys. I'm still slacking off after my Half IM, so I thought now would be a good time to put out a few videos that I promised earlier in the year. This one is of the Marble Falls race site. iTunes now has video capability, and I suppose that's cool. I'm not too crazy about videos because they are HUGE and don't last anywhere near as long as audio. Plus, you can't work out and watch them at the same time. But they're a hot item right now, so here you go. Luckily, I have the equipment to make videos for podcasts pretty easily. There's a couple more coming at you soon! Today's can be found at http://triathlon.blankner.com/radio/ZAT_09-20-05.mov.

On a different note, I've been called on duty for emergency response for Hurricane Rita. Our fair city is not only hosting a few thousand Katrina refugees, but we also are the designated evacuation destination for residents of Galveston and other areas. Galveston has been warned to evacuate due to Rita, so we've got double the pressure around here. I wouldn't say that there's over-reacting pressure to react to the potential disaster, more of a blindly obvious fact that we should take advantage of the few days warning we have and get moving NOW. Nobody needed to suggest it, believe me. Let's all keep our fingers crossed. Good luck, everybody!

Tall Texan Half Ironman Triathlon

This podcast is all about the innards of a half Ironman distance triathlon. Listen to the podcast here to find out how I missed winning the swim by 0.8 seconds, blistered my hands on a CO2 cartridge, and met my goal of running the whole 13.1 miles. Do you know how to whiz in your shorts while riding a bike? How to "drop" a drafting swimmer? How to make sure you always have enough electrolytes? Tune in to get the scoop, yos.

Check out the race results and map here. Check out the race location on the Zentri Googlemap here. Music is "Get Busy" by the Beastie Boys.

Rock Solid in Dixie

This is truly a great podcast! It's chock-full of audio from a variety of sources: An interview with Emily after swimming the Tennessee River channel, rock climbing in Georgia, and more, all sandwiched in between a sweet tune by Spoon. Listen to it here. Locations will be posted on the Google Map hack shortly and here is the link to the Rocktown climbing map. Check out the wall action in this photo and imagine how this helps you cross train for swimming.

The next show will be on-site at the Tall Texan half ironman triathlon in Boerne, TX (Just a few miles west of Hell).

Tennessee chillin’

First off, best wishes to all those affected by Katrina. Galveston was
wiped off the face of the Earth in 1900 by a cat 5 hurricane, killing
over 8,000 people (still the worst natural disaster in US history) and
it has never truly recovered. New Orleans will most likely never ever
be the way we remember it, but you never know.

We are currently beteween Chattanooga and Knoxville, TN, and we only
received a day's worth of rain and gusty winds. There were a few people
concerned about us, but no worries here.

So, on to lighter things... Both Emily and I got super sick, giving us
the opportunity to excercise our vomiting and other unmentionable
muscles for 24 hours straight. It most definitely did not rock. We
also swam across a very formidable lake to a deserted island and back,
trading kayak support positions. The last highlight was our drive into
Georgia to go rock climbing. It was probably the most hillbilly area
I've ever seen, and believe me, this Tennessee-Alabama-Texas raised boy
has seen his share. Since I'm familiar with the dixie-factor, I
actually got a real kick out of it. The boulders were on top of an
1,800 foot ridge and miles away from anywhere.

I've got gps points for both the island and the boulders, so the next
podcast will have markers on the ZAT map. Bueno idea on the t-shirts.
If anybody has any ideas for a graphic and text, shoot it my way. If
yours gets picked, your shirt is free. I'm already kinda partial to the
"turn on, tune in, and work out" slogan. ;)

--thirdcoast