The past week I’ve done way more time on my bike and in the water than pounding pavement. I want to make sure my bruised heel is good and healed (notice my proper homonym usage) before I abuse it too much. Greg’s aqua jogging (he calls it water-running) recommendations have been helpful to up my […]
Author Archives: Ben
Vancouver ITU World Championships -The Insider’s View
Peggy McDowell-Cramer sent me an email a couple days ago. Whenever I see her name in my inbox I get excited. Like before Alcatraz I was whining about my fear of sharks in the bay. Peggy sent me a note that said:
ben, drop the shark thoughts. just race, keeping in mind how you want to do each leg thereof.
i had a sailing mishap (rudder broke, dumped me) in the bay 40 years ago this july 31/august 1. went over in the middle, directly out from the sf airport. boat then sank. i swam for about 15 hours. never felt a fish. thought about sharks only once, doubted sincerely that they came into the non-interesting bay, and forced myself not to think of it again.
peggy
Seriously, how can you argue with somebody who comes loaded with stories like that? This week it was Peggy’s race report from the 2008 ITU World Championships in Vancouver
Is ITU draft legal racing easier the non-drafting?
No. That was rhetorical. It’s an all out effort, so by definition it is as hard as you an go. The real question is: does drafting make the bike leg so easy that it doesn’t test anyone? I don’t think so. People still get dropped (though not in the World Cups so much, but how […]
Such a good day
I woke up way too early today so I could swim in the Belvedere Lagoon with a bunch of working stiffs that have to catch a 7:20 ferry to San Francisco. I made fun of a few people for swimming poorly, which I regret. Normally when I’m mean about swimming I follow it up with […]
Escape From Alcatraz
Sunday morning I awoke to the smell of fresh oatmeal. My host family, the Rosens, were up before me, and Anna (a wonderful cook) had boiled up a fresh batch of my prerace meal. After getting used to cold oatmeal before races, this was awesome, and it set my mood for the day. It would […]
The Full Monte
My friend Bob took me out near Alcatraz on his boat Friday afternoon so I could see some dolphins, some seals, sailboats, tourists piling on and off ferries, and the start of the Escape From Alcatraz swim course. I had decided that I would go sans wetsuit because I wanted to suffer. I figured if […]
Classic White
I updated my web sight software last night. Now it looks good in IE and Firefox (the pretty white background only worked in IE before). At least, I think its all working better. If you happen to come across a page that looks wrong, or a link that doesn’t work, please let me no (sew […]
Race Plan
I don’t like secrets, so I feel like I should air my laundry. That way come Sunday everyone knows exactly what to expect. What mean is, here’s my race plan: Swim 1.5miles from a boat in the bay to a Marina in San Francisco. I’m going to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible, […]
China Town
I have three good friends that were born 24 days before me on June 3rd 1983. Tyler, JT, and Tracy. Every year I call all three (and I probably only remember it because there’s three o them). I didn’t think I would see any of them this year because I’m in San Francisco. Much to […]
Gas Pipes
"Uncle Ben! I just had a gasser!!" This is about the most coherent thing Piper ever says to me. And she says it every time she toots. And she toots more than a USC frat house. So I hear that line a lot. Sometimes, however, when she says "Uncle Ben, I just had a gasser!" […]