2016 Vineman - Ironman

A lot has been going on here during the last month, from our 8-day road trip to the fair and sheep adventures. The most recent event was yesterday. Chris had competed in his first Ironman three years ago in Texas and I shared photos and the story here. This was his second Ironman although we were all at the Tahoe Ironman two years ago when it was cancelled at the last minute due to the smoke from the huge arson-caused King Fire. The Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon (26.2 miles) all one after the other. The training is intense (understatement) and the event infrastructure is mind boggling. Athletes pick up packets and leave off gear, including bikes, the day before. This event was local (Sonoma County, CA) although it was not local enough to sleep in our own beds and still be there for a 5 a.m. check-in on Saturday. We left our motel at 3:30 a.m. to make sure that we would avoid the anticipated traffic jam of all 2000 athletes descending on the small town of Guerneville at the same time.

As the athletes arrive volunteers write numbers on their arms.

Chris' support crew at the river included my husband (who took this photo) and me, daughter Katie, daughter-in-law Meryl, brother-in-law & sister-in-law Rob & Renee. Rob was also competing this time. Can you tell it was cold at 5 a.m.? Sonoma County is known for morning fog, especially this near the coast. I haven't been that cold in a long time.

Morning preparation includes checking air in the bike tires,

...securing the chip that marks times throughout the course,

...and donning wetsuits....and lots of standing around for the support crew. Once the event begins the support crew can only support by finding places along the course to cheer on their athlete. No physical support is allowed.

The pros started at 6:30 and the rest of the 2000 +/- athletes started at 6:45.

Athletes are pensive. Many have put a year's worth of training into preparing for this day.

My brother-in-law came from Colorado to compete with Chris.

They both anticipated about a one-hour swim time and lined up near the front of the pack.

It is daylight now but still cold. The rest of us just wait. The national anthem is sung and the athletes are off.

There was a fairly small beach area where the athletes entered the water so they were funneled through a narrow gate to avoid crowding at the beginning of the swim. (It was impossible to get photos of that or to pick out our swimmers.)  I am so glad that our guys were at the front, because it took a half hour before all of the competitors were actually in the water and swimming. By that time the pros were almost finished with the swim portion. Our guys weren't far behind.

The athletes pack transition bags prior to the event and they are all put in place the day before. Everyone has a bag for the swim/bike and bike/run transitions. As the athletes come out of the water they strip wetsuits with the help of volunteers. Most are already wearing their cycling/running clothes under the wetsuit.  Wetsuits and goggles go into the bag and they take out cycling shoes, helmet, socks, and anything else they need while on the bike.

For competitive athletes (or those who are aiming for the best PR) the transitions become an important part of the whole event where time can be made up or lost.This is Chris (in white and navy) leaving the transition tent to get his bike...

...and running with his bike to the beginning of the bike route. I must say here that we were all worried (OK, it was us, Mom and Dad, who were mostly worried) about Chris' ankle that he sprained badly about six weeks ago and then sprained again just three weeks ago while out in the bumpy pasture with my sheep. We saw him twist that ankle again while running here in cycling shoes and continue running with a limp to the bike course. 

Rob left the river not long after Chris...

and got his bike. Rob has done these events for many years and was smiling at this point.

After the guys got on the bikes (well in front of most of the other competitors, giving us an edge on getting out of town) we got to our car and drove to Windsor where the bike/run transition and the finish would be.

Depending on the configuration of the course the Ironman can be a difficult spectator sport. At this point we had picked up another two support crew members (my cousin, Carol, and another family member, Barb, who both live in the area).  We found a spot where we would see the cyclists come by in the first of their two loops of the bike course. We saw Chris who looked strong at this point.

As Rob saw us he slowed down and stopped. His bike had a broken spoke on the back wheel at about Mile 25. That meant he was out of the event because his wheel was getting more and more wobbly and there was nothing to do about it without a replacement spoke or wheel. It would be frustrating to train for this event and spend all the time and money on it and then  have a mechanical issue end your day. But Rob has competed in many of these and he put his bike in the car, got something to eat, and spent the rest of the day enthusiastically cheering on everyone else.

We saw Chris get off the bike, pick up his bike/run bag and run through the transition area. He emerged with cap and running shoes. The run portion is a marathon and this one was three times over the same 8+ mile course. We found a place  where we could watch runners coming and going as they made a loop around our grassy, shady area to enter the turn around and then see them come out again. This gave us four views for each lap.

Chris on the first lap. The athletes' first names are on their tags and spectators' cheers help buoy the runners' spirits.

Part of the support crew waiting for the next sighting.

 

On the second lap Chris was picking up cups of ice chips at the aid stations to eat and cool his back. After seeing him on the second lap we went to the finish where we could position ourselves for cheering and photos. We didn't know what time to expect him but he seemed to be ahead of scheduled, sprained ankle and all.

This is after coming around the last turn to the finish...

...at well under 12 hours. The official clock counts the time from the start of the pro racers but Chris' actual time was an impressive 11 hours 37 minutes.

We were all so thrilled and proud of him.

