Team Timex Camp March 29-April 1st

The much anticipated Team Timex Camp is in the books. It has been long awaited and I have to say that it was an amazing experience.

Upon arrival into the San Diego airport, I was wondering who was going to pick me up, if anyone? I decided not to worry about that and just went and got my 2 bags… bike and suitcase. I wondered if there would be a person with a card that said ‘TIMEX’ or ‘Thompson,’ but I did not locate one. So, I got on the phone and called Tristan, the Team TIMEX manager. He was there, but picking up someone else and were on their way. Okay, I have a ride. I guess that’s good.

While waiting to be picked up, this tall guy approaches me and asks if I am part of Team TIMEX. I said yes, and he introduced himself as Bruce Gennari. I know ‘of’ Bruce, but have never met him. Just a little background, this guy swims a sub 17 minute 1500 meter, and in 1997 was the first out of the water at IM Hawaii as an amateur… that is he caught the pros and passed them. Eh, fast? Not to mention he backs it up with a solid bike and run. So we chatted and waited for Tristan to arrive.

Tristan pulled up in a new Ford F-150 pickup with a girl hanging out the window. At first glance I already knew who it was… Carole Shapless. She is a pro women with Team TIMEX and is an absolute riot. I met her last year in Hawaii at the PowerBar brunch and she was such a sweet gal. Unfortunately she got into an accident on her bike there and did some serious damage to her vertebrate and is still dealing with complications with that. But you would never know by her spirit and passion for this sport. The car ride from the airport to Carlsbad was about 40 minutes. The conversation during that time was ripe with humor and was non stop. All of us are extreme introverts and I was wondering if Tristan really knew what he was in for.

We arrived at the Grand Palisades Resort and went straight to our rooms. This place is pretty nice. A large outdoor pool with lane lines, plenty of deck space to hang out and relax, and multiple fire pits. Just trying to give you an idea as to the quality of this place. Not that I spent much time lounging around, but setting the stage. The rooms were nice… fluffy beads and comforters with lots of loft. I think I had 20 pillows on my bed too. Not to sure of the reason for all of them. But they did at some atmosphere.

I have to be honest and say that I was a bit anxious about this trip since I did not know anyone there… literally. I knew ‘of’ many of them and their accomplishments in the sport. From winning Ironmans, to being named Triathletes of the year, to World Champions… I knew of many of them, but I doubt any of them knew me. The 3rd person I met was Emily Herndon at the pool. Yes, at the pool. I happened to go down there to see Carole and Bruce already swimming. Watching Bruce swim is just like going to Sea World and watching the fish swim there. So incredibly smooth and makes it look effortless. Emily and I started chatting. I thought I recognized her a bit, and her name. She is actually from Missoula and was part of the Stampede team. So we had some similar connections. I was now up to 3 people that I knew, almost a clique.

The first formal meeting we had started at 4:30pm in the banquet room. Sounded kind of ‘big’ to me. So I meandered down there with Bruce and entered what would be my first Team TIMEX event. At this meeting the weekly schedule was shared, which we all had, but a little more elaboration on it was done. Also, dinner was served which was amazing. Tons of food, and good food at that. I was able to meet some more great people like Kyle Marcotte. A pro from Canada who is a great person. Quite funny really but in a more subtle way. After dinner, many of the sponsors were there to hand out the clothing and equipment we would use for the season. It was a lot of equipment… overwhelming really. But the thing that I think was most impressive, was that no one was reluctant to give you something. That is, no one said, ‘Only take on please.’ They wanted you to have as much as you needed. I truly felt guilty with all that was given. I tried to be last one at most of the vendors. I just did not feel like I should take anything. I spent the first 20 minutes talking with Mark from Trek. He is the guy that developed the TTX which we would be riding. He is also the guy who developed Lance’s bike. Folks, this is not some dealer, or rep., that talks about how great a bike is. This is the guy who made the friggin’ bike. I talked with him for quite some time about the bike, changes, and what I liked so far about it. Then another guy came and talked with me about what I would like to see on the next generation. They asked me a lot of questions about how I carried fuel, and possibly where I would like to see the changes made. Amazing really. This team is a truly supported team. And who they (I guess it’s actually we) are supported by are some amazing companies. Companies like TIMEX, Trek, B70, Rudy Project, PowerBar, Profile Design, Nuun, Giam, Nathan fuel carriers, Spenco, Wigwam…, I am sure I am missing a few. Just simply amazing support.

