No Mr. Baboon, they are my Dorritos:

While at Cape Point today, I read the signs about not feeding the Baboons because they are violent, wild animals. I was hungry from the drive, so I grabbed a Coke and bag of Dorritos from the kiosk before the long walk up the hill to the lighthouse. A large baboon either spotted the bag, or smelled the deliciousness of the Dorritos and came running across the parking lot at me.

The security guard helped fend off the first attack, I chased him away a second time, but he came back a third time and was not gonna leave. I had actually finished the bag and was just trying to throw it in the trash, but he wouldn't give up. A crowd had now gathered to watch my antics, as I was being too polite to the Baboon. The crowd finally made enough noise to get some space so I could drop the now empty bag into the trash. No one, man or ape, gets my Dorritos.

I swear the look in that Baboons eyes spoke to me. I believe he said, "you know of course, that Planet of the Apes is your future!"

Tough getting internet to update here in Port Elizabeth. I have been having a bit of trouble adjusting to the time change, but should be OK for Ironman. The weather is looking hard though. It is gonna b hot and windy tomorrow. Having only had one day of warm riding, I am hoping not to melt tomorrow. Oh well, nothing I can do except make sure I hydrate well. See you on the other side.

Mark

Road Trip 2011-1 After 30 hours of travel including a 15 hour non-stop from New York to Johannesburg, I made it to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I then went to bed for 20 hours, that is the longest I have stayed in bed in my life. I woke up feeling slightly refreshed and managed to walk down to Ironman registration. I will try and fit in a run in a while to see if my legs still work.

Heading off to the airport for 30 hours of travel to South Africa. I hope to post as many silly stories and pictures as I can.

Mark

Road Trip 2009-3

So, Leadville was a bust. I woke up with a stomach bug and couldn't get any food down, not a way to start a 12 hour ride. I called it off and slept in to feel better and try and break a slight fever. Rode down to the race finish with Sue Kiefer just in time to see Lance set a new course record, finishing on a flat tire. A little lunch at a surprising good cafe in town, then waiting for Stan as we cheered on all the finishers. Finally get a call from Stan on a borrowed cell phone that he is at the finish line. He cramped at the top of the 12,600 foot climb that marks the turn around. He managed to get a massage up there and head back, but missed the time cut off at mile 75. Tough break for him, but 75 miles on a MTB above 10,000 feet is brutal. Don't know about Stan, but I still want to finish a 100 mile MTB race, even though the thought scares the crap out of me.
Drove up to Wyoming today, with a stop for a bike ride on the way. I was looking to get in a ride before I left Colorado, and was heading to Steamboat Springs in search of a trail, when I saw a cross-country ski sign on the side of the highway. I pulled into the parking lot and got on my bike. It's not a good idea to ride on an unfamiliar trail, in an unfamiliar area without a map, but I'm not that bright. I started up the overgrown jeep trail that climbed pretty steeply for a little over a mile. At the top the trail was a little tough to find and I was concerned about losing the trail and getting lost. I pressed on anyway, only pausing to put in a marker on my Garmin. Decided to turn around after about 3 miles as the trail was getting harder to follow and I wasn't sure where it went. As I got back to the top of the hill I was pretty sure I picked the right trail to take me back to my car, but at the bottom was a gate that proved I was lost. I retraced my way back up to the top and searched for a trail off to my right that should be the way back to my car. No luck finiding the right trail, so I finally pushed the "back to start" button on my Garmin. The little arrow pointed me back down the trail to the gate, so with no luck finiding the right trail I headed to this gate and the highway in the hopes of picking the right direction on the road to my car. I popped onto the highway at a marker for the Continental Divide at Rabbit Ears Pass, and the little arrow pointed right, so I headed that way and found my car a mile or two down the road. Apparently I should've been looking for a trail to the right, not the left. I knew I should've left a marker there. :rolleyes: All's well that ends well I guess.
Drove another 7 hours to get most of the way up to Grand Tetons, so that I don't have much driving the rest of the week. Stopped at a quirky little hotel calle the Chinook Winds Mountain Lodge in Dubois, Wyoming. No phones or TV, but they have wi-fi, go figure.

MTB to Lumato Falls:

Despite the fact that I was coming to Bend to do a Half Ironman, Stan insisted that I bring my mountain bike to get in a ride with him. We are doing a 100 mile MTB race in August and he wanted to get in some training together, and also to show me the great trails here in Bend.

We headed out to one of his favorite trail heads and he promised to keep the ride relatively flat and easy for me. I of course knew this was a lie. Despite my legs being dead from the half I worked to keep up on the great single track trail. In honesty, he did keep the ride as flat as possible for a MTB ride, that just isn't always very flat.

As we stopped at 10 miles to have a gel, he said there was a waterfall a few miles up the road. I was told there were three options. Option 1 was to drive to it once we were done with our ride, option 2 was 2 ride up the paved road to the falls, and option 3 was a 3 1/2 mile trail up to the falls. He knew I would cave to the pressure and do the extra miles on the trail. The falls were about 125 feet high and beautiful, and we saw them from below, above and even hike down underneath them.

We ended up riding almost 30 miles, which was tough 2 days after the half, but the trails were totally worth it.

Kayaking Hosmer Lake:

Today Stan and Sue took us to one of their beautiful local lakes for some paddling. They have a canoe they take out weekly during the summer, and we rented a tandem kayak so that we all could join the fun. We paddled up Hosmer Lake to Quinn Creek and stopped at a small waterfall for lunch before paddling back.
The water in this lake is so clear it almost looked like a tropical lake, except for snow covered Mt. Bachelor in the background.