Pants Off Racing

Location: Wokcano, Santa Monica

To celebrate the start of a new race website and kick off a crazy week of application blitzes Team POR hit the bar this Sunday. To celebrate such an encouraging number of applications and fresh ideas coming in, POR took the party to the deck of Wokcano.

The Lakers had barely won and the bar just flipped on its side. Team POR turned into Team SOR (shirts off racing) when Bone Saw hit the dance floor and channeled his inner Rock God. Wokcano was happy to have all of us and said the season ending party should also be there. So you are all invited next time, bring an extra shirt and your sun glasses.

Attention Team Members: Please note the following graph that one POR team member found while driving a Kia.  We will not comment on the fact that he was driving a kia.

Splash and Dash – Location: Huntington Beach

Race report called for sting rays. Wadley really wanted to pee on someone, so he was looking for them before the race. The race was free since Wadley’s breast friend was a lifeguard for it. Thank God Matt came up too to support and take lots of ribs of us in our 6K race. Without him we wouldn’t have these ribs to share with you.

Wadley killed the course and took 4^th. I made sure I took my time to enjoy the scene, and I only swim when a race comes around. Practicing is over rated. Prolly why I haven‘t felt comfortable in my wetsuit yet.

Anyway, great day for a race, but the distance was a little short, waking up at 6am was awfully fun though. On to the next weekend/race.

This month’s honorary team member is Michael Phelps.  Its hard to deny such a great mustache.  It should be team-mandated, but I guess we can just wait until December to make that mandatory.  Happy Training, Michael.

Yo,

I’m not sure if I can post directly on the website so I’ll just send this to you two clowns to put up.

This was probably the most organized race I have done.  Everything was easy from checking in to parking, etc. They had a lot of prize money, so a lot of pros showed up including Happy Days own Richie Cunningham.

PRERACE:
Port-A-Potty – great.
Blew a tube 20 mins before the race filling my tires with air because I need to have some kind of panic prior to the race.

SWIM:
The swim was great.  This was my first race using a full body (including arms) wetsuit and I definitely felt the difference. I felt light and smooth.  As usual, it took me a minute catch my breath and get into a smooth rhythm, but after that I felt great the whole swim.  It was a similar course shape to Austin (a triangle).  I stayed to the outside most of the time and managed to only kicked once and punched once which is a record low. All in all uneventful and I’ll take that every time on my swim.  31 minutes out of the water and back into Quassy Amusement Park.

T1:
Did not wear my race shirt under the wetsuit which is a mistake I won’t make again.  This was by far the worst part of my race.  I angrily shouted at my only fan to go away as I panicked trying to put that stupid shirt on.

BIKE:
As advertised, the bike was the toughest part of the course. To make it worse on those long climbs I had a squeak in my bike for some of the long climbs. And there were a lot of long descents which were fun too.  Miles 24-31 was torture, but I was able to hold on my own and happy to report that there were no disasters.  I still can’t change a flat so I just pray that I won’t be left on the side of the road somewhere crying.  This is where I was expecting to drop time from Austin and although I wasn’t flying I did a 250 which I was fine with.
And everyone favorite part , eating.  I had a mini Clif Bar, my favorite GEL (Espresso), some jelly beans and a new bottle of water at each station (about every 10 miles).  This will play a factor in the next part.

T2:
Much easier transition.  However, there were no port a potty’s in the transition area and I didn’t want to wait for one along the course so I ran to the amusement park bathroom much to the amusement of all the surrounding bystanders.  It was a little surreal and I think I frightened a couple people in the bathroom.  All and all, no big deal and I was now ready for a comfortable run.

RUN:
My legs felt great from the start and after the first couple of miles I knew I had a good run in me.  I was reeling people in and feeling good.  The run is the reason I even do these triathlons. There was no quadzilla here, but Mile 3-4 was the ‘K-Swiss mile’ which may not sound intimidating but was a pretty good hill in its own right.  I was happiest to pass a couple pro females.  Anyway, the whole way I was thinking I must be ready for Wisconsin because I could probably bang out a full marathon if need be. But there was another huge hill at 12 and someone not to far in front of me got hit by a car, so I was happy to finish at mile 13.  Ran just over 90 minutes (including the t2 bathroom spot I beleive) which is what I was shooting for.  Just over 5 hours over the race, so if I could put a shirt on I would have broken 5 is the way i think about it.

