Is that a ghost in the window or just Emily???

Sheffield Island Lighthouse

While out on a lighthouse tour with the in-laws a couple weeks ago I came to a realization; I miss my kayak. This was the first time I was out by the lighthouse and not in my kayak. After work or on weekends it was such a great escape to venture off and explore the great islands we have. It's also the most fun type of cross-training i can do in the summer. At the time I thought it was a good idea to sell but now i'm regreting it.


My Current Designs Soltice GTS Kayak, Fast, Stable and an Excellent tracker!


Goin out to do some fishing and clamin, roughly 2 summers ago.


Emily and i are checking our budget to see if we can afford to get a pair of some sit-on-top ones. We shall see???

Richmond Xterra + 2 flats + No back brakes = DNF!

AHHHH ERRRRRRR SON OF..............! So my 2nd yr (trying to make it as serious as it can be) Xterra Race season isFrustrating!

So i got my first DNF (did not finish).

Second mechanical in 09.

-It all started 1mile into the bike, yes 1mile. Back Brake lever pin lost, no back brakes, WHAT! WHEN THE HECK DID THIS HAPPEN? Riding from the hotel to the venue and warm-up all brakes were there??
-Second, Front rim/tire couldn't hold up with me applying 100% of braking power with only the front brake, especially on cornering and descents.

-Fall 1 happened in a loose corner, tire burp, quick Co2 fix.
-Fall 2 somehow on an up hill corner (yes an up hill fall), did a commando style tumble roll (uphill) with my bike but had to toss that sucker in order to save myself from a nice little 5 ft drop off. I grabbed a little tree and told him to be strong with his little roots. Front Tire off rim, stans sealant dripping everywhere, blood from elbow and knee, my new race suit torn about 2inches from my jewels, was given another Co2 but no hold, air was now coming through valve.........game over.

I could have rode the additional 10 or so miles in on the rim or ran it in but that's not what i came here to do. I really want to push full throttle on every discipline. So as hard as it was for me to except this outcome it was still an experience I've come to find out almost every triathlete will encounter at some point.

The most depressing part was the way i felt which was GREAT! Meaning, i felt the best i have all season and then i got shut down. I was all there, mind/body & wattage. My bike had swine flu i guess?

NYCMTB

NYCMTB.COM
What a day, what a race.
Dom Gillen (my coach/awesome dude) and I made it into NYC in about :50min. This left us only about 3HOURS TILL RACE START! It got delayed a bit. Heading home it took 3.5! Damn Yankee game!
The first 2 miles of the course were very very technical, slipperry but fun. Dom started 1min ahead in the pro field, I followed in the Expert CAT 1 30-39. First hard turn I see Dom changing a flat, he lost 6min fixing it and still manged to chase the pro field down to get first! Dom Dominated! As for myself i ended the day 4th of 10, 3rd passed me with a lap to go, pissed!

results:
http://www.nycmtb.com/highbridge/All-City-Results-09.pdf

Some Pics:

TT shot



This one is my Favorite. The lesson learned from this photo is told in caption below:

"Don't look @ Graffitti while MTB racing, you run over semi-big rocks!"

-Other interesting notes while racing in the city:

-Saw (not witness) a accident where a car drove through a giant fence??
-NYC Bridges are spooky underneath.
-I drank coconut water for the first time, pretty good energy drink, i guess.
-My favorite, the many live stock stores we drove by. Dom saw the chicken coops inside one store, the other featured a sign that had a chicken holding a machete chasing a crab (?), a duck and a bunny. WHAT THE.....thats NYC for u.

Peace, next weekend Richmond XTERRA. Well maybe, I can't swim 100% as of yet.

Father -in- Law Fishing Report

We had some pretty crappy weather with 3-5ft swells. Craig says i tried to kill him and that I tripped him on the boat which led to his fall. Craig caught the first fish of the day within an 1hr of our charter, at that point I thought to myself it would be a good day but it wasn't until about 2.5hrs later till our next catch:( We ended the day catchin about 7 fish within the last hr of our trip (all striped bass, no keepers). I believe Craig had a good time and it was the least I could do considering all the times he's taken me up to strawberry reservoir for big ol trout! I'm not in any pictures mainly cause I wanted to catch Craig in action, fishing that is, not falling:)

Craig's ready!

Capt. Sal

We tried to chum and bait fish here for some Bluefish, no luck:(

1 of Craig's many fine little catches with our buddy Brian doin the work.

The father, the probation officer, THE FISHERMAN!

NEXT TIME WERE CATCHIN RECORD BLUES!