Alley Cat!

Check out this podcast to hear what it's like to race through traffic at night from checkpoint to checkpoint. It's called alleycat racing and it's p-s-y-c-h-o. Actually, it's a ton of fun and I'd like to thank Jayme for pulling me into the dark, seedy underworld of bike messenger culture and showing us some scary bike skills. If you want to find out more about this sub-counter-culture, take your sissy ass over to www.trackstarnyc.com and leave your spandex covered "Should I wait at the light?" fear at the door. Here's a photo of us on our fixies.

Next, Jumpy (our Chief Midwestern Chief Correspondant) sent me some audio from the Twin Lakes Tri in the Chicago 'burbs. His bit is around 10 minutes long and includes interviews with some HAC's. Niiiiiiice.

Towards the end, I drag you along with me on a 10 mile trail run where I kick off my shoes and barefoot it. I was running in a bottomland swamp during a downpour and eventually turned around because I was sure to end up in a nest of cottonmouths (a very aggresive and deadly pit viper snake). I did the 10 miles with my Camelbak holding a half frozen bladder and sucked down 2 Clif Shots along the way. The dripping trees and swampy conditions made it seem like I was running through a tropical rain forest.

At the beginning and end, you can hear my nephew contributing to the show. Marcus actually helped me edit the Alleycat portion and has demonstrated some talent for this stuff. Maybe we'll hear more from him someday. Thanks, Marky!

Oh, and I'm still looking for sponsors for the Arizona IM. If you're interested or know somebody who is, send me a message at texafornia at gmail.com.

Dinner with the Triathlete Family

Join me, Emily, and Kai for dinner as I try to hold the house down and record a podcast at the same time. (Click Here to Listen!)

The infamous Triborg 5000 starts off the show with his recommendation on pre-race fine dining, followed by audio from IronJay describing what sounds to be a terrible injury from racing. But, that's not even the beginning. I also play "He is Lance" and is dedicated to the listener who, much like Emily, has a huge crush on Mr. Armstrong. Giggles!

I've also got a high quality recording from Jumpy doing the Batavia Triathlon along with some friends. I picked out Chuck Norris's Beard in that group and then Jumpy interviews the race winner. Next, I've included audio from Scott and his review of the Skyline-Harlem Criterium in Harlem, NY. Lastly, I've got Jetpack's first attempt at recording himself and I have to say it's pretty good. It's got bits of him trying to transition from bike to run and also of his mother fretting over his safety. I think we've all been there!

Intermingled in all that audio I talk about a variety of subjects. I blab about weight loss, alleycat racing, and so much more. One of the subjects is sunscreen, and you gotta check out this video from 20/20. It features one of my pet peeves, the inability to pause or rewind, so here's the goods: You want sunscreens with one of the following ingredients: zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, avobenzone, or parsol 1789... but try to use products with the first two. Avobenzone degrades very quickly, but you can look for a stabilizer (for the avobenzone) called "helioplex" available in just these two products - Aveeno continuous Protection sunblock lotion and Neutrogena Age Shield. There's one ingredient the rest of the civilized world is using that isn't available in the U.S.A called Mexoryl, but we're either too good or too stupid to use it safely in the States. Damned dirty UVA rays!

Hold on a moment, I'd like to have a technical segment here. I've been watching the releases of MP3 players forever and a very good one has just come out. Getting one of the highest reviews possible from CNET, the Creative Zen V will be on shelves probably in mid July. It's one of the few players I'd recommend for triathletes that performs on par (actually better) than the iPod Nano. 1, 2, and 4 gig models will be available and they are all flash-based, so you can really beat the suckers up and they'll keep rockin'. They are small and lightweight, so they're perfect for running and biking and don't get in the way when traveling or just carrying along with you during the day. I'm saving up for one right now. (Prices range from $119 to $229.) With and OLED screen and the ability to play video, FM radio, record line-in, and record memos, this baby has the Nano beat on price and functions. The only detractor is that it currently won't function as an external drive. That could change with a firmware update, so we'll see how that pans out. Check out a full review here.

Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast to find out what "sebaka" means and how I found out.