Triple Crown PCC Aquatics Center

Peninsula Community Center Pool

We already swam the middle leg.   I started my swim with a bunch of my fellow Masters swimmers at 6am last Saturday.  Before the day was done, we set a new record with 64 swimmers in the pool at once.  I got out of the pool, having finished 7,500 meters for the Christmas swim, celebrated with my buds, and home by 9:30 am.  BAM.

What's the Triple Crown?
It's a fun event we do at PCC Masters, and I think it's something that many Master's teams do.  It's a holiday event, with swims on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.  Actually, the Christmas swim is on an alternate day, ours was last Saturday.  Each day has a longer distance at each of the three levels.  To accommodate all our swimmers, we have 2 start times.  I usually do the early one, 6am.

Here's my guess at the meters at each level:

Level/Day             Thanksgiving             Christmas            New Years Day
Bronze                       1,500                           2,500                       3,500
Silver                         3,500                           5,000                       6,500
Gold                           5,000                           7,500                     10,000
 
The gold levels equate to 3 miles, 4.6 miles, and 6.2 miles on New Year's Day.  That's at least 3.5hrs for me.

Jib Jab with Tim
I took this picture after our workout.   You can see two people still in the hot tub.   Notice all 6 lanes of the pool.  I've been swimming lane 4 lately.  Each lane is a progressively faster pace, lane 5 being the fastest, and lane 6 is available as needed.  When you think about 64 swimmers in this pool at once, it's well, amazing.

Typical Workout on the board

Here's a typical workout.  You can see we do all strokes.  Anything from 25 meters, to 400 meter swims.  All said, including 500 meter warm-up, 2,900 meters for those in the faster lanes.  The number matrix shows times for each length.  The numbers closest to the left are for the faster lanes.  For example, top left in the 2nd set (#2) is 600 which means 6 minutes for 1x 400 meters.  That's a 1:30 pace per 100 meters.  Pretty rockin for me, and I am happy to say, I made it!

PCC Pool

A couple more shots- This shows our coach, Mike on the pool deck.  The motto sounds a lot like Mike's motto for us.  It's incredibly straight-forward, yet incredibly life-changing.  "Get in, go back and forth."

 

Double Jib Jab

Swimming has become an integral part of my life.  It seems every day I swim is a good day.  Every other day may be too, it's just those swim days seem particularly special.  Here's a couple pictures on the 7 minute drive to the pool.

Cranberry Noels, Cherry Chocolate Chunk, revisited

Cranberry Noels, candy cane and Christmas tree cookies

We made these last year, and the year before, and the year before.  The recipe is here.

Cherry Chocolate Chunk cookies

These cookies are so delicious.  Huge chunks of chocolate and bing cherries.  These are also a recipe from previous Christmas cookie cooking sprees.  The recipe is here.

Jib Jab with Tim
It was really fun making these cookies.  It's really helped me get into the holiday spirit.  These are some of the best holiday cookies I've ever had.  My sister-in-law introduced us to them several years ago.

Cranberry Noels
These are incredible cookies.  Such an awesome combination of butter, sugar, cranberries, coconut and pecans.  There are a couple techniques and tricks to keep in mind. First, when you roll them out, make the dough thin.  Also, you are going to tend toward browning them.  DONT.  These are best if you don't brown them.  It's really a balancing act, between thin and making sure you don't brown em.  In the end, these go in the premium cookie section.  They are a step above the traditional chocolate chip or sugar or snickerdoodle cookie.

One more note.  I used sweetened coconut from the grocery store.  Later, I was at Whole Foods, and they have a much better selection of coconut in the bulk section.  It looks a lot fresher and it's less expensive.  The more I shop at Whole Foods, the more I think it's not only better food, and better choices, but often less expensive. 

Cherry Chocolate Chunk

Another totally premium cookie.  Bring these out for your special family and friends.  :-)  If you have had them, you know who I am talking about.  If not, ask for them.  They are a special treat.  These are a combination of intense cocoa, sour cherry, and big chunks of bittersweet chocolate chunks.

Trader Joe's has the dried cherries and the huge bittersweet bars.  They do a 500 gram bar, which is a bit over 16oz.  It's bittersweet with almonds.  I crushed the chocolate into really large chunks, which is tasty, just messy if they are still warm.

All said, these are going to make a nice gift for our neighbors, if the rain breaks long enough to deliver...

I love our new patio

It's not finished yet, but every day, I like it more and more. We have a craftsman/artist building it. It is a concrete patio, which sounds incredibly common. The thing is, it's going to be totally contemporary and unique.

Conscapes Landscape and Concrete Construