Thursday, April 27, 2006
Jim's first day of work in Oz!
This is Jim at his first day of work. Yes, I did say work! He stumbled into a job as a bike mechanic at the shop that he signed up to race with.Because he wowed them with his bike mechanic skills, they'll probably have him doing extra things like answering the phone or maybe even selling a bike.
It all happened last week when we stopped by the shop to see if they would let Jim use some tools to true a wheel. They said no problem since he had already impressed them with his racing skills. During the conversation they found out Jim used to be a bike mechanic and they are a bit short handed so they offered him a job right then and there. He'll be working about 3 days a week. We're pretty happy - it's the perfet fit for him and now we'll be able to upgrade from ramen noodles!
Now for a little update on my schooling. The photo of me is one taken on my way to a final presentation for one of my classes. It was a finals week again last week. I have now completed 2 out of the 6 teaching periods required for the MBA degree. For those of you who didn't know or don't remember, each teaching period is 6 weeks of classes followed by 1 week of finals. I get a 1 or 2 week break in between each teaching period for rest and relaxation. In other words, I am a third of the way done! I've been meeting a lot of diversified people to keep making it interesting.
Jim and I are heading to Western Australia on Saturday for 8 days. He'll be competing in a 1/2 ironman in a town called Busselton. We'll have the results and photos of the trip posted when we get back.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Sunshine Coast Tour
This past weekend Jim and I went to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. It was here that Jim competed in a 4 stage cycling race. The racers were ranked according to their overall times after 4 events. The first race on day one was 75 km (3 laps). Jim finished with the bunch and felt like he had a good race. Day two started with a 7km hill climb. Jim did great and finished 2nd. That afternoon was the third event, a 10 km individual time trial. Jim biked well enough to get 4th in that event. Day three was the last
race, an 80 km (4 laps) race. Jim had a very strong finish near the front of the pack. Due to Jim's consistent hard work over the weekend, he was able to bike himself into 2nd place overall in his category and make us $300 richer!
The guy (named Gavin) that got first place (by only 17 seconds) races with the same club that Jim signed up with, so it was nice for them to be able to work together out on the course to keep an eye on their competition. We stayed with a friend of Gavin's to save on lodging. He lived in a cool rural area right by a river. You could fish off his deck, but you had to watch out for the water skiers and jetskiers that were zipping by.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Ironman Oz Weekend at Port MacQuarie
We headed to Port MacQuarie to watch Ironman Australia last weekend. Neither of us were competing (I know, I probably could have done it!), but we were able to at least do a 5km fun run and Jim competed in a 1000m ocean swim. We both ran a personal best in the 5km; Jim finishing in 17:22 and me in 22:55.The above pictures are from the ocean swim. It was a 2 lap swim; they had to come out of the water and run around a buoy before they could head back out. The first picture is of Jim before the race. Photo two is of him coming out in the top three after lap 1. The third photo is of the leaders heading back out for lap 2. Notice, everyone is running in except one person who is diving. Guess who that is? How deep does the water look there? On an unrelated (or perhaps related) note Jim thought a bee had stung him on his forehead during a bike ride later that afternoon. It really appeared to be more of scratch....hmmmmm.....maybe from the sand, or perhaps a seashell?
The forth photo is of Jim receiving his 3rd place award for the swim. He won a $50 gift certificate to a local swim shop for his effort. He was only about 2 seconds from winning 1st, so a great race. (Although he did miss out on $200 cash.) The winner was a pro triathlete Pete Jacobs and the 2nd place guy was a local lifeguard / swim rescuer - he was really good at entering and exiting the water.....
