Julie and I have not completed our 2009 race schedule yet but I wanted to point you towards a few resources for your calendar planning.

1. Check out this post from James Walsh.
http://www.jameswalshracing.com/2009/01/2009-plan-its-on.html

James is huge into Xterra and trail running and has put quit the schedule together.

2. Cycling links:
http://www.teambigbear.com
http://www.usacycling.org
http://www.americancycling.org
http://www.socalcross.org
http://www.uscup.net
http://www.warriorssociety.org

3. Running links:
http://www.bookthatevent.com/Trail_Run/Home.html
http://www.bsim.org
http://www2.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge
http://www.thekauaimarathon.com
http://www.tricalifornia.com
http://www.hoodtocoast.com
http://www.pctrailruns.com
http://renegaderaceseries.com
http://www.trailrace.com

4. The 50 Mile Ride and the Sea Otter Classic

5. Felipe from Break-away Training sent out a list of races with dates:
02/08/09 – SAN DIEGUITO HALF MARATHON
02/14/09 – TOUR DE PALM SPRINGS
03/01/09 – GRAN FONDO CENTURY RIDE – LITTLE ITALY
03/29/09 – SUPERFROG & SUPERSEAL TRIATHLONS
04/04/09 – FORD IRONMAN 70.3 CALIFORNIA
04/05/09 – NEW ORLEANS 70.3
04/11/09 – BOSTON MARATHON
04/19/09 – TOYOTA DESERT INTERNATIONAL & SPRINT TRIATHLON
04/26/09 – LA JOLLA HALF MARATHON
04/26/09 – LONDON MARATHON
05/02/09 – WILDFLOWER TRIATHLON WEEKEND
05/03/09 – SPRING SPRINT TRIATHLON & DUATHLON
05/17/09 – ENCINITAS SPRINT TRIATHLON
05/30/09 – HONU 70.3 HAWAII
05/31/09 – IRONMAN BRASIL
06/14/09 – ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ TRIATHLON
06/21/09 – IRONMAN COEUR D’ALENE
06/28/09 – SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON
07/05/09 – IRONMAN AUSTRIA
07/12/09 CARLSBAD TRIATHLON
07/13/09 – BOISE 70.3
07/19/09 – VINEMAN 70.3
07/26/09 – IRONMAN LAKE PLACID
07/26/09 – SOLANA BEACH TRIATHLON & DUATHLON
08/16/09 – A.F.C. HALF MARATHON
08/30/09 – IMPERIAL BEACH TRIATHLON & DUATHLON
08/30/09 – IRONMAN CANADA
08/30/09 – IRONMAN LOUISVILLE
09/13/09 – IRONMAN WISCONSIN
09/27/09 – O.C. INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON
10/04/09 – MISSION BAY TRIATHLON
10/10/09 – IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP HAWAII
10/11/09 – CHICAGO MARATHON
10/25/09 – SOMA TRIATHLON
10/25/09 – BIG KAHUNA HALF IRONMAN
10/25/09 – SAN DIEGO TRIATHLON CHALLENGE
11/01/09 – NEW YORK CITY MARATHON
1/07/09 – IRONMAN FLORIDA
11/14/09 – IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 70.3 – CLEARWATER
11/29/09 – IRONMAN COZUMEL – MEXICO

I hope you get to race and challenge yourself this year.

Andy B
outsideallday.com

I get super excited when I see brands that we are partnering with blowing up! In January of this year, Competitor Magazine announced the Best products of 2008 as voted on by their readers. Break-away Training, Rock N Road Cyclery and Fluid Recovery Products were all named product or service of the year by Competitor Magazine in their specific category. So sweet!

Congrats to all three brands! We know you work your butts off.

Also, check out the 2009 Team Ride Clean frame with a slick Fluid Recovery decal. Sic, I want one so bad! Rich, hook me up!

Great job Fluid!

Andy B
outsideallday.com

Press Release
Huntington Beach, CA
February 3rd, 2009

Team Big Bear acting as U.S. Cup Series website until construction is complete.

Just a quick note to all racers wanting information or looking to participate in the U.S. Cup, that they can go to the Team Big Bear website at www.teambigbear.com for details while the current U.S. Cup website is under construction.

The Kenda Cup West opening round kicks off March 1st, 2009 at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA. with the Pro XCT tour kicking off at round two of the Kenda Cup West series out at Fontana on March 28-29th.

On the Team Big Bear website, racers will find access to online registration forms, start times and other information pertaining to the Kenda Cup West series events along with the opening Pro XCT event. The official U.S. Cup website is set to go live at the end of February or early March, in which case riders can go to www.uscup.net for complete series details for both the Kenda Cup West/East series, along with the Pro XCT tour.

We want to thank riders for their patience during this transitional period.

