Climbing Mt. Baker

Finished my first mountaineering trip last weekend up in Seattle. Did a 3-day climb up Mt. Baker with Alpine Ascents International. Physically demanding, but mostly a lot of fun - and really beautiful. My neck and back were little sore since it had been a while since I last shouldered a backpack for 6+ hours a day - and the double plastic boots and crampons took some getting used to. I'm looking forward to doing another trip soon.


During our summit attempt.


At the summit with our guide. The wind was intense.

More picture on my Flickr account.

Whirlpool Ironman 70.3 Steelhead

Ran in Ironman 70.3 Steelhead up in Benton Harbor, Michigan on Saturday. The swim in Lake Michigan was fun. Finished in 5h 11m.

The 250 MFer (mostly flat)

On Saturday I completed The MFer, a one-day, self-supported, 250 mile bike ride through southwest IL. Starting at 5:30am, we rode from Columbia, IL down the levee road and Route 3 to East Cape Girardeau, IL - and back.

We had great weather for most of the day, until about 9pm when we encountered severe lightening and thunderstorms. We all agreed it was probably not a good idea to be the sitting atop the tallest metal object in a cornfield, so we ducked into the bar in Prarie du Rocher and waited for the storm to pass. We finished the final 40 miles arriving back in Columbia around midnight. It was tough, but fun. Looking forward to doing it again next year... or maybe the "Son of MFer" this winter. :-)

More pictures from the MFer on my flickr account.


The three finishers, Colin, me and Dennis, at the half way point (125 miles).

LT Testing

Did my first LT (Lactate Threshold) test Saturday with Stan Watkins of Vision Quest Coaching. LT is one of the key determinants of endurance performance, so tracking your LT helps in designing a training program. Following a program that works you at or slightly above your LT should help increase your LT - and thus improve your endurance performance.

The testing involved riding my bike in a computrainer for 40 minutes and trying to generate the highest average wattage over that time period.

Result for the 40-minute LT: 284 watts.

Ironman 70.3 Kansas, 2009

Ran in Ironman 70.3 Kansas on Sunday with nearly 2,000 athletes. Nice weather for the most part - although it did heat up in the afternoon. My swim was a little sloppy since I hadn't done an open water since last summer and it took me a while to get used to the wetsuit again. Finished in 5:03 (the clock in the picture below doesn't account for the swim offset).

St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival 2009

Volunteered to work the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival on Saturday night. I started the evening working the check-in/entry, handing out the beer guides and glasses that the guests used to sample the beer. Once the big wave of entrants had come through, we moved over to work the honey lager tap.

With around 3,000 people attending Saturday night and 70 beer stands, I was pouring non-stop again this year. No rain this time though, which was a pleasant change. Last year I was standing in an inch of mud.

A portion of the proceeds go to support the Lift for Life Gym, an after-school center near downtown St. Louis.

Tour de Cure 2009

Rode in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure on Saturday over in Grafton, IL. Biked the 100 mile loop with Team Gallop (Gallop, Johnson, and Neumann, LC), who raised over $9,000. Most impressive was that over $5,000 of that total was brought in single-handedly by Don Kelly, an attorney at GJN.

Also there was my friend Phil Bruno who rallied strong helping recruit a huge team of over 90 riders for Gold's Gym. Phil hammered out 100 miles as well.

Thanks to the folks at GJN for inviting me to ride with them and helping put together a great day!


Team Gallop. Photo courtesy Ellen Montgomery

More photos on my Flickr stream.

Ozark Greenways Adventure Race 2009

Ran in the Ozark Greenways Adventure Race on Saturday near Lebanon, MO. We had some fairly severe downpours the night before which lead to the race coordinators pulling the paddle portion of the race. They didn't think the river was safe. Instead, they extended the bike and orienteering legs.

I flatted within the first 5 miles, then managed to break the stem off of the replacement tube - which really set us back a bit. Other than that we had a fairly good run. The previous nights rain turned the trails to soup which made for tough going at times. We were completely covered in mud.

19th Overall. Finished in 8:48.


Matt, Me, Clayton, and Kate at the finish.