Go West Old Man

Thought about it and talked about it so much I finally decided to do it. I signed up for the West River Triathlon in Dickinson, North Dakota this coming Saturday (9/12). It's going to be a long road-trip for a sprint triathlon. A round trip of 1030 miles not counting stops for coffee. As I told the Missus, just the craziness aspect alone is what is so alluring...if that makes sense. It's like telling a toddler, "No! You may NOT have that cookie." What does the toddler end up doing? Wanting it more.

On Thursday after the Well Kept Wife and I are home from work and the Boy® is home from school we will be out the door. That's right. Bad parent that I am, the Boy® gets to play hookey the very first week of school. We'll drive as far as Fargo and bunker down for the night. The Boy® will be allowed test whatever hotel pool there is Friday morning before we continue westward. A quick stop over lunch in Bismarck to visit some family, then on to Dickinson.



This is the 5th year for this event but my first stab at it. I really enjoy trying new venues and then seeing if they make the cut when I decide which events I want to do in ensuing years.

I have traded e-mails with the race director, Eric Kittelson, who currently has a little over forty athletes signed up. People are coming from Montana, Wyoming, Idaho in addition to me representing Minnesota to join the North Dakota athletes. So I get to take on some mountain tri-geeks. We'll see how I fare.

This triathlon is a 450 yard indoor swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. The latest course map now indicates a 11 mile bike and 5K run but who's quibbling? The bike course is suppose to be fairly flat and fast. And the weather looks good, depending on how the wind plays out. As we all know, there are no trees in North Dakota (inside joke).



I hope to provide some updates along the way. And while I am heading west, the majority of Triathlon-dom is heading east to the land of cheese curds. Wisconsin, for the IM event. Good luck to both William Jenks and Jeremy Dunbar as they compete this Sunday 9(/13).