As I was heading to my room to drop off all of the items I had received, I ran into my roommate, Tim Hola. Tim is an amazing amateur athlete from Highlands Ranch Colorado. He is someone that I have followed his success since 2004. He is normally the fastest amateur at both Wildflower and Oceanside. He has one of the fastest times at IM Hawaii and IM Florida… remember how close those two races are in relation to one another. So what I am saying, this guy is amazing. And he does it all balancing a full time job, wife, and two new kiddos. He is a great person and someone I admire even more after getting to know him even better. He ended up getting 2nd overall that day at the race. Dang cool.

To end the evening, the entire Team TIMEX was invited to the Triathlete Magazine party held at the restaurant next to the hotel. Many of the pro athletes from the race that day (Oceanside 70.3) were in attendance as well. Triathlete Magazine covered the cost of drinks and food. Pretty fun. That night went pretty late.

The next morning I got up at about 5:00am to assemble my bike. Tim got up too because he had trouble sleeping and went down to get some ice for some sore muscles. We had a ride to do at 6:30ish which I needed to be at. This would be my first ride in all my TIMEX gear form head to toe. I got there to connect with Tim, Sergio Marques (runs a 2:40 IM marathon), Dave Harju (2x winner of IM Wisconsin), and another gal that I did not know…oops. It was a good ride out the coastline. It was not as warm as I thought it would be and overcast. I wore leg warmers and arm warmers, but no gloves and was fine. Kind of an odd arrangement really. It was a pretty easy ride, but felt good to be out in a climate that was a little more receptive of riding versus snow in Spokane.

After the ride I went back to the room to clean up and get ready for a long day of presentations. Upon arrival to the banquet room, I could smell breakfast… mmmm. After a long ride in the morning and a hot shower, I was ready. It was a pretty amazing layout. OJ, coffee, water, juices, bagels, jams, eggs, potatoes with sautéed veggies, yogurt, fruit, … the list went on. It was hard no to look like a pig, but I was hungry.

During the remainder of the breakfast, Mark from Trek came to give a presentation about the TTX… the steed I would be riding this year. Again, these are not some random ‘reps,’ these are the engineers, the creators, of this piece of art. So they knew everything. We went over all the wind tunnel tests, weight, strength, etc., of the frame and then of course made some comparisons to other bikes. It was quite a presentation. One that I could have listened to for hours. But do have to say that after the early morning, and having a load of food in me, I did get the head nods for a about 15 minutes. But after some of my funnier teammates saw me, they started harassing me about it, so that kept me awake. This is not to mention the numerous text messages that were being sent. Quite a group of people really.

After Trek, TIMEX had a presentation about their products this year. I think this was pretty important since they are our title sponsor and do so much for the team. Keith (responsible for marketing and the guy who was my initial contact with TIMEX) gave the presentation. He is such an amazing guy. Not at all stuffy and boring. He seems like a road racer and just wanted to let all of us know what changes, and prototypes, we should expect to see. I have quite a few TIMEX watches now, from HR monitors to titanium watches. All of which I love. Including the one that controls my iPod… gotta like that. Some other people from TIMEX (Margaret and Adraina) were both there too to answer questions a give any support we needed. An amazing group of people. And I have to say that it is in part due to Keith because he believes in the team and triathlon.

