May 28, 2002

distances in km.

Utah!

I’m so close I can smell it. I really can – I smelled the ocean today in the light breeze from the south. It was the Great Salt Lake which is now directly to the west of me. I have traveled a total of nearly a thousand kilometers under my own power – 859 km (87%) peddling an eighty pound trike, 117 km (11%) running and pushing it, and 9 km (1%) in two pools long the way.

Another great day! I can tell my body is becoming adjusted to this – a full day of cycling and running is no longer really much of an effort. Just another normal day. It will be interesting to see how this kind of ‘living triathlon’ training effects my Ironman performance on June 8.

I got started at 8:00 sharp this morning with my first flat tire. Actually, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner due to the huge quantities of junk I have to navigate around on my shoulder: nails, miscellaneous metal mystery parts, lots of bungee cords, broken glass, scraps of blown tires, wire, hooks, dirty diapers, hub caps, road kill, broken mirrors, discarded fast food containers, more bungee cords, lighters, random plastic car parts, side moldings, more bungee cords, etc…

Traffic is nowhere near as busy as it was yesterday (memorial day), but the freeway here is a bit older and my shoulder width has narrowed by a few feet which is causing me some concern.

I’m in Brigham city now, and I have been asking about alternative routes south to Salt Lake City and Provo. I’ve been told that the freeway gets way busier as I get toward Ogden and Salt Lake and that I should take highway 89 instead, so that’s what I plan to do. It’s a 4-lane non-divided road with a 3-foot shoulder – much like some of the highways in Montana. I don’t like running with the trike on narrow shoulders because it’s difficult to keep a watch on what’s coming from behind. So – I may not be doing any more running unless the traffic is VERY light like it was in Montana.

I may stop for a day in Salt Lake City to do some swimming – that and to blow some time. When I arrive in Provo, I’ll have around 10 days to do nothing until Ironman.