Watching the Wild Flowers Madly Swim Pedal and Run

What a better way to start a blog than to write about the 2008 Avia Wildflower Triathlon. Phil and I (Paul) had the pleasure of attending our first one, and it was as a vendor. The Sable WaterOptics booth was between the swim/bike transition area and the finish line. This meant we could see alot of the swim portion, the switch to the bike, and the final run across the finish line. Having attended many events and trade shows, I don't think either of us have ever come across such helpful event staff. They helped us figure out all manner of logistical issues from our arrival on Thursday to our hurried departure on Sunday evening to catch our redeye flight back to Toronto from the San Francisco airport. In fact, the vendors, volunteers, the park staff, the competitors, and the crowd all seem infected with the same friendly helpful good time feeling that makes for such a good time.

The camping, although much colder than my sleeping bag was prepared to handle (it can handle 40C, but apparently not 40F), bumped us into contact with some great folks...
Patty at Wetsuitrental.com - thanks for long chats and for the stove and the help.
Trevor of Skinfit USA - thanks for the early morning coffee and all the good advice.
Jim, JT, and Q of Felt, keep that cooler ready next year, I'll have way too much ice again.
Although we weren't camping by Scott of Go For It Sports, he introduced us to Brian, who was camping a few spots away.
Alexis and friends kept us laughing and guessing until way too late on Saturday night, but I look forward to doing that again next year. By the way, the answer to your question is "Murray Head". Furthermore, I was wrong, Taco's version of Puttin' On the Ritz has nothing to do with Bangkok.
Les, thanks for the dialog and for showing us those amazing goggles.

Of course, topping off the weekend was watching Sam Mcglone win the women's pro division with a whopping 5 minute lead on 2nd place! We are mighty proud to sponsor her. Way to go Sam - what a great season starter! Looking forward to seeing you at more races this year.



Murphy, thanks for setting me straight on those shark attack stats. Growing up in the Great Lakes part of the world, lamprey eels worried me more than shark attacks. I seriously doubt that anyone has ever died from a lamprey eel 'attack', if such a thing can be said or imagined.

Being a company from Canada, we also had the pleasure of meeting Canadian triathlete Angela Naeth and her coach Chuckie V.

We also met a lot of terrific triathletes that stopped by our booth all weekend, including lots of pro triathletes (Chris, Joe, Amanda, Luke, and more), 3 firefighters from LA (how'd you guys do?), Nevin from Detroit, and Becky from Michigan's upper peninsula. Mr. Gambles, the Long Course followed the next day by the Olympic Course was mighty impressive!

Two other things happened that were far less important, but still pleasing nonetheless. First, we were able to pack almost everything we brought along. This meant that we didn't need to further comtemplate our hairbrained farfetched plan to bury the tent and air mattress up in the hills for storage until next year.
The second pleasing moment was boarding our plan on time in San Francisco. This may sound trivial, but we have to pack up and then wait in the traffic line like everyone else to get outa Dodge. Driving back up to the City, returning the rental, going through security, and carrying way too much stuff, all pushed against our redeye flight. But we made it back, redeyes and all.