Vienna

Vienna is a lovely city and one that I think I would fit into very well. I say that because their are hotdog/wiener/sausage stands on almost every corner. It's almost like living in Wisconsin but with better architecture.
The back side of some serious monuments. The queen in her thrown surrounded by several soldiers. We tried to answer that age old question of 'does the position of the horses feet really say how the guy died in battle?' If you ever live in Chicago, I think they tell you that on the architecture tour.

I'll say it for the five millionth time.. they don't make statues like these anymore. Vienna has this great area called the Museum Quarter. Home to museums, libraries, exhibits, gardens, etc. A great place to wander, enjoy the spectacle and stop for cake.

If you look closely at the top of this building, all the 'spires' on the ends are actually statues of people. We are pretty sure they were erected to be the lightening rods.

Karma. I made it to town just in time for the Vienna Wine Festival.

What does this sculpture say about this archway? 'All who enter get beaten with this giant club?' Cool statue but a little dark, no?

I wish this picture would have turned out better. This is the giant archway protected by said scary statue above. It houses the entrance to one of the museums and is one of the thoroughfares for the horse drawn carriages to go through.

Although I believe this was built quite a while ago, I get the impression that Vienna is ready for the World Cup.

Jo enjoys a little post race refreshment. The largest Snoopy Snow Cone machine ever!

We also took some time out of our wanderings to visit one of the oldest 'fun fairs' in the world. This classic carnival has evolved into a mini Magic Mountain. Here Tom, Michael, Sarah and Julian test out this crazy ride.

This was too cute. The dog is resting on the counter top just waiting for a customer. The sign below the dog says 'Please do not feed the dog'.

The library.

I think the Austrians are afraid of lightening. The sign says 'Due to storm entire park area dangerous!' Otherwise, why is the park dangerous? And what storm? As I was standing there, I was quite unsure.

Another view of the Library. Very Gothic. And for some reason, it reminds me of Ghostbusters. Anyone else?

Outside the library are statues of these little guys. I'm blanking on the name. Cupids? Fat babies? I forgot what they are called.

Statue and flowers dedicated to Mozart. Lots of classical music and opera to be seen and heard in Vienna.

Oh, and another shot from the bus. Thought you might like to see how the bikes get transported back from the race when not packed in boxes underneath!

I went to see the famous Lipizzaner stallions. What actually was most impressive is this indoor arena that we watched them in. The building was built in 1725 specifically for showcasing the horses. The facility is grand and enormous and older than the United States. Way cool.

Umm... can't remember what this is dedicated to. Loved the stonework and the gold leaf on top however.

There you have it folks. A random display of photographs from Vienna. With the pre-race prep, the race and the wandering, it was a great weekend trip.

Pre Race Prep

Before the race, the usual antics abound as I try to play tourist and take in the appropriate amount of calories for the race. I do have some great photos of Vienna which I'll share in upcoming posts.





First off, we are picked up from the airport in a 50 person coach. Luxury considering there are only 9 of us. :o)

Jo throws open the windows of the hotel room and we get some air. Why did we have to throw open the windows? No air conditioning in our room. Amazing! Not only are we back in the land of twin beds, no air conditioning! Even I was hot so you know it must have been warm.

Early on we went in search of the one of our favorite pre-race activities: cake! Yumm.... if you didn't know, Vienna is known for it's coffee houses and cakes. Gotta love a city that encourages you to sit around and relax. Tom, Gemma and Paul make me feel better by also ordering some pre-race calories.

Time to exercise the cake out.... interesting location for a pool. Right in the middle of the river.

After much walking, I needed to refuel. (If you haven't noticed by now when I really enjoy my food I have to take pictures of it) This is probably my new favorite sandwich shop. Tons of variety and each for under 2 euros. This round saw me choosing Camembert, roast beef and caviar. Really? Isn't this on everyone's pre-race diet?

After surveying the city on foot, we spent the next day getting the bikes together and touring about to ensure that they weren't going to fall apart on race day. We ended up in front of the Palace but the mean guards wouldn't let us in with our bikes.

Across from the Palace. Half lion, half lady. I say it again, why don't they build statues like this anymore? Isn't this more fun than modern art??

The Palace grounds.

Of course, no visit to a Bavarian country would be complete without a few steins of beer. I had to put my camera in their for reference. Yes, those are litres of beer. Hooray! (And yes, I'm well aware this is still pre-race. What can I say? It is my version of carbo loading)

Tom shows off his super human strength by holding up 3 litres of beer for almost as long as it took to take the picture.

Trying to get a decent Facebook profile shot. Notice how the beer is bigger than my head? My poor chicken arms can barely hold it up.

Ahh... a favorite dish. I had to have schnitzel while in Austria. Accompanied with bread stuffing and my litre. Sadly, I couldn't finish it all. I was close, but I'm afraid I need child size schnitzel portions next time.

Once properly fueled on the day before the day before the race, we now have to head off to the race site to rack our bikes. As the race was located about 50 km outside of Vienna, we decided to stay in Vienna rather than the tiny town. In the end, a good call. Here we are getting ready to ride our bikes from the train station to the race venue. Michael and Jo are looking very chic with their streetwear and expensive bikes.

