BEST OF THE BAY

Happy Father's Day!  Today my husband has earned the status of King for the Day or should I say King of the Bay!  When we were planning our summer trip to the bay area, I researched triathlon type events, activities and training opportunities.  I marked my calendar for one event that stood out called BOB: a bike ride known as Best of the Bay.  This ride was a century ride plus or minus 20 or 30 miles depending on what you were made of.  I did not really have myself in mind for this event, but my husband is a "cyclist" and enjoys "climbing" with his very lean physique and on his new carbon speedster, Cannondale Evo.  There were 10 climbs throughout the Bay area (the biggest and most popular cycling climbs) ending with the big daddy of them all totaling over 10,000 feet of climbing.  It took a little prodding to actually get him to agree to take a DAY OUT for himself because he did not want to sacrifice time with our son to show him around San Francisco, but in the end, he finally called to sign up a few days before the ride and they told him to just show up.

So that is what he did.  He took his bike and hopped onto the BART from Walnut Creek to the Orinda station where the event started.  It went from the northern part of the bay and traveled south via 10 different scenic climbs.  I was on my own scenic ride with a local triathlon group and had separated from the group doing my own climb between Moraga and Castro Valley and I felt a hand on my shoulder and look over and there was Dennis on the 43rd mile of his ride.  I was surprised to see him as I did not look at BOB's route and was just focusing on trying to stay on my own course.  He stayed with me for a few miles and then he headed off to the next portion of his ride while I regrouped with my people from the Forward Motion Race Club.

I returned home and waited for the phone to ring to find out how he was faring.  Finally around 4:00 pm I got a return call to learn he had done it, the whole thing!  We agreed to meet at the BART station and go to a concert that we had planned on seeing directed by my son's middle school choir teacher who happened to be out in San Francisco with the Phoenix' Children's Choir.  I brought him baby wipes and deodorant and he got to do the car shower like us triathletes often do after a race.

He quickly summarized his day of 116 miles with a final loop on Sierra Road only for the most extreme and fittest of them all.  As he finished this last challenge, they handed him a pin.  So for 9 plus hours in the saddle over 10K of climbing, all he got was a dinky little pin.  I guess you cannot summarize a ride through a piece of metal or a trophee any way, but I think he earned bragging rights over the IRONMAN in our house, at least for a day.  Since it is Father's Day, I think he deserves to be KING OF THE BAY!

I think there should be a hat or a tattoo for BOB, so the glory lasts longer.  I bask in my IM glory every time I wear my IM clothes.  I notice the looks I get when someone sees the words on your jersey, sweatshirt, hat, or arm warmers.  I even had a car stop at a stop sign yesterday while I was on my bike wearing my IMAZ jersey and they said, "Did you really do that?"  My new bike friends were calling me "ARIZONA" and "140.6".  Runners smile when you pass by them in your hat.  You can look a runner, cyclist or swimmer in the eye and you just know, but it helps to have the gear or a tattoo to grab someone's attention.  We share a mutual bond and respect with others that take on the challenge.  I think knowing inside what you are made of is more than anyone else can ever know.  But, hopefully Dennis can have that feeling inside when he thinks of 10 climbs and the beautiful landscape he got to enjoy on two wheels.  And now when I look at him, I know what he is made of.  It makes us relate on another level where few people go.

I asked myself this week, how long glory should last.  If you tattoo it on your body, will it last forever?  The clothes will eventually wear out.  I wondered to myself, is once not enough, because to be Iron, you have to be able to perform at that level and how quickly we are stripped of achievement through inactivity, lack of training, injuries, periods of recovery, and life.  The question of whether this title needs to be repeated or renewed for you to hold this honor because in the future if you don't keep tri-ing, you might feel like you "USED TO BE an IRONMAN".  If you continue to "tri"  maybe you can always be an IRONMAN.  I am somewhat tormented about what makes you IRON and what keeps you IRON.  This is the journey I am on.  Is once enough or must we maintain the status.  Do you have to renew your IM title once every year.  Some people take on IM every other year and for me I was considering once every age group.  Does IM come with an expiration date....you be the judge.

In the meantime, on this Father's Day, we have one sleepy dad with DOMS (delayed onselt muscles soreness), but a guy made out of steel or some form of extraordinary materials in his legs to climb so long and hard.

I had a great training week in California.  Trying to balance vacationing, sight seeing and training is a bit of a challenge, but I have another month to try and work it out.  We are amazed by the feeling of "life" outside.  It is never quiet.  The little towns are in motion by foot, wheels or rails.  There are cyclists and runners abound in every direction on street bike lanes and rural bike paths.  Everything is connected here by paved and dirt paths and public transportation.  The parks are full of activity with yoga in the park, strollers, runners, dog walkers, roller bladders, bikers, rugby matches.  On my Saturday ride, there were endless groups of cyclists climbing over the mountain pass on the curvy country roads.  I think I have died and gone to bike heaven.

Happy Father's Day to all the great father's out there especially the ones that are always TRI-ing to be the best father to our sons and daughters.  May you all be KING FOR THE DAY!