exitrowiron

[exitrowiron]

Ironman (the race and the brand) are partly owned by a private equity company which helps explain Ironman's questionable pursuit of revenue growth.

The entry fee for a full IM is between $1,100 and $1,400 - that's a lot but if you've ever spectated or participated in an IM you can appreciate the amount off logistics each race requires.

The announcement of the PE company acquiring their ownership stake was made in late March, 2020. I wonder if the then current owners didn't have enough capital to ride out the pandemic so they made a deal with the devil.

One could argue that the entry fees have already reached a tipping point that only the most ardent mid-life crisis athlete will pay, so revenue growth can only come from other sources.

Perhaps that explains why Ironman will license its brand/logo to almost anything. The iconic Ironman Timex watch is still available (ironically never worn by actual IM athletes) but now aging Gen Xers can read the time on their watch using IM reading glasses. I'm not making this up and have seen these glasses at Target.

I really don't care how inappropriately Ironman licenses its brand but I do care when they sell exclusive hydration/nutrition rights to unknown suppliers.

Case in point, IM nutrition is sponsored/provided by Maurten gels. These gels have been around for a while and though not widely used it is possible to find them at run/bike shops. They have a very unique consistency and I'm still getting used to them. If an athlete doesn't like Maurten it is feasible to carry their own nutrition without too much effort. I've done this for several races.

When it comes to hydration/electrolytes however it is practically impossible not to rely on the product provided by the race. This is where Ironman has screwed every athlete. Instead of providing Gatorade or Gatorade Endurance which is economically available literally everywhere (and therefore easy to train with) they allowed an unknown supplier, Mortal, to buy their way in. Hydration and electrolytes are important for obvious reasons in a long race. Unfortunately Mortal only provides 40 insignificant calories, making it that much more difficult for athletes to ingest the necessary amount of carbs each hour to avoid bonking.

It is essential to train with race day nutrition but the only way to buy Mortal is at The Feed and have the powder delivered. Unlike Gatorade which comes in easy to serve/consume bottles, Mortal will have to be mixed on race day by volunteers and poured into race bottles. I guarantee the nutrition of every mixed bottle will be off. I would be shocked if IM wasn't getting a % of every sale at The Feed.

Thank you for reading my rant.

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I am in the build phase of IM training and since I'm retired it has pretty much become my primary occupation. The 'Planned' time is the cumulative duration of the running, swimming, biking and strength workouts scheduled by my coach, the extra time completed comes from unscheduled hiking, tennis, etc.

Because yesterday's ride was cut short, I had to make up the time today. I ran 15 miles in 2:15 and then biked on the trainer for 2 hours.

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Mission Aborted

The Columbia River Gorge was one of the most beautiful segments of my 2022 cross country ride and I've been anxious to ride it again with Beth ever since.

We made plans to ride it with a friend who lives in Portland and brought an extra bike rack so we could drop his truck at the destination. The plan was for he and Beth to ride one-way to the truck and drive back while I biked back in order to meet my training mileage goal. The course is pretty simple as it follows the Columbia River Gorge Hwy/trail for most of the -40 mile route but I mapped it with Ride with GPS before we left and we loaded the course into our Garmin bike computers.

There are two ways to get to Portland from our house, one route takes us to Seattle and then south on I5 - this route is a bit shorter distance but you sit in a lot of traffic. The other route is a longer distance but takes about the same amount of time and it winds through the arid, heavily irrigated plateau of western Washington and Oregon and then up the Columbia River to Portland. It is a much more enjoyable drive and that's what we took.

The morning of the ride was cool and overcast and we were excited when we arrived at the first viewpoint (above). After another climb we expected to arrive at Vista House and enjoy its view of the Gorge before a long descent past numerous waterfalls before arriving at our friend's truck. Except the road was closed. And so were the only other two roads that connected with the Gorge Hwy/Trail. There was simply no way to bike to where we needed to be.

Beth and our friend were good sports about it but I was really disappointed and crabby. We'd wasted a lot of time and money on a failed trip and I was irritated that Ride with GPS didn't inform me of the road closures.

I'm sure we will try to ride this again, perhaps next year, but we will make sure our friend confirms the course first.

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It is hard to keep landscaping alive here because it is so dry. It doesn't help that when grading the property during construction the landscapers didn't remove any of the rocks, they just dusted over them with a thin layer of soil. I replaced 11 dead plants and removed > 20 lbs of stones in the process. We are trying to do a better job watering in hopes that they thrive.

In other news, while parked at a boat launch someone dented our car and drove off.

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A few months ago Beth reserved entries to the Sunrise trail head on Rainier. We stayed at a local lodge last night and hiked Sunrise to Fremont lookout. The hike is only a few miles long and -1k' ascent and the weather was cool and sunny - a perfect day.

I've never been to Rainier and not seen several marmots and this trip wasn't an exception. This trip we saw mountain goats too.

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You can't get there from here

This idiom often seems to apply to travel in Washington state. Because so much of the state is undeveloped National Forest, destinations often require indirect routes. For example, we are going to do some hiking on Rainier and staying at a nearby lodge which is only 28 miles away as the crow flies but it will require at least 2:30 to get there. Fortunately it will be a beautiful drive.

Although it is difficult to see in this photo, it appears that the rim tape wasn't lying flat and that was flatting my tubes every 35 miles.

This is a picture of the chain keeper device that must be loosened if the chain manages to evade it as happened two days ago. I don't think I've ever owned a bike with this device before.

