Swimming a long bridge

Morning comes early. Yesterday, I was up before the sun.Climbing over mountains makes the sun rise several times.

Finally it decided to stay in the sky.

The locals were wondering what all the fuss was about. I am guessing that my sister keeps walking by one of these green ladies on her walks.

We all have a favorite subject to shoot in varying settings. My brother likes a tree. Mine is more portable.

This is the short bridge. We let trains use it all day. There were lots of trains.This crew is waiting for something. Maybe we should tell them the swim starts on another beach.Every swimmer was issued a bag for shoes and clothes, and in my case my camera, car keys and cell phone. The boy scouts loaded them in a truck at the start, sorted them and passed them back to swimmers at the end. Thank you boy scouts.

A marked woman.

I cannot imagine doing the distance with a noodle, but these ladies did.

This little one was eating bugs while we sat in her territory waiting for the safety meeting and the buses.

Finally the buses showed up and we listened to a chat about how fun the event is, and how young and old and far away people do it every year. We were asked to be nice to the beach where we enter the water, since the private homeowners are letting us all trespass over their land.

There seems to be some construction on the way onto the long bridge.

Off in the distance somewhere is the finish. We were accompanied by quite a flotilla of kayaks, a few Coast Guard Auxiliary and Sheriff boats. The kayaks were among the swimmers, and would take tired or cold swimmers to the powerboats for a quick ride ashore should the need arise. I am happy to say that I did not see any kayaks after the start.

A little over an hour later, after I claimed my things I could take pictures again. I am sure I did not look much different than these swimmers coming in for a landing.

Off in the distance is the start. There were quarter mile markers on the bridge, then someone said there were 10 of those pilings to count the rest of the way in. I did see the mile markers, but I did not count pilings.

Time does not stop until one reaches the sand. Those bright orange buoys are just there for visibility. Under the blue tent, one could adopt a dog to take home.

The sophisticated timing system involved handing each swimmer a card when he or she reached the beach. Someone else was punching the button on a recording stopwatch. The card had a number on it which indicated overall finish place. Two steps later, another person took the card back and recorded the number on the swimmer's hand and cap on the card. These fine folks sorted the cards and took them to an RV where the guy with the computer made sense of all the data and generated results sheets for us.

Trains frequent the shorter bridge to the east of the long one. We had lots of trains and boats to escort us.

At the end of the day, numbers show up on the back of the RV where the number crunchers live. Any finish is a good one in my book.

I had a great time. Those who finished faster found lots of food under a tent on the beach. Unfortunately for those who finished later, we ate all of it. After cheering for a few of the swimmers who finished after me, and eating my share of the goodies (two cups of blueberries, an ice cream cone, a cup of trail mix, several cookies and a few cups of gatorade) I walked a mile or so back to my car. I am looking forward to swimming this one again next year.

When the swim ends on Dog Beach

These guys show up in great numbers to cheer on the swimmers. They all had people attached for safety.

Racing along the River or in it. . .

The event starts with package pickup. The organizers added a kids duathlon on Saturday to coincide with collecting my numbers and hat and shirt. At his age, the event was run a half mile, ride four miles followed by another half mile run. Here is the proper way to chill out preparing for the big event. Notice the fingers twirling the hair. Starting lines are designed for parent photo opportunities.

Off they go!

Coming back from his first run.

Out on the bike. . .

and back again.

Sprinting for the finish after the second run.

Chilling out after the race necessitates more shade than before.

His numbers are there somewhere.

We found this bike rack outside Red Robin, it was either that or fascinating sculpture. The bike shop where I picked up my packet had an old rack fabricated of rebar. I would expect them to have something like this to go with their $3000+ bikes.

After the big race, it is important to throw rocks in the river while mom scouts the swim start.

The races were centered on a park which is part of a development which seemed like a good idea at the time. The times have changed, and so have the signs. It does not look like they are getting many takers.

Many store fronts seem to sport nice pictures instead of signs and merchandise. It is a nice location. Maybe it will turn around in a few years.

After his race and our search for the start of the swim, we scouted the run course for my race today. I guess that cyclists in Idaho do not know what to do when they see a red octagonal sign sprouting at an intersection. Is that what we are supposed to do when we stop?This morning, there were lots of folks out to see the lovely rainbow. Sorry, no pictures of that, but it was very high in the sky since the sun was so low in the sky at 5:45. Maybe they were all hoping Lance's scouts would be out looking for tri participants for his new team.

Did you notice the warm sunshine that showed up for the kids event? I am still looking for it here. I think the umbrella is out for a reason. There was a trolley to give rides from near the bike park to near the swim start. I walked back and forth a couple of times. Think of it as a warm up on a cold day with nothing better to do.

This is the beach where the swim launched. There seems to be some glare coming off the water, so it must not be a race day shot.

Someone spent lots of money on signs.

Boys wear blue hats. Girls wore green and teams wore yellow, so we could tell each other apart. That fancy sign is behind these hopeful swimmers.

Gentlemen heading down to the start, while the group before them swims away in the distance. Swim starts were 10 minutes apart, so there was a lot of waiting. There was not too much catching up with the other swimmers though.A group of guys warms up. At this point I stowed my camera for the swim. I had it with me on the bike and run, but it did not jump into my hand to take pictures. Mostly it was damp. When it was raining, it was chilly, but it warmed up when the rain stopped while I ran.On the left, my daughter's track and cross country coach took third place. She lost some time in a nasty spill on the second of three laps on the bike ride, but managed to pick herself up and finish. I am not sure I would have been that brave.

By the end of the day, the sun came out. It was obviously time to to home.

I have now completed five triathlons. Three of them have not featured sunshine. I think I probably do better on cold days, so it does not bother me. If you want a warm day for an event, I should probably stay home.

My old car brand of Tuesday

The proper way to rest between two sprint triathlons is to go the the local theme park complete with water slides on Tuesday.Tuesday is the right day to go, because they let drivers of a certain brand of car in for free. The boy in the yellow shirt had a free ticket for reading enough hours in March. They thought I might buy a ticket to accompany him. Silly them.

I still have one of those cars haunting my driveway, even though I went back to the brand of the first car I ever owned the last time I had a large enough chunk of change to acquire a new one. I had to buy that one. It fit. Then again, sometimes I let someone else drive while I send text messages.

There might be more pictures of the water features, except I kept putting my phone somewhere dry when I was near those. I did have it with me for this one, and I soaked my boy. He sprayed me a little too.

We parked our things on a lounge by this wave pool for the day. Once or twice I even sat there.

At the furthest end of the park from the water slides, is roller coaster alley. Last year, this delight opened on the day we visited. I rode it once with my feet hanging free in the breeze, upside down, backwards and sometimes right side up and forwards. Once was enough. My boy sampled it again this time too, as well as the other fast and frivolous rides back there.

Resting for a triathlon requires staying until the park closes at 9, then stopping for dinner on the way home and arriving around 11.

How about a little more water just before we hop in the car?

Oh, and the late night? I was in the pool at 5:30 the next morning after sharing my bike commute with my brother in Virginia. His 5:30 comes at a more civilized hour than mine.

Everyone has a story

I wandered by this moving story while looking for tour results today. We each ride for someone special.