Before lunch, we were told it would be on our own. So no lunch provided. Not a big deal since there were so many places fairly close to the hotel. But, as we walked out from the room, Tom Schuler handed us cash for lunch. I would disclose the amount if I thought it was appropriate, but I am not. Because it was kind of like a gift…another one. It was enough to eat just about anywhere. Maybe a few meals really. Again, it was not necessarily the amount that was given, it was more about ‘how’ it was given. He just handed it to each one of us and said, ‘have a great lunch.’ Not, ‘don’t spend this all in one place,’ or, ‘this is quite a bit, don’t lose it.’ It was almost like he felt awkward giving it to us and just wanted us to take it and not really acknowledge it. If that makes sense.

I did not go far. Actually, only next door where the Triathlete Magazine party was. It was kind of like a Red Robin, but a bit nicer and more expensive too. It was nice to get out of the room and meet more of the athletes in a less ‘formal’ environment. It wasn’t hard to miss anyone from TIMEX because we all had the same clothing on most of the time. Part of the ensemble was the new TIMEX orange jackets… they were everywhere. Kind of like when Tri Fusion got their black ones, but these are orange.

For that evening, we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant… all 35 of us. Yikes. It was a ton of fun and I seem to sit with the same people I seem to all the time… the crazy extroverts. Some might say a little over the top, but everyone was always entertained. Carole was the one that always seem to instigate these groups. She would get all the ‘fun people’ (her words, not mine) to be at one table. I can’t really say that any of the people that might be considered ‘not fun people’ would want to sit with us. I think the initial ruckus was created when the waitress was taking drink orders and everyone was ordering cocktails and beers and I ordered a hot chocolate. Even Tim Hola, my very kind roommate, laughed and said, “what did you just order? Did you say a hot chocolate?” The table erupted. I thought it was pretty funny too, but my throat needed something hot. There is some irony to this coming up. Eventually through the night, everyone made their way to our table and sits down for a bit to engage in what was going on, or wanting to know what was being talked about that was so funny. Even TIMEX management pulled up a seat for a bit. It truly is one big family. Albeit a tad dysfunctional, but a lot of fun.

After dinner, most the team went back to the place that the Triathlete Magazine party was at next to the hotel. But, because of the chaos that happened the night before (by the way, it wasn’t just TIMEX people there. There were many other triathletes there that had raced Oceanside and were cutting lose a bit), they would not serve anyone alcohol after 10:30pm. Just goes to show you that when people really put themselves into one thing, like training, they really put themselves into other things as well. After hanging out and talking some more in an environment that was ‘alcohol free,’ we headed back to the hotel and went and sat at the outdoor fire pit next to the hotub and pool to chat. It was 11:10pm and the pool closed at 11:00pm. I will keep this part short because there are ‘rumors’ out there that make this story a little more entertaining than it really was, so I will leave those to you imagination. But the evening ended with MANY people in the pool including management throwing some fully clothed people in as well. It was quite entertaining. The security came out as well only to tell us that we could use the pool area, but just keep the volume down. The security thought all of the antics were quite funny. But, after all the clothes you are wearing are wet, you really don’t feel like hanging around outside. So the evening retired.

The next morning started off with a ride to Oceanside with Dave Harju and Time Hola. It was a pretty easy ride and I was able to hear some ‘old school’ stories about the race in Oceanside when it was an Ironman. Tim also showed me the house that was used on Top Gun as ‘Charlie’s’ house (the girl). It looks just a tad different all boarded and fenced off. Kind of loses the feel. I also have to say that the roads in this area are pretty decent compared to Spokane, but the amount of intersections and 4 ways stops make riding in this area really erratic. Way too much stop and go and too much running red lights and blowing stop signs. After the ride we went back to the hotel and had another amazing breakfast.

After breakfast, and all the jokes pertaining to last nights events, we got underway with another session of seminars. This would be a short day since we had already had so many up to this point and we were now down to the TIMEX Athlete Handbook and expectations. Good thing we waited until now to cover this stuff :) There are definitely expectations on behavior, what you wear, what you do, etc. So it is good to know this stuff so you don’t assume you know. It was also a time to get to know what races other people would be doing.