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Today was busy!

My training plan called for a 4:45 bike followed by a 15 minute run. Frankly, biking this long on a tri-bike isn't fun. Being in the aero position is awkward and you don't see much more than the pavement. Fortunately the weather was cool but once again my rear tire deflated every 35 miles. Even worse, my chain dropped after changing the tube when I flatted the first time. Normally a dropped chain isn't a big deal but my bike has a component which is designed to prevent this. If the chain somehow drops despite this component it is impossible to fix without significant effort and using bike tools. I was able to do this by the side of the road but when I flatted a second time I decided to finish the last 50 minutes of the ride on my indoor trainer.

After finishing the bike and run I quickly showered and played doubles tennis with Beth and friends for an hour. I will sleep well tonight!

Here's a picture of me after finishing the bike and run.

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Today's training assignment was a 2:45 run. I was pleased that the timer expired at exactly 17 miles.

A friend of mine was doing bike hill repeats and took my picture at mile 10.

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I did my first open water swim of the year yesterday. It was a short swim in a very cold lake fed by mountain snow melt. The swim confirmed that the wetsuit I last wore 10 years ago still fits. I also tried the Swimstraight feature of my Form goggles and was happy with it. The goggles display a compass heading; you sight your objective and confirm the heading (ex 130 degrees) then you can keep your head down and see the goggles display your current heading. I would have swum longer but I didn't bring my swim cap with me and the cold water felt like it was sucking my body heat directly out of the top of my head.

In other news, our back patio remains popular with the local wildlife.

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It is jarring to see Golden Bachelor contestants on the beach with the young Bachelor contestants. By comparison the olds look like crypt keepers. Questionable facelifts and fillers don't do well on a 50" HD tv.

Everyone gets old (if they're lucky) and these folks aren't that much older than me; maybe that's why I find the side by side comparison to be so unsettling.

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Fire season is well under way and we've already seen a few largish brush fires within 10 miles of the house. I try to keep the roof and gutters clear of dead pine needles just in case.

We have houseguests later this week so I'm touching up the landscaping, starting with trimming a few bushes. I finally replaced my old electric cord hedge trimmer with a nice Milwaukee cordless trimmer. It is a bit heavier but much more convenient.

Putting down the drop cloths is a pain but it is the only way to keep trimmings out of the mulch.

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Our visit to the Midwest continued with a stop at my sister's house - great chance to catch up with her family before heading to my class reunion.

I would say that about a third of my graduating class showed up, mostly women and mostly people who still lived in Evansville. Other than casual Facebook friendships with a few people I don't keep in touch with anyone. It was nice to catch up with people I hadn't seen in many years.

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Running in the Midwest heat and humidity is ridiculous. My training plan called for a 2:35 Z2 run. I covered 14.35 miles and drank nearly 7lbs of water/Gatorade.

This afternoon a strong thunderstorm rolled through, something we never get in the PNW.

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Our short trip to the Midwest begins with visiting Beth's folks - they are doing well as always.

We also kept up with running, though the heat and especially the humidity make it utterly miserable. I ran six miles early this morning and because the temp and humidity were both 77, I was completely soaked by the time I finished.

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Playing with the weather station

The weather station doesn't have any moving parts and is barely visible above our roof (it's the small white thing below the arrow).

The weather station is internet enabled so we can check the weather at the house from anywhere using the Ambient Weather app. You can too if you're curious about the weather at my house.

An air quality monitor is one of the available accessories and we thought it would be nice to have, especially during fire season.

The monitor is small and can be put virtually anywhere outside. Even though it has a small solar panel and rechargeable batteries, I have it connected to power. I installed it just yesterday and we've already seen the impact of forest fire smoke.

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Any advice for what’s going on in our country as a previous exec?

I was shocked when Trump won a second term and continue to be disappointed by the escalating cruelty and irresponsibility of his administration.

I really thought Harris would win and couldn't imagine that Trump would be re-elected after people saw the shit show of his first administration and what he promised to do in his second.

I was disappointed by my naiveté. I've been observing human behavior for > 58 years and shouldn't have been surprised by the election results. I am an optimistic person by nature, but the election forced me to consciously examine what I know about human behavior.

Speaking for myself, I mistakenly believed that human behavior, morals, etc had evolved and progressed over the last 200 years as quickly as our technology. This is incorrect. History repeats itself over and over because humans aren't getting smarter. Some of us may know more math and science than our great-great grandparents, but collectively we're still governed by the same fear-based responses and suspicion of those outside our clan as were our cave-dwelling ancestors and every generation in between.

I suppose I should encourage you to actively resist what's happening to our country by attending rallies and demonstrations, getting involved grass root efforts, donating your time and treasure, etc. Those are all good ideas but for the benefit of your mental health, I suggest you start by doing what I've done:

LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Don't give up hope but try to lower your expectations and enjoy the very rare happy surprise of truly generous, altruistic behavior.

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Another long bike is in the books, this time with a former work colleague who owns a vacation home in our resort. His primary home is in the Seattle area and he's never ridden out here before. He was thrilled with the scenic route I chose. It is not only a beautiful route but it has very few turns or stop signs so you can really get in a groove and stay down in the aerobars.

Unfortunately I flatted my rear tire again but this time I was able replace the tube successfully and continue the ride. I followed the ride with a 15 minute, 1.57 mile run then a shower and a glorious nap!