Grizzly Tri Weekend

It was quite a fun weekend up in Missoula, MT with an elite field at the Grizzly sprint triathlon put on by Team Stampede and the University of Montana. Jay raced extremely well for his first time back in over a year - setting swim splits for each 100 in the pool swim at 1:20 average! He crushed his wave (elite masters) on the bike and only got passed in the final 10 seconds of the run by another masters who was not in his age group. Congratulations to Jay on an age-group win!!!


As if that wasn't studly enough, Jay raced AGAIN the next day at the super hard Frenchtown Roubaix 45 mile bike race on gravel roads. He was one of the only individual competitors going up against teams from Bozeman, Missoula and Helena. Again, he showed incredible prowess for racing on tired legs -- and after a year of injury and illness. Yeah Jay!

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was windy and gray in the morning, causing all of Jay's fellow bike racing friends to wimp out, making him the only studly one of the bunch. That's a dig for you, Rob Newsome and Mike Ritter!

Ritter, Ali Ryan, and Greg Benjaman were among the clones who also raced Grizzly. Ritter -- competing in his first triathlon ever -- had an outstanding success with a 1:20 time for the 1,000 yd swim, 20 km bike, and 5 km trail run. Mike's hooked now! Also competing were pros Lindsey Corbin, who smashed the women's field, and Matt Seeley.

Missoula offered plenty of post-race hulllabaloo with beers at the Kettlehouse and dinner at Ciao Mambo Saturday, followed by the Yonder Mt String Band for the cool young 'uns in the crowd. Pre-race pancakes at Paul's House of Pancakes were a must before the bike race.

Chloe spent many fun hours on the Merry Go Round and Children's Museum with her new best friend Axl.