Hi All,
Wow, this summer is flying by! First a quick update on our High Cloud children from Peru. I am happy to report that two weeks ago we received $1600 from a generous contributor to re-build our High Cloud School in Lima! Cheers to that! We have sent $4600 dollars so far and the construction project is going superb! I will have some pictures for you guys soon!
Now, back to the Snapple/High Cloud adventures, this summer we have had so many activities going on that we can barely stay at home! I didn’t want to let the July chapter end before updating you on Vineman 70.3! Let me tell you that it was an amazing experience!
Swim aka “foggy swim along the beautiful redwood forest!”: This swim takes place in the Russian River, the water temperature is actually warmer than the temperature outside. Some portions were so shallow that with my stroke I was touching the bottom! Really crazy, I thought that I was swimming in a little kiddy pool! Although the river has a current I think this is one of the safest swim of the entire IM 70.3 series. You can literally touch the ground during the whole swim. I saw tons of athletes walking while the rest of us would swim. The course goes along the river and you swim underneath two bridges, going out against the current, my left leg was hurting a bit, not sure why, maybe because I was already tired from racing the Double MusselMan the weekend before.
Bike aka “Vino paradise!”: This course is simply spectacular! You literally go on an amazing cycle exploration and climb along hundreds and hundreds of vineyards and wineries. Just beautiful! The first 18 miles were cold and foggy but afterwards the sun came out and it got really hot!
So, one little thing happen during this epic hilly ride: Around mile 35 I saw that my handlebars were a bit tilted to the left side so while riding I tried to straighten them out and while doing that the whole handlebar piece came off and of course I almost wiped out holding the handlebars in my hands! So, I immediately reacted, unclipped and was able to stop. I began thinking what I could do and given that I didn’t have anything to put the handlebars back on, I started to walk with my bike asking every single rider that would pass if they had a multi tool. After walking for about 10 minutes (really thinking that my race could be over if I couldn’t get the handlebars back on the bike), one athlete stopped and loaned me his multi tool. Thank you Jimmy! Thank you for stopping and helping me out! This is the true power of sportsmanship!
Once Laila (aka my bike) was fixed I was motorized again and continued enjoying the climbs of this wine country tour. When I finished the bike course I was thankful that the handle bars stayed on. I was thinking about sharing this scary experience with you guys. Really, the lesson learned from this is that whenever you are flying your bike to race somewhere, make double sure that every single piece of your bike is really tight once the bike mechanic puts it back together. Another lesson is that you really have the power within yourself to change how you react to adversity. My approached in this case was: Okay, I am going to keep on walking my bike until I get to the next aid station or I meet someone on the road who can help me out. Never give in! The best way to handle change is through positive thinking and visualization. Definitely the power to change our reality lies within us!
Here are some pics of Laila getting shipped to California (Thanks Pro Bicycle shop!) and some pics of what I saw during this bike exploration at Vineman.
Now, lets talk about the run!
Run aka “Tour through La Crema winery”: This run had an exceptional challenge the whole way. You basically go up and down up and down running through beautiful vineyards and a very famous winery called “La Crema”. I was really enjoying this course and although it was really hot and my left foot was hurting (I have been having this pain since Musselman , ouch why are we triathletes sometimes chronically dealing w/injuries?)
In summary guys, this race is definitely a thumbs up! Although this race was way more challenging than the Double Musselman in NY (which we did the weekend before), I improved my 70.3 time even though I had to walk the bike for 10 minutes and spent 6 minutes in T2 trying to find my shoes. Is this an indicator that my Tri legs like this type of terrain? Or was the wine motivation that pushed me to be a bit faster? Maybe the wine made all the difference! :)
I would like to bring some more of our team members to this race next year! It is definitely worth it. Ah, during this event we met with Arturo, the race director of Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico. He was very interested in having our team and age group athletes racing there. More to follow about this awesome opportunity.
These are a few pics of what I saw during the run:
After the race, we went to an amazing Winery called Rodney Strong, we did some awesome Wine tasting. walked through the huge vineyards and bought some of course VINO! (Chardoney, Camelot Sauvignon and Merlot). Then we went to Subway to get an awesome California style sub, went to an amazing bakery that we discovered in the middle of downtown San Francisco and we continued our celebration and High Cloud meetings with some friends and more VINO! Salute to you for reading this blog!
Great wine at Rodney Strong Winery and Yummy bread at Boudin Bakery - Our Favorite!
Now I leave you with the quote of the week: “Wine Opens The Seals of The Heart!” Horace
Stay tuned guys; next week I will tell you about our successful inaugural PeasantMan reaching the High Cloud Triathlon which was this past Sunday! The hard work has paid off and our children received sooo many contributions!!
This weekend I will be riding 108 miles on Sat then working on High Cloud ed. projects and our mission to Kenya. On Sunday, I will be doing Culpepper Sprint! Send us a note if you will be at Culpeper! I would love to see you there!
Thanks for reading, thanks to our amazing sponsors for allowing to live our dreams, hugs and see you next week with more chronicles!
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