After this presentation, we needed to get the group photo as well as individual shots. That always takes longer than anticipated. You always have a few people that make things entertaining when it comes to taking pictures. Some might say I am one of those people… but there were others too.

That pretty much left the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. Some people went sight seeing, but I wanted to go for a ride. Even though I had already ridden in the morning, it was 70 degrees. You ride when you have weather like this. So I went on another ride down the coast with 2 other TIMEX athletes… Cindy and Emily. They just needed to go on an easy ride so it was fun to ride and chat. So there was another 2 hours. Just enough to get some tan lines. Riding in shorts is so great. It really makes you feel like it’s summer.

When we got back, most the people were down at the pool. Kind of the coffee shop so to speak. By now, most people knew everyone and knew their personalities and information about them. Tom Schuler (Team Sports manager) and I spoke for quite a bit about cycling in the old days. You see, Tom was a US Pro Champion in the 80s. He was on the US Olympic Cycling team, raced for 7-11 and Motorola, and has a resume as long as a toilet paper roll… unrolled. He is a guy that was in all the cycling magazines when I was racing. He was someone that was an amazing rider and I admired. The point to all of this is that most triathletes have no clue about this. He could tell them, or I could, but it would not have the same emotional impact. He even raced in Spokane at the Washington Trust Cycling Classic which was a HUGE race here in Spokane. He remembered a lot about it and the people he stayed with, people I am friends with. So a bit of reminiscing you might say. But also a nice connection to have with him. For a guy that manages multiple pro cycling teams and triathlon teams, he sure is a very kind person.

After I tried to even up my cycling short tan lines from my ride with my 2 hours at the pool, it was time to get ready to head out again for dinner. The last dinner is always at an authentic Mexican place. People sat with everyone this time. No one was fearful of what table they were at and we all had a great time. I sat with some familiar faces and some new ones as well. But I knew a bit about everyone which made all time together so great. And when the drink order was being taken, guess what all the people at my table ordered? Hot chocolate. Yup. What was hilarious the night before, is status quo today. One little piece of trivia is that Alex McDonald (1st overall amateur at IM Hawaii this year) is a heck of a beat boxer. He created a little dance music for us to enjoy right there at the table.

Most of the group decided that it would be a nice night to just go back to the hotel and sit by the pool. Of course, a handful of people stopped by the local Gas n’ Sip to pick up some refreshments. But it wasn’t a crazy evening. Mostly just sitting around and chatting about politics, investments, and maybe a little triathlon. You might think I am joking, but it’s the truth. I headed into the lobby to take care of some work I needed to do on the computer that should have only taken me about 20 minutes. During this time, many TIMEX athletes came in to see what was going on. So my quick computer work turned into a 2.5 hour session. Basically ½ the group moved inside, while other stayed outside. Alex wanted me to look on Youtube for a funny video about some people. But of course they were all 10 minutes long, so there was about 20 minutes of it all. A good way to wind down and evening and the last night to camp.

The next morning breakfast was served again in the banquet room and people said their goodbyes. It was tough to see all these people depart because we would probably not be together again until next year.

One of the hardest parts of the trip was figuring out how in the world I was going to get all this stuff home? Wetsuits, helmets, clothes, glasses, backpacks, etc. They really take up a lot of room. But I thought, who cares, if I get charged an overweight fee, I will pay it with a smile considering what is in there.

I arrived at the airport alone and about 4 hours prior to my flight… I miscalculated just a tad. But as I sat there, Bruce and Emily came through the door and we sat and hung out for another 1.5 hours. So that was nice. And it hasn’t ended there. The texts and the emails keep flying every day. What an amazing group of people. I don’t think it’s just TIMEX athletes, I think it is about the triathlete community. An amazing group of people.