Anyway, great race and I just read that they will be having their first full in 2010 almost a year to the date of Ironman Wisconsin.  And its in your home country, OHIOOOOOOOO.
http://www.rev3tri.com/!/blog/2009-06-12-cedarPoint.html
I bet Geege would even do it Because its at Cedar Point.

The following link has some photos. Zoe has some more that I’ll send over.
http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?PID=bp%1EyFu&EVENTID=53236&PWD=&BIB=580

My team (Runner’s Edge) won the team competition which was cool.
After the 2 hour ride home it was time for 4 softball games with the Angry Beavers and a 5 mile race the next night.
As opposed to Austin where I was out of commission for a week, my legs felt great and I was able to get right back into training.

I still owe you an application and $1 but I think it’s about time you put me on the website.

Peace Brothers.

Mooseman Race Report, Olympic Distance – Bristol, NH

From the mouth of team member: Gerhard

Travel to the Race:
The 5 hour drive from New York is not for the faint of heart or bladder. This is like driving to Vegas on Friday and back on Saturday, except that you’re not gambling or meeting cougars like Pat. Rather you’re driving to Vegas to subject your body to unknown dimensions of pain. On a positive note, the New Hampshire towns and forests are beautiful, and quintessentially New England. If I was driving with my girlfriend it could even be romantic. However, I was driving with Brenden, who decided to pass another car by crossing a double yellow at 90mph in a 50mph zone, while a cop from the Henniken county PD was driving towards us in the other lane. By 1:30am, we managed to get Brenden bailed out and crawled into bed around 2am, allowing us to wake refreshed at 5:30am for the race at 7:00am.

Swim:
The swim is in the pristine waters of Newfound Lake. The temperature was approximately 60 degs on race day. The water was glassy and very swimmable. It tasted good. Even with a kick to the goggles I could still see some fish at the bottom. A single simple triangular loop. The in-water start was about 500 yards down the beach from the exit. Buoys to your left all the way round.

T1:
Exit the lake into T1 across a few steps of beach. Be sure to have a towel to clean off your feet. I had more problems with dirt on this race than any other, for some reason. I was covered with twigs, leaves and random dirt. Oh, and they have wet suit peelers but I couldn’t locate an incredible good-looking girl to strip me down, so I avoided the male trolls and took off my own suit. Fast transition area, although I didn’t make the best use of it (being my first race of the season I fumbled a little). Bike racks are numbered with enough space for everybody’s bikes (for a change!)

Bike:
The bike course can best be described as ‘rolling’. It is a single loop around Newfound Lake (yup, the same one you swim in) and there is a steep pitch at about 6 miles in but aside from that this course can be attacked. Smart and frequent gear selection is crucial and will allow you to maintain speed through many of the rolling sections. The final 6 miles of the loop are fast and technical. My personal takeaway – need more bike training before the next race. The road surfaces are pretty good for the most part with some bumpy section. Almost no traffic and very scenic, especially when you have clear views of the lake or when driven past some of that New England scenery. Gatorade and water provided.

T2:
Again, fast transition. Did a little better than T1. However, my bike shoes were hard packed with mud when I got home. I had to dive in there with a bucket of water, a tootbrush and one of my girlfriend’s bobby pins to clean the muck out of my speedplay cleats. Can’t do much about it though.

Run:
The run is 6 miles out and back along the lake road. There is a pretty decent climb on the way out but the run was easy and fast. Can
definitely be dominated if you go into this race well trained. Problem is that it’s early in the season, but you can really open the throttle on this biatch. Had some twitches in my calves so I lost a little time around mile 4. As a reward for finishing the race, the final 100 yards is pure sand along the beach of the lake, before you head in towards about 50 yards of home stretch and the finish line.

