Last weekend we were in Palm Springs for Al's first Century Bike Ride. You can't take me in the car and drive to Orange County or the IE (Inland Empire) without stopping at Chick Fil A. Alex got a blue balloon and this picture is to prove that he does in fact have hair.
We stayed at a big house in Palm Springs with a group of people that were also doing the race. Ross forgot to mention that it was his Ironman coach and the group he usually trains with. These people weren't there to see Palm Springs, try new restaurants, or go shopping like I had in mind. They were there to TRAIN and when I say train I mean go on a 3 hour bike ride, 1 hour swim, and then maybe a run. We arrived just in time for Al to go swimming. Al didn't have his goggles or swimsuit, but when you're staying with a triathlon coach he has extras. Extras as in a Speedo...hahah Check out those legs on Al and Ross!!
The house was huge. It had a pool, hot tub, ping pong table, and mini golf. Alex was daddy's helper.
He is officially walking and he is all over the place. It's pretty cute.
If you don't know what a Century Bike Ride is, here is the definition = 100 miles. Sounds awful right? I think Al was thinking the same thing the night before, but he has an Ironman in 6 months, so this is only 1 portion of that. They started there ride at 6am and finished around 1:30PM. Palm Springs is always windy, but there were extra strong winds this day which obviously makes the bike ride that much harder. Ross was kind enough to take a picture on the course for me.
Since it would be too hard to find Al on the course we met him at the finish line.
Nicest weather ever and not too windy where we were standing :)
Walk Walk Walk is what Alex likes to do.
Al and the group he rode with finishing the race.
Scott the coach on the far right won his age group in Ironman Canada last year and Teresa his wife at the back middle won her age group at Ironman Kona last year which is the World Championships. She is also an amazing cook and these aren't recipes you will find on Pinterest. She has a book with a ton of yummy recipes designed for healthy eating and obviously triathletes. These people are amazing, so amazing that some of them went on a run after their 100 mile bike ride. Seriously?
Alex's new thing is to put his hands up in pictures, funny boy.
Talk about helmet hair.
After the race Chipotle was giving out free burritos to all the finishers. We obviously didn't learn our lesson from Yogurtland (see previous post), but we went. Alex is such a lover these days....he will just kiss you out of the blue and these aren't just kisses. These are big open mouth kisses...haha
Sometimes he bites so it can get a little scary.
He loves rice and beans.
Just enjoying dinner and chatting about Ironman. It was a very interesting weekend. I learned a lot about triathlons. I also got some new recipes from Teresa's book and learned that you should eat like a King for breakfast, a Prince at lunch, and a Pauper at dinner. As we are all eating 5lb Chipotle burritos in this picture...ha
