Jet Boat Vacation

Ben & I went on a jet boat tour down the Hells Canyon. It was a 200 mile round trip taking about 9 hours counting stops. At the turn around spot the rapids were class 4 and we went through a couple of them. I was a bit afraid. We saw lots of wildlife such as deer, eagle, a family of otters, mountain goats, and lots of birds. It was fun. Afterwards we went to a camping spot at a lake and rode a tram 8000 feet up a mountain. The ride took 15 minutes each way. I was a bit afraid then also. When you got to the top you could look out over valleys and mountains all four directions. It was really nice. Here are some pictures.

More Triathlon News

Does it every seem like all I ever post is race news?

I did my first Olympic Distance triathlon this morning. I was a bit nervous for this race because I've never riden my bike more than 25 miles, which was the race distance, never swam more than a mile without stopping, which is the swim distance and have never done a workout longer than an hour and half, which is a good hour less than my anticipated finish time.

Anyway, my strategy was to take it relatively easy on the swim. I found a guy swimming at about the pace I wanted and drafted off him for almost the entire race. He probably got annoyed that I kept touching his feet, but he never got so annoyed as to kick me in the face. The drafting seemed to help a lot and I felt really good coming out of the water. I was somewhere near 50th place out of about 200, and looking back on it I probably should have gone out harder.

I was about 40th place after the bike. I love passing people on $6,000 bikes with $300 racing helmets. I feel obligated to report that I averaged 21.7 miles per hour on the bike, which is slightly faster than Dallen did on his triathlon last week, but in the interest of full disclosure, the moderate tailwind helped me out a bit. Climbing Hilltop was a beast, but flying down it at over 40 MPH was a blast.

I felt strong on the run and worked my way up to about 30th place, but I hit the wall at the 4 mile mark and got passed by a bunch of people, especially at the end.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with my 36th place finish and time of 2 hours, 24 minutes and change. I even got 3rd place in my age group. Just a little dissapointed that I couldn't finish strong. Results Here. http://milliseconds.com/participants/final_list/overall/142875

River Rafting

Our family went white-water rafting down the South Fork of the Payette River today with Jill's sisters and their families. The dads and Spencer (14) and Riley (12) did the upper "staircase" section and then met the girls and the kids to do the lower easy section. The water was extemely cold on the upper section, but the wetsuits made it okay. We had a little mishap on the upper section. My brother-in-law got tossed from the boat at the top of a class 4 section of rapids (the highest guided tours will take you on). Our guide tried to pull him out of the water, which caused us to head right into the "see-more" rapid, which is named "see-more" because they see more boats flipped there than any other rapid on that section of the river. The boat didn't flip, but it went completely sideways, tossing all of us out, including the guide. Then we proceeded to go down the long section of rapids in our life jackets. I sucked down lots of water and hit a lot of rocks, but I managed to keep my feet in front of me and avoided the worst of it. More than anything, we were all scared for Riley, who was pretty nervous and on his first rafting trip. I was certainly freaked out while I was going down the rapids, but once it was all over I can honestly say it was one of the most excited experiences of my life.

Then we met up with the girls and the kids to do the lower section, which was tons of fun for the boys.

Mason Singing

This is what happens when Mason hears his dad singing a song.

Another triathlon

I did another triathlon yesterday. This one went better than the last one. It was my first Olympic distance triathon (1500 meter swim, 24 mile bike, 6.2 mile run).

The swim was in Lake Erie. Wavy, but now bad enough to drown me. In the swim I was 28th out of about 130 people. On the bike I was 30th. Got passed by a couple people. I either need a better bike or need to ride my bike more. On the run I passed a bunch of people and ended up in 10th place. I was second fastest on the run and actually ran faster than I did a month ago on a course that was half as long. Maybe because my hip is no longer injured or maybe because my feet weren't frozen.

I won my age group.

For John here are the results. 2:19:23 (28:17, 1:10:49, 38:56). The bike was a little long, close to 25 miles, and the swim was either long or just slow based on everyones times.

Lagoon

Here are some picture of our trip to Lagoon. Ian and Masons were very brave and did all of the rides, including Wicked and Rocket. We went on a Monday so there were no lines at all. The only problem was that it was over 90 degrees, so we got pretty hot.

Main Street Mile

John, Ian, Mason and a whole bunch of their cousins all did the Main Street Mile last week. We had tons of fun. Here are some pics.