Overall:
Swim 30:15, Bike 1:27:00, Run 44:44, Total 2:46:34. The race is really very well managed by the same people that do Timberman. The whole moose festival is excellent, the course is nice and the lake has the cleanest water I’ve even swum in (in America). Volunteers are great, all aid stations are well manned and stocked with the usual provisions. There’s tent camping at Camp Wicosuta, or plenty of
accommodation in the surrounding areas. My driving buddy up there will have his day in court in August. New Hampshire…Live Free or Die.

TEAM POR, let’s get long winded

Synopsis –

1. Start sending in stuff for us to post, workouts, ribs, bios, random crap that makes this fun for all
2. Bio’s will be posted on the team page, check them out, they are sweet
3. D.R. Amato is a bored clown, he needs you to keep him busy this year
4. Sponsorships are on their way

And the long version:

POR is off to a quick start. Bio’s and dollar bills are flying in at a good pace. El president, DR, is super bored this summer, so it is our job to keep him occupied while he lives under the iron curtain of his parent’s house (as apparently many of our members still do!! Ha)! Between his text messaging and run/bike/swim schedule, he has found plenty of time to upload ur sweet as “ribs” (pics to the lay person, text messaging scrambles this word).

We need more updates from all of you, so send some updates to us and we can post them and some ribs of what you are doing. Keep them as short or long as you want. The mission of this group is to have fun and keep people motivated in the process. We can only be as strong as the team, so hearing about ur conquests and struggles will be helpful for everyone. Plus it is always fun to hear from someone other than DR, or the Treasurer.

So far we have had a lot of great stuff come in. Pleasant surprises, like Ex Step Cousin Binger’s headshot (he’s a model, idiot) keep this whole thing interesting. Apparently girls can be left handed too, according to a bio by some chick nicknamed Taylor (she’s 5’8” in stilettos). Mike Big Daddy Bulfin also claims to be 5’8” but he must have been drinking too much wild turkey, because even soaking wet and in a speedo he is about 5’3”! Jams Wilson, you love babes. Awesomely said, we need more abbes on the team, and POR is all about babes. I think that ranks right up there with Wild Turkey.

So your job right now is to keep checking on the website, pick a workout plan and stick to it enough that you will feel the best you have since college, even if that was a couple weeks ago. One of the added benefits of this is that you can join Rohn Amato at the summer’s tour de county fairs, and eat whatever you want without even gaining so much as a love handle. This is your quick fix to the munchies.

We are excited to say that our intended sponsor letters to Wild Turkey, Splish, Zoot Sports, Istria Café, Jupiter Pro Lawn Care, Powerbar, Sports Beans, and Team Helium are on their way. As sponsors for POR, they should help us to make things on the site better and keep you clothed (barely) for the seasons to come. Uniforms are still being addressed, we will have some race ones and some shirts that will be done soon. We have a few preliminary and primitive designs, so please let the ideas and creativity flow and submit designs if your brain is at all creative.

As for the team, we have currently found a home in nearly every major city in the country, and some even abroad. We are still looking for someone in Luxembourg, but I am sure that will come soon! Our current headquarters are now in Holland Ohio with major hubs in LA, Boston, Austin, Solana Beach (CA), NYC, Chicago, London, Cleveland, South bend, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, Columbus, ‘Nati, Kalamazoo, Memphis, Scottsdale, Portland, Orlando, the country of South Africa, Baltimore, DC, and even Pascagoula Mississippi!!

Anyway, keep the spirit up. Those with addictions to Wild Turkey, exercise, and helping fight this pancreatic bug are all counting on you. We will soon have more people than we can keep track of, unless you have more time than our current president. Travel and race plans for the next season (2010) will be sent out in the coming months, and we will make sure we have a board vote. So someone with the ability will have to set up a conference call is needed, and we can all call in and have our board meeting. It will be in the form of a baseball fantasy league draft so make sure you have your picks in a list, and a case of high life or natty ice handy next to your buffalo wings and sports gu’s.

Enjoy your week, and keep getting your friends signed up.

Sy

3.

Team Members: Pat Amato, Dan Pelner

Location: Auburn, CA

Event: World’s Toughest Trithlon, Half-Ironman

Date: May 31, 2009