Hillbilly Hill Adventure Race

The big race was quite an adventure. The temperature at race time was 103 but everyone got off to a good start. The first hill was pretty killer in the heat but I made it to the start of the run, but then my legs had nothing. I walked much of the way up to the waterfall and dunked my head in. I was able to run back down to the bike and made up a bit of time there and on the bike to the Hillbilly Hill trail head. But then it was back in the sun, I got my bike over the fence and drug myself over. I made my way up the mountain with a combination of walking and riding. From the summit down to the Hillbilly gate I made good time and was able to get my body temperature down enough to ride up the last 1 1/2 mile uphill without discomfort.

During that last mile of uphill I was thinking that I had seen everyone... except Trevor. Could he have been that far out ahead? Then I saw him coming toward me and he yelled "I got a flat!" Well, now I new I wasn't last and how embarrassing would it be if I got beat by someone that had stopped to repair a flat tire? (turns out he actually rode back down to his house on the flat, changed the tube and then headed ack out to tackle hillbilly hill (added about 3 miles to his race.) I dug deep and got myself to the top of the hill and then bonsai down to Trevor's house. I got to the house and missed both freethrows so that meant had 13 adventure laps in the pool, and it felt good to be in the pool.

Here's the map of the ride:


And some details:
Distance: 10.2 miles including 2 miles of run
Total Climb: 1830 ft
Total Descent: 1812 ft
Seen on the race: 1 bear, 1 snake of some kind, 1 rat.

Total time was 1 hour 54 min.... so I cut 12 minutes off of last years time, so I feel good. Turns out only 2 of us from last year improved our times, Don took 27 minutes off of his time from 2007. I thought I'd do even better so I'm saying it's due to the heat, I sure felt a lot more optimistic after my performance on my pre-rides so I'll be evaluating my training plan and how I deal with heat.

The prize at the end.

Hillbilly Hill: race day

Today is the Hillbilly Hill Adventure Race 2008.
June 21, 2008

Temperature today I saw was supposed to get up to 113f.. The highest I saw on the thermometer is 110f..... close enough. Anything over 100 is just plain hot, and don't give me any of that "it's a dry heat" baloney.

There are a few challenges to face this year:
- the neighbor saw 3 bears near the wash today... well, they were in the neighbors yard and when they left headed to the wash.
- with the heat there's a good possiility of rattle snakes... If I see one, that's when I turn and head back down the mountain.
- obviously, the heat
- Rog isn't racing this year so I have the potential of being last.
- and the ever present hillbillies

I have been running and riding a lot more this year to prepare so I'm feeling pretty good. A six pack of Pete's Wicked will be waiting for me at the end.

Pre ride for the Hillbilly run

Day off today so after dropping the kids off at school I went for a ride. I figured the Hillbilly Hill adventure race is coming up soon so I'd give it go on part of the ride. So I took off from home and headed up the wash and over to the start of the Clamshell trail. It felt pretty good. When I did the race last year I spent a bit of time walking the ride, today I made it non-stop. Maybe not fast but I felt good. Well I felt good until I was coming back down the hill and came around a corner and there was a 5 foot rattle snake sunning itself across the road. I stopped and watched it for a few minutes, then started rolling some big rocks down the road at it. After 3-4 rocks he started off into the brush on the side so I hopped back on the bike and headed past there fast.

Felt good when I got to the bottom of the hill.

2008 Malibu Nautica Triathlon - Supporting Children's Hospital Los Angeles

So, training is going well for the Malibu triathlon. (Still freaked out by the swim.) One part of doing this race is that our team from work is participating in the Entertainment Industry Challenge to raise money in support of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. This makes it something beyond just me finishing a triathlon, I'm doing it also to raise awareness of a wonderful hospital. For me this is an easy cause to support because I have seen first hand the work that is done at CHLA as my son Ethan has received treatments there for his cerebral palsy.

My donation web page is at:

http://chla.kintera.org/triathlon/fredrenner

Thanks for considering it.