As we encroach on the molten, bubbly center of summer break, we would like to take a few moments to reflect on the good, the bad, and the sweaty this off season has brought us.
Travel:
Our very own Gracie Moore made the trek to Nepal to conquer the Himalayas. Although she took a plane most of the way there, she did all the hiking by foot. As Gracie is a multi sport athlete, it was slightly disappointing to hear that she opted out of the swim/bike method of travel. However, the two weeks she spent backpacking on the same trail used to get to Everest is pretty impressive.
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| Gracie looking down at a town in Nepal while hiking the Himalayas. |
Training:
You can take the triathlete out of the triathlon but you can't take the triathlon out of the triathlete. Although this is technically our off season as school is out, workouts continue and pain trains chug along. The grind never stops, as they say.
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| Movie poster or Grant's RTO team photo? You decide. |
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| Grant running in an unkown location, somewhere between Reno and Lake Tahoe. |
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| Grant, just trying to get a new perspective on the world. |
Grant Haley added a vertical sport to his traditionally horizontal lifestyle. Judging from the picture it looks like it didn't go very well...But what did go well was his RTO Team, or Reno Tahoe Odyssey. Together they relay raced 178 miles and had the coolest shirts by far.
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| Big smiles for big miles. |
Laila Al Adwani and Meghan Mahoney have been putting in their fair share of work as well. They recently completed a metric century ride (100 km) and have been enjoying the beautiful scenery our wonderful state has to offer. Pictured above, the duo is captured getting all their smiling in during their break. It is an unfortunate fact that you can't smile while riding because it gives bugs the chance to fly directly into your mouth.
You can definitely tell that these two are going to kill it on the bike this season. "Too aero to careo" as Meghan would say.
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| Los tres amigos estan listos para su paseo. |
I don't snow about you, but we were pretty thrown off by the May snow storm that decided to roll through. But the interesting weather didn't stop Bri Johnson, Meghan and Laila from getting in their ride! Two of these people were smart and wore long sleeves under their sleek Nimblewear jerseys, and the other one was full of regret. But they all pushed through the cold and got in a great ride.
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| Olivia taking an icy dip. |
Olivia Bojan traveled all the way to Alaska to get some open water swim practice in and test out the temperature limits of her spiffy Roka wetsuit. The water was a chilly 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Only Bluegills, certain species of salmon, and Olivia can be found in these frigid waters. Just kidding. She did, however, hike out to Mills Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park and make the courageous leap into the water. She said that despite the pain and agony the swim brought, it was worth it in the end. If you look closely in the picture above, you can see that the people in the background are wearing winter coats... Props to you, Olivia!
Races:
The end of June marked our first summer race and we had four powerful women compete. Tess Mattern and Laila Al Adwani made their names known in the sprint distance, while Sierra Dinges and Molly Lesser took a swig of the pain champagne and tore up the olympic distance course. Here is a blow by blow of race day for those of you that could not attend:
Tess (aka The Iron Mattern) was out of the water as quickly as she dove in. If you were unlucky enough to have blinked during it you would've missed her entire swim. She continued the trend of speed and placed 7th overall and 1st in her division!
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| Tess emerging from the water like some sort of exotic sea creature. |
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| First place baby! Tess proudly flashes her well deserved medal. |
Laila's time really reflected all the work she has been putting in on the bike. It was actually a hazard to be near her on the bike course because the wind created from her passing athletes was blowing people over. Essentially a human hurricane.
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| The calm before the storm. Not sure if these are nervous or excited smiles, maybe both? |
Sierra rolled through the finish as a champion, placing 1st in her division! Biking hard and taking names. Clocking in some impressive transition times as well. I heard that she devoured an entire Chipotle burrito in T2, with guac of course, avocados are a superfood after all.
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| Eyes on the prize. Sierra refused to smile for the camera as it would use up energy needed for her speedy run time. |
Molly broke 3 hours into pieces and destroyed the run. The only way her violent race performance could've been enhanced is if Roxy dog was allowed to compete along side her.
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| Molly kicking some serious booty and enjoying herself on the beautiful run course. |
In Conclusion:
I want school to be here, but not the classes...
With summer in full flight everyone is having a blast showing their Ram Pride either in the great state of Colorado, across the United States, or internationally. We are definitely looking forward to the team getting back together in August and putting in some hard work to kick of the collegiate season. Although we graduated 13 seniors this year, who will be missed, we are ready to come back stronger than before. It is going to take some blood, sweat, and tears but we wouldn't be the team we are today without the insane amounts of sweat we already lose by training everyday... and if you are like alumni Zach Alves it's only natural to have a puddle accumulate under your bike at Ramcykle.
If you are missing your teammates, racing in green and gold, or all the memories that are made on the team, like and share the new blog to keep friends and family updated! Keep an eye out to see how the Boulder Sunset Tri treats the Rams...hopefully everyone won't be too tired out from the summer!