Wedding Day Morning

On-site preparations began the day before but there was still plenty to do on the morning of the wedding.

No shoe polish? No problem.

The tables were decorated.

The kids' table included bubbles,and crayons.

Pictures were hung.

Games were arranged.

While all the preparations were being made outside...

...upstairs in the Bride's Room there was a bustle of activity. Two professional hairdressers were kept busy...

...while others did their own hair and make-up.

Flower-girl, Tatiana, waited patiently for the time to get dressed.

Meanwhile, downstairs, ...

...the guys didn't seem too concerned about getting ready.

Eventually it was time and they all cleaned up very nicely. There seemed to be some confusion about what to do with the pocket squares, but they mastered the folding technique by watching a YouTube video.

Inspection time for the pocket squares.

Back upstairs, Flower Girl #1 got help with her bow.

Flower Girl #2 skipped the morning activities, staying with Daddy and the other grandma and getting through naptime uneventfully. She showed up in time to get dressed, but took some convincing to participate.

We gave up on the pretty white shoes with the bows in favor of the purple crocs. It was a big step for her to hold the bouquet, however temporarily.

While the women were making their final preparations Kirby found the room set up for photo shoots. She made herself right at home there.

Ready to go!

Car (Buying) Adventures

I started to write an email to Farm Club about my recent car shopping experience and then I realized that I was writing a story. Today's adventure is really nothing  out of the ordinary for most people, but for me it takes on epic proportion. Do you know how many cars I’ve had in my life?

1: During the first year of college I got a ’67 Camaro. Too bad I don't still have that one. 2: White car that I can’t remember right now. (No photos of this one.)

3: Then there was the big red Ford van. I have many fond memories of that car.

4: This maroon Safari mini-van was the only vehicle we bought new. I remember that the day I got it I drove to school to pick up Chris and he was shocked when I walked over to this strange van and opened the door. 

This photo was taken at CNCH (Conference of N. CA Handweavers) when it was held in Grass Valley and Katie and I camped at the fairgrounds.

5: Although I put about 100,000 miles on it I never really bonded with the ’04 Explorer. I bought it in 2008 and just sold it at CarMax because too many things were falling apart.

6: I bought the '02 Ford truck from my son when he upgraded. Dan made the cool box for the back so that I could haul sheep to Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon. This is the first (I think) Farm Club road trip to BSG in 2011.

We took another trip in 2013 and again in 2015. I still have this truck.

My husband drives my mom’s ’85 Honda Civic and his ’99 Ford truck that he got when his dad moved to Hawaii.

So you can see that we’re not real big car buyers. I needed something in addition to the truck. I mean I really need to have a truck and I didn’t want to keep driving that one because I need it to last. So I started shopping about a month ago and had the proverbial sticker shock. This is embarrassing but we thought that we might spend $10-12,000 on a vehicle. It turns out that would buy me something like I just got rid of . I still need the ability to carry Things and Dogs (3) around with me and we want at least one vehicle with 4-WD so we aren’t limited about visits with our son in the winter or in our own travels......although last Christmas the Explorer wasn't adequate to get up the driveway. (That could have been because, knowing we were going to sell it, we hadn't got new tires.)

I revived the hunt two days ago and realized that I needed to keep moving forward this time or I’d have to start all over again. After lots of time on the computer I had finally narrowed it down to a Honda CR-V. I searched through dozens of listings from Sunnyvale and Lodi to Sacramento. Nothing really struck me as the perfect car—what’s with all the black and sliver SUV’s out there? How about a little color? And price was still a big issue—that and the combination of price/mileage. I keep being told that 60,000 miles on a Honda is not like 60,000 miles on a Ford, but still. I wanted to go to the local Honda place to see what they had first. I like to support local business and I don’t like to Drive to The City. There were no 4-WD CR-v’s in the price range, but they asked, “have you tried a RAV-4?” No, I hadn’t. They brought one out and I liked it. But I hadn’t researched it like I had the other. I didn’t know which models had which features, what the extras are, etc. I told the guy that it’s like trying on shoes—even if I think the size 10 fits I need to try the 9 and the 11 to make sure.

So I went home and started researching it. I looked at the photo I took of the specs of the one I drove and realized that it was a 2WD, not 4 after all. By then I was immersed in the RAV-4 world and decided that maybe that really was the car for me. I spent all evening trying to organize the cars I found with year, price, miles, location, and color (still mostly versions of black, white and silver).

I was looking at 2011 and 2012 because I liked those versions. Mileage was mostly in the 50K to 70K range. I really wanted Someone Else to go on this car hunt with me, but that wasn’t happening right now, although my sons both gave me pep talks about bargaining.

This has become a long story. I came home with a car today. Last night I found a 2011 RAV4 with only 21,000 miles within the price range of the others I was looking at. I went to Sacramento this morning, drove it, and made the deal. I got some money off the asking price—maybe not as much as my kids would have but I think that getting 40,000 MILES off was just as valuable. This is not a very good photo but the one I took to show my husband what I bought while he wasn't there.

Now I just have to get back to Sacramento to pick up my truck.