Alley Cat!

Check out this podcast to hear what it's like to race through traffic at night from checkpoint to checkpoint. It's called alleycat racing and it's p-s-y-c-h-o. Actually, it's a ton of fun and I'd like to thank Jayme for pulling me into the dark, seedy underworld of bike messenger culture and showing us some scary bike skills. If you want to find out more about this sub-counter-culture, take your sissy ass over to www.trackstarnyc.com and leave your spandex covered "Should I wait at the light?" fear at the door. Here's a photo of us on our fixies.

Next, Jumpy (our Chief Midwestern Chief Correspondant) sent me some audio from the Twin Lakes Tri in the Chicago 'burbs. His bit is around 10 minutes long and includes interviews with some HAC's. Niiiiiiice.

Towards the end, I drag you along with me on a 10 mile trail run where I kick off my shoes and barefoot it. I was running in a bottomland swamp during a downpour and eventually turned around because I was sure to end up in a nest of cottonmouths (a very aggresive and deadly pit viper snake). I did the 10 miles with my Camelbak holding a half frozen bladder and sucked down 2 Clif Shots along the way. The dripping trees and swampy conditions made it seem like I was running through a tropical rain forest.

At the beginning and end, you can hear my nephew contributing to the show. Marcus actually helped me edit the Alleycat portion and has demonstrated some talent for this stuff. Maybe we'll hear more from him someday. Thanks, Marky!

Oh, and I'm still looking for sponsors for the Arizona IM. If you're interested or know somebody who is, send me a message at texafornia at gmail.com.

Hate Mail to Barnes and Noble

I sat down with my laptop to do a ton of work at Barnes and Noble on Sunday morning, assuming that they had free wireless internet (this is 2006, right?), only to be confronted with a "please pay ATT Wireless $3.95 for two hours" page. I can go to my local ice skating rink and get free wireless, so why would such a progressive bookstore be asking for such a steep rate? I was very irritated, especially because I had dragged a 1.5 year old in there with me and all my crap to do some work. I bitched about it at work and found that lots of people knew about this and NOBODY liked it. Of course, the only way to initiate change is to let people know. Here's a copy of my complaint form to B&N. Wake up!

"I was very disappointed to find out that your store in College Station, TX charges for wireless internet. I lugged my child and laptop in there for coffee and to buy a magazine and get some work done when I found out that it costs almost 4 dollars for two hours of access. I (and everyone else) am already paying for internet at home and I'm not going to pay more, especially when I can get it for free at almost every other business I go to. I packed up my child and laptop and went to Coffee Station instead and spent my money there. I also was telling people at work and in my neighborhood about this situation and they said that even DAIRY QUEEN has free wireless internet. Please quit charging for it so that I may go back to your store and spend my money while doing my work and not feel like I'm getting ripped off. You'll attract far more customers that way than charging for it."

I feel bad for airing my complaint to everybody, but it was very annoying to drive there, drag everything in, then have to do it all over again to go to a place with coffee and free internet. Let's hope they open up their access and quit charging for what's free everywhere else and losing business over it. I know it'll change someday soon anyway, but the sooner the better.

Dinner with the Triathlete Family

Join me, Emily, and Kai for dinner as I try to hold the house down and record a podcast at the same time. (Click Here to Listen!)

The infamous Triborg 5000 starts off the show with his recommendation on pre-race fine dining, followed by audio from IronJay describing what sounds to be a terrible injury from racing. But, that's not even the beginning. I also play "He is Lance" and is dedicated to the listener who, much like Emily, has a huge crush on Mr. Armstrong. Giggles!

I've also got a high quality recording from Jumpy doing the Batavia Triathlon along with some friends. I picked out Chuck Norris's Beard in that group and then Jumpy interviews the race winner. Next, I've included audio from Scott and his review of the Skyline-Harlem Criterium in Harlem, NY. Lastly, I've got Jetpack's first attempt at recording himself and I have to say it's pretty good. It's got bits of him trying to transition from bike to run and also of his mother fretting over his safety. I think we've all been there!

