Zentri goes to Boulder, CO

I traveled to another Triathlon Mecca this weekend and recorded a podcast in Boulder, CO. I was hanging out with Bolder in Boulder, Roman, IronWil, Stu, and reps and owners from Zipp, BMC, Colorado Multisport, D3 Multisport, CycleOps (Powertap) and Boulder Center for Sports Medicine.
We were put through the same testing and fitting that the pros get and then we got the classes on how to handle their gear and prepare for coaching. I snagged some great audio as we were put through the paces and it's the kinda stuff that you'd usually only hear if you were a pro. It was just about the coolest experience I've ever had in the sport. Check out the photos here and CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

SHOWNOTES -

• Flight crew announcing landing.


• Airport security hates titanium.


• I meet Stu and Roman at Luggage.


• Chat with Stu, Roman, and IronWil in the car on the way to Boulder.


• Bike fit on a Serrota Fit Cycle with Tim and Ryan from Colorado Multisport.


• Bolder interviewing me like I'm Jan Ullrich at the Boulder Center of Sports Medicine (This is a MUST LISTEN!)


• What was in the 2XU box.


• Friday dinner with the bigwigs.


• Swimming in the snow and the BMC rep doing laps in my lane.


• Angry lady trying to hog a lane.


• Mike Ricci takes us out for a run and drills.


• Classes from the sponsors about how to use their stuff.


• Michelle from Wisconsin picked as new member.


• John from Trirunnersroost meets us at the Horny Toad.


• I drink too much Fullers ESB and talk Texan... And then lose my camera.


• Hanging out with Roman as we cruise around town and talk shop.


• Passing time with Security at Houston Intercontinental.


• Big thanks to Outwin (on Triscoop), InTransitDuo, and Greg.


• Continental loses my luggage.

Zentri Meetup in Boulder!

The biggest event in Triscoop and Zentri history will be happening this Saturday (Oct. 21st) in Boulder Colorado. We are having a Listener and Reader Meetup at The Hungry Toad where you can hang out with the likes of:

SimplyStu from SimplyStu's Triathlon Podcast
Iron Wil from Through Th3 Wall
The Kahuna from TriGeek Dreams
Brett from Zen and The Art of Triathlon (That's me!)
Roman from Everyman Triathlon
and Bold from Bolder in Boulder

We'll kick off at 6 pm, so let us know if you're coming. I'll be recording for the show, so here's your chance to be on a podcast!

Gettin’ the Skinny on Fixies

I've noticed two really cool posts on raceAthlete.com lately. The first is about Duane, a guy who's lost a ton of weight and is well on his way to being a competitive triathlete. You have to check out the posting and see where this guy is coming from. What a story! (Very inspiring video)

The next posting is one that gets me right in my little fixie heart. This blogger found a 1973 steel bike and is turning it into a fixie winter trainer. Not only that, but he's planning on riding it in the winter in Wisconsin. I've heard rumors that fixies ride better on snow and ice because you have more control over the rear wheel, but I'm just a simple Texan and we don't have those problems here.

RaceAthlete.com is not just a sponsor, it's a really cool collection of tri-related entertainment that is fun to check out. Updated often, there's always something interesting to see, hear, or read there. Enjoy!

Celebratory Nuun Package Opening Video

Check out the box of Nuun I got in the mail the other day! I filmed the unpackaging and dropping the fizzy goodness into a glass of water. Like I say in the video, www.nuun.com is a very cool website to check out. The FAQs are really funny.

What’s Up with all the Brown? (Part 2 on a Series on Style)

Styles come and go. It used to be by decades: the Flappers in the 20's, Hippies in the 60's, seafoam green and disco in the 70's, and neon Ultra Hot stickers on the back glass in the 80's. In the 90's, things started to change. The same old trends came again but then left in a few years. In the 2000's, recycled trends are lasting just a few months to minutes before collapsing on the fashion floor. The next one is bound to last only a few days, so pay attention!

Let's be real. Brown is fuggin' ugly. It's supposed to be. It's the color of a turd, of sewer water, and of unidentifiable leftovers in the back of your fridge. Make no mistake, every trendy color is a statement of our current society. Remember how popular dark green was in the late 90's? Every Ford Taurus probably started out that color and had to be changed by the owner if he/she wanted something different. Well, the late 90's was a booming economy and green equals money. Got it? Pay attention, we're going to move really fast now.

Brown is quite possibly the color that symbolizes confusion and complacency. We're mired in a war, but it's far away (in a brownish place) and not going so well. Our economy is either great or in the crapper, depending on where you get your news. Congress just voted to effectively take away Habeas Corpus (the right for a ruler to have to show a reason why he's locking up somebody), probably our most important right and named in the Magna Carta in 1215, but nobody seems to care. When you're sad, you're blue. When you're scared, you're yellow. When you've got your head up your ass, well, all you see is brown. By the way, this isn't a political blog. It's just a commentary on society's nuances, so take any conservative vs. liberal vs. whatever commentary elsewhere. I'm usually too tired from a bike ride to argue about political stuff.

I was listening to The Spokesmen the other day and heard them talking about how many brown bikes there are in the lineup for next year. It's going to be the next colour de jour. Microsoft is releasing it's new Zune media player, their biggest gamble in years, in three colors: Black, white, and... brown? Yup. Brown. Who makes electronics in brown? Is it also strange that the hottest gadget lately may not be brown but is named Chocolate? And to bring the argument full circle, I scored a triathlon shirt last summer in glorious dark brown. I even had choices and still picked the poop color. And guess what? Right now, it looks pretty good.

If I welded a sociologist to a psychologist, not only would that be a really cool experiment, but the resulting very annoying person would tell you that the average person in the U.S. in 2006 would be reaching for brown in his closet or on her bike for a reason. Internally, it's comforting and staid, grounding (ah, there's that brown color again - ground) the individual against all this turmoil and confusion in his external world. Eh, maybe we should weld Bob Roll to Missy Giove instead - much more fun.

Unfortunately, you don't have much time to take advantage of this trend. The North Koreans will either nuke all of us or just themselves in short work, ending much of our head scratching with some sort of conclusion, so the time to act is now! Here are some choices that will work well:

Brown pants with a blue shirt.

Wearing normal clothes and receiving a package from UPS.

Blue jeans with a brown shirt.

Your used 2007 brown bike on Ebay in 2008 because you can't stand it anymore.