August 10, 2002 update

I’ve just finished my most grueling training week of about 25 hours! – the last one before a two week taper, then Ironman Canada on August 25th.

My training base camp for this week has been our cabin in Whitefish, Montana. I’ve cycled up Marias pass in Glassier nation park, around the Hungry horse reservoir near West glassier, climbed Big Mountain and multiple various spins around Whitefish lake. I’ve run 2 trails in the national park around Lake Macdonald – including one very fearful run early in the morning without another sole in site for 6 miles while stepping on the occasional berry stained bear scat (bear poop). I ran cross country ski hills on the mountain, jogged up big mountain road, and sprinted various roads around the Whitefish Lake area. I swam once in the Kalispell pool, and two good long swims in Whitefish lake. I’m ready – bring it on!!!!

OK – now for something really cool: I have added yet another dimension to my cycling! A more “Jesus-like” approach. Check this out:

It’s called Shuttle-Bike and it’s a kit I bought from SBK – an Italian engineering firm. The whole contraption fits into a back-pack! The floats inflate while you peddle and it can cruise at 4 mph with a maximum speed of around 6 mph. Because two floats makes it more stable than a Canoe or Kayak, I can ride it on rivers, lakes or a calm ocean.

It came in really handy for my lake swims. Both Helen and I would take turns swimming beside the Shuttle-Bike while one of our kids peddled it. The kids had no problem matching the speed of a swimmer – even while pulling an inflatable rubber boat behind!

I’m going to engineer a way to get the triathlon trike on it – what a totally cool, self-powered touring machine that would be! Can you smell a future AdventureOfGreg cooking???