Journey to Alcatraz

  My last thoughts on the race 9.37pm , 4 June, 2022 I should be in bed, and I'll be there soon. Friday: Pro Panel Last moments to reflect: The journey was long and hard to get here, and I can still only hope that I won't screw up anything tomorrw: 1. Get up on time 2. Leave on time, Uber booked for that for 4am. 3. Find my bike ready to go the way I left it today 4. Place all the right things around it at Marina Green. 5. Reach a shuttle between 4 and 5:45am, but at least the last one at 5:45am to get to Pier 3 6. Get on the boat before it leaves at 6:15am 7. Jump in the right manner, arms out in T shape and/or one hand holding the goggles. 8. Swim out before the next swimmer kills me by jumping on top of my head. .... and then JUST RACE! Take it easy, enjoy the moment, know you can do it and be careful. Lot of unknown, unknown terrain, lots of uphills and downhills. Don't forget to take the right amount of liquids, carbs in form of gels in the right manner. DON'T DRAF...

 2 June, 2022 My last bike ride: Orinda - San Pablo I had a short 58 min ride ahead of me. Of course, I decided to go back to paradise. Ha, not that day, it wasn't! Last time I was there at 8 am, this time at 12. Thursday was as windy as hell, it almost blew me off my bike. Once I got down to the bottom of San Pablo Dam Road, I was panting heavily and just kept rolling straight ahead. I felt lucky to be alive, the wind was moving me together with my bike so heavily. I thought it would just blow me off. Afternoon in San Francisco: Hawker Fare We went in to meet Jelena and Byanka for dinner central San Francisco. Before that, Jon recommended a hot chocolate place we went to with Csabi. We had a super tasty hot chocolate.  Dandelion: Mission and Classic hot chocolate Once we drank it, I stayed to continue my blog, while Jon took Csabi out to Clarion Alley to check wall paintings.     Clarion Alley: Jon and Csabi In the meantime, Byanka and Jelena came down a bit sooner...

 1 June, 2022 Running and strength with John I was so happy to be able to make it both to my morning run and strength despite the fact that nightmares kept me awake almost the entire night. I woke and went running at 6am. Didn't feel good but I managed to get the work done and it went well. Morning run around my place John's place was really nice. I enjoyed training with him in his garden. I felt very grateful. Having had some conversation about weight classes before my race with Mark, he made a joke at the end of the class, "How about some heavy barbell squats, Nusi?" he asked. Truly pissing me off but on the spot, not being able to react more than "If only you were..." to it. I would have liked to finish that sentence like this or a similar way: "here, I would probably throw a towel at you." I will not go into the details of that conversation. I felt that at least I was overcoming the fury and frustration caused by it.  Csabi came to the US Final...

 31 May, 2022 Bike ride on San Pablo Dam Road I was hesitating a while until I decided not to check the bike course of my race and stick to biking in Berkeley, or well, near it. So I went back to the much dreaded San Pablo Dam Road. I got nothing to lose, I checked it out with Marci on motorbike before. I had a long ride that means I had time to get there. I planned the trip with Garmin based on the route with Tristan. I went back up the same way to Inspiration Point and down to San Pablo but then instead of turning right to go to Orinda, I turned left and headed down on San Pablo. Let's see the beast, I thought! And I went all the way until I made the random turnback point in Garmin. I mean, dangerous?? Noway. Amazing! Smooth, few broken glass remnants here or there. But NO wind, mainly immaculate road conditions - what I call a triathlete's paradise. I had the time of my life, especially on the way back, hitting such speed, slightly going over the recommended HR range my coac...

 30 May, 2022 Lafayette I couldn't wait to meet Tristan again. I wanted us to do the same exact bike ride that we did 3 years ago. Up to Inspiration Point, through Orinda to Lafayette. Amazing view on the way up   I was really looking forward to this ride since last time I was here and we biked this, I had a heavy Giant mountain bike. Finally, I could ride equally lightly to Tristan, who already back then owned a road bike. We stopped once again at Inspiration point to take a picture, though nature is covering more and more of the view that could be so inspiring. Tristan and I, Inspiration Point   Nevertheless, you get here after about 400m climb, so stopping here for a short while is something you just long to do here anyway. I was also making the last of the arrangments about my friend, Csabi's trip as he was coming to Oakland in two days! After that, we kept going. I was trying not to rush it too much, it was my off day anyway but following some downhill sections, the...

 29 May, 2022 Pleasant Hill - San Pablo - Inspiration Point - Grizzly Peak Marci asked me if I was interested in riding the motorcycle with him. I said yes. I am now pretty open to any new experience and yet this sounded a bit too wild, even for my taste. But I just did not want to turn such an offer down. He had all the equipment necessary at home so why not try it? I took the BART to Pleasant Hill and met him at the station. We went to his house where I was going to go after my race to stay. Kornél was at home, his flatmate. He also rides motorcycles and when he found out we were going, he decided to come along. Before that they were talking about some movie night downtown SF and even though may not have necessarily wanted me to tag alone, I think my eyes went wide when I heard movie and then Kornél said "Erm, would you be interested in coming? If so, I think we could ask our friends?" "Yes, I'd love to. Of course!" I said probably even sooner than he could f...