Intermingled in all that audio I talk about a variety of subjects. I blab about weight loss, alleycat racing, and so much more. One of the subjects is sunscreen, and you gotta check out this video from 20/20. It features one of my pet peeves, the inability to pause or rewind, so here's the goods: You want sunscreens with one of the following ingredients: zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, avobenzone, or parsol 1789... but try to use products with the first two. Avobenzone degrades very quickly, but you can look for a stabilizer (for the avobenzone) called "helioplex" available in just these two products - Aveeno continuous Protection sunblock lotion and Neutrogena Age Shield. There's one ingredient the rest of the civilized world is using that isn't available in the U.S.A called Mexoryl, but we're either too good or too stupid to use it safely in the States. Damned dirty UVA rays!

Hold on a moment, I'd like to have a technical segment here. I've been watching the releases of MP3 players forever and a very good one has just come out. Getting one of the highest reviews possible from CNET, the Creative Zen V will be on shelves probably in mid July. It's one of the few players I'd recommend for triathletes that performs on par (actually better) than the iPod Nano. 1, 2, and 4 gig models will be available and they are all flash-based, so you can really beat the suckers up and they'll keep rockin'. They are small and lightweight, so they're perfect for running and biking and don't get in the way when traveling or just carrying along with you during the day. I'm saving up for one right now. (Prices range from $119 to $229.) With and OLED screen and the ability to play video, FM radio, record line-in, and record memos, this baby has the Nano beat on price and functions. The only detractor is that it currently won't function as an external drive. That could change with a firmware update, so we'll see how that pans out. Check out a full review here.

Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast to find out what "sebaka" means and how I found out.

Injury and Prevention (of the Lower Leg)

Hey, Tri-studs! Coach Adam joins us for another phone chat session podcast, but this time he brings along "Eskimo" who works for Biomotion; a company that analyzes injury through motion analysis. We have a variety of other guests on the line as well and the show runs a very informative hour and a half long. Click here to listen.

Another famous friend who pops in is the Tri-Geek Kahuna. Hear him talk about his calf injury and discover some ideas about how to treat his problem. You can always hear more of his own podcast show at Tri-Geek Dreams.

Audio has been piling in, including lots of stuff from listeners and even music samples from my own family, so I've Also, we should welcome Cara and Elizabeth back from their trip abroad. Hear some funny details of their experiences by checking out intransitduo.com

Jetpack Arrives!

Join me for a scorching bike ride as I play "Pent Up" by CBA, some voice

mails, hold an initial review of the Adeo, and then go running with the

one and only Jetpack.

Listen to the Podcast here!

I first heard CBA's "Pent Up" at the tail end of a Slashdot Review

podcast a couple weeks ago. I was very impressed with the tune's

Zen-like sounds and depth, especially the asian flute and buddhist monk

chants. You can download this song yourself at garageband.com

Voicemails include one from a listener in Chicago and a second one from

Jetpack saying he might come visit.

The Adeo is an audio-GPS from Motionlingo and certainly one of the most

interesting gadgets I've seen. I'm still testing it, but I can say that

this is the GPS for you if you listen to MP3s and don't like to have a

bulky GPS on your wrist. I can see lots of variations of this

technology coming in the future. Make sure to listen to the podcast to

hear the Adeo call out information as I'm working out. More review yet

to come! Here's a pic of the unit -

Lastly, Jetpack arrived in town and we went for a 5k run. We recorded it for the podcast and all of us stayed up late talking about triathlon, surviving cancer, and lots more. Jetdriver wants to try to do my next self-supported ironman with me, so I'm going to organize it around his schedule sometime this November.

Emily and I are getting ready to go tubing down the Guadalupe River with her family, so I've gotta cruise. I'll leave you with a funny picture from Jetdriver's visit. He had a "I do my own stunts" shirt that Kai and I had as well!