Ty Kady
U.S. Cup Marketing Director

OC Chili Winter Trail Run Series
info: http://www.bookthatevent.com/Trail_Run/Home.html

4.52 mile trail course in O’Neill Regional Park

Don’t forget. This Saturday, February 7, 2009 we will be running the OC Chili Winter Trail Run. This is the first in the three race series. If you have already slacked off on your New Year’s resolution or decided that running alone was super boring. Which it can be on a beautiful Saturday morning. Be sure and check out their site and join us.

Matt S.
Outside All Day

Marvin Sosna is one of our friends here at Outside All Day. He kindly sent along a portion of his new book Brandon’s Trail for our collective enjoyment. Before long you will be heading out for a hike.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I’m so tired I don’t know if I can write. My hand’s shaking, I’m so tired.
We hiked the Golden Staircase today. It’s the kind of thing you have to do. I don’t know if I can describe it, but I’ll try.
We camped last night at the base, hiking in from Deer Meadow. Dad had told us today was going to be a hard one, really hard, but that we had to just do it.
I’m really tired. I’ll write this tomorrow. I don’t want to forget it.

It was the last part of The John Muir Trail that was built, linking the southern one-third and the northern two-thirds of the route that some say goes north-south and others say goes east-west across the Sierra Nevada, that actually goes in all four directions at one time or another along its two hundred and twelve exhausting, inspiring and amazing miles that twist around boulders as big as freight cars, in the shade of trees as tall as office buildings, across meadows that reach to the horizon, over creeks and next to lakes, along spiny mountain ridge more than two miles above sea level.
Looking up at the wall of Palisade Canyon, Brandon gulped. It was hundreds of feet and straight up, the morning sun casting deep shadows in the rock where, somewhere in there, was a ladder of rock steps carved out of the granite bulk, no effort made by the trail builders to curve it or create switchbacks, just build it to get up and onto Mather Pass.
Switchbacks would have been impossible. The cliff of Palisade Canyon is almost vertical. Switchbacks require some degree of an angle. Palisade Canyon has none.
It sure is big, Brandon thought, looking up, craning his neck, his eyes sweeping from the base to the loftiest reaches he could see. He felt his teeth clench and his stomach tighten, as if he were pulling his muscles all into place.
How to do it had been based on Samantha. Her needs came first, they all acknowledged. She would likely have to be carried all the way up.
Part of the way, Brandon would do the carrying. He had volunteered for it, and after Mom and Dad weighed the options, they agreed to let him at least try.
Which part of the way, was the question. Should he start, go as far as he could, and then turn over to Mom? Or would it be better for Dad to carry, then schedule a trade, then resume after he was relieved for a bit?
They talked it over, the three of them while Samantha picked up leaves. Brandon was suddenly aware that, at least in this part of the trip, he was being treated as an adult. It made his skin tingle.

Thanks Marvin.

Matt Smart
Outside All Day

So should I be hopping gas prices go up or that people realize that no matter the price of fuel life is always better with bike and a full bottle of motor tabs.

Matt S.
Outside All Day

I was paging through the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine when I came across this story by the famous sports writer Rick Reilly. Check it out:

by Rick Reilly
Approximately 2.6 million Americans lost their jobs last year. One of them couldn’t have been happier about it.

His name is Lionel Rodia, of suburban Philadelphia, and if they ever build a national Fan Hall of Fame, what he did in Game 5 of last year’s World Series should get his face on the logo.

When Lionel’s staffing company was sold and he was pink-slipped, it knocked him flatter than forgotten beer. And it’s not easy to flatten Lionel, who is as pessimistic as a rainbow and twice as colorful. His real name is Mike, but they call him Lionel because, like the train, he can’t be stopped.

So Lionel, 42, did what any true Philly fan would do: He started begging, borrowing and stealing his way into every Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and Sixers game he could. And nobody nudges better than Lionel. “I’ve never been to a Springsteen concert with him where he didn’t say, ‘Follow me,’ and we didn’t end up in the front row,” says Lionel’s best friend, Tom (Tush) Millison.

When the Phils played in the soggy World Series Game 5—up three games to one—Lionel sat along the leftfield foul pole in a seat he’d gotten for free. With the game tied 2-2 in the sixth, rain checks were issued for the rest of Game 5, to be played two nights later. That is when Lionel somehow sneaked into the swanky Diamond Club section behind the plate, where Tush has season tickets.

Ten minutes in, Tush is in his seat—five rows up, just off home plate—when his cell buzzes. It’s Lionel. “Look to your right,” Lionel says. And there he is, sitting TWO rows back, DEAD CENTER behind home plate, grinning like Phil Mickelson.

Now, the Phillies have just won, 4-3, when Lionel notices a 6’8″ guy in a suit begin to walk down the aisle. Lionel figures the guy’s important, so he slinks in behind him, through a gate and toward the Tampa dugout. Who’s in there but Bud Selig, some suits and the World Series trophy…

Find the rest of the story at ESPN The Magazine.