Tom is sporting the aero helmet look. I think the people at the train station thought he was a space man.

Fancy bikes and other people with fancy bikes. Sarah did most of the hotel and transportation coordination so big thanks to her!

Lastly, the group sits down for a pre-race Italian feast. I must say, it's fun to travel to races in foreign countries with other people. At least people that help you put your bike back together (and celebrate birthdays) after you take it apart. Somehow I always end up with extra pieces......

Half Ironman: Done

With this blog entry I am breaking two of my self imposed cardinal rules.

#1: Portray events in chronological order - I'm a very logical person and if you haven't noticed generally organize the trips and photos that way. In this case however, I'm skipping ahead to race day rather than the pre-race fun and build-up. (You'll have to imagine that later)

#2 Minimize the photos of myself - Yup. Although I'm all about sharing, I really am not photogenic. In this case however, you can't really airbrush much so I'm including way too many photos of me in sweaty neoprene and lycra. I'd say this completes my quote for 2010.

Alrighty then..... last week I went to Vienna, Austria with some friends from the tri-club to race the St. Polten Half Ironman. That's 1.9K to try not to drown, 90km praying not to get a puncture and 21km wondering why my legs don't want to run. Here I am racking my bike the day before (one of my few pre-race shots in this blog. Food and fun to be included in the coming weeks).

Taking a quick picture at the bikes racked. There are considerably less of these in transition when I come through. Let me tell you, it is always easy to find my bike.

It's race day and time to put the wetsuits on. We had four ladies in the race and here Sarah, Jo and I start the suiting up process.

For those of you who also experience the joys of neoprene, you'll appreciate the bottle of lube that Sarah and I are showing off. Seriously. It helps get the wetsuit off - believe me.

Jo has her own supersize bottle. And she likes it.

Time for all the ladies in the yellow wave to head to the start. We went off in Wave 2. It was a little nerve racking as I was constantly trying to stay ahead of my friends in the next waves.

Julian (Sarah's boyfriend and ultimate spectator - see him in last year's Barcelona trip and Alpine fun) catches us as we go in. Here I am waving to the camera.

We're lost now. This is a bit like Where's Waldo? Here's the start of our wave. It was crazy! I've never been surrounded by other swimmers for so long. I'm usually passed early and get some clear water to swim in but this was ridiculous. I think it took about 800 meters before I wasn't hyperventilating.

The swim was neat in the fact that we actually swam in two lakes. We took to the water in the swim start above. Then came out of the water and ran down this chute......

.... across the bridge..... sorry for the dark photo but you should be able to make out the swimmer on the left hand side of the photo running away........

.....and then you ran down another slope and into lake number 2! Wanna guess how many people stacked it trying to run down that slope into the water? Per Julian it was fairly entertaining.

Julian catches me coming out of the water. I'm checking my watch behind the woman undoing her wetsuit. An okay swim time, not the greatest. Let's just say it is time for more lessons...

Julian gets my attention. I'm smiling since I didn't drown.

Now it is off to the bike. If you look closely at this picture you can just see the banana poking out the front of my shirt. It kept falling out of my pocket so I had to improvise.

Whee!! There were some good descents on this bike course. Amazingly enough, it was fully closed to traffic and made for a really good ride.

Climbing... yes, there was a bit of that as well.

Playing with my new aero bars! I'm addicted. I want a time trial bike now. Christmas present?

A pretty good bike - way better than last year so I'm happy with that. Julian catches me as I transition to the run. My form seems to be crap and it doesn't get much better from now on.

After lap number one. Admittedly, I was a little unhappy at this point. Slower run than I would have liked but I think that's what happens when you stop for a wee and walk thru ALL of the water stops. Yeah. I gotta work on that.

It gets better though. All the oranges, water, sports drink and coke works it's magic and I feel human again for the race. Coming into finish I'm even sort of smiling. I still have funky chicken arms though.

Race done. I'm slouching. I need better posture but hey, I'm alive and didn't drown. Overall time was 5:25:34. I took 30 minutes off my time from last year and if I could ever master the art of taking off my wetsuit (even with the lube) I'm sure I could improve upon this again. It was a great event though and fun day.

Julian is kind enough to take a Berkshire Tri Squad photo. Some familiar faces for everyone - the boys in the back - Tom, Chris, Paul, Michael, John Booker, Simon, Romano. The ladies- Gemma, Jo, Sarah and myself. A fantastic group of people to travel to a race with. So there you have it. I broke two of my three rules to put the race report on so I hope you enjoyed it. Oh yeah, and Wednesday was my birthday. I'm really old now. Oh, and I beat my nemesis John Booker. Barely though, just barely..... :o) Just kidding John.....

Family Photo

Apologies for the delay - work has been crazy and then I spent a long weekend in Austria. Went to visit the home of Ahrnold, schnitzel and strong coffee. Until I get the photos organized, here's a nice photo of me, dad and Tucker. If you could imagine my mom, two brothers and two sister-in-laws in it, then I'd have a recent family photo. I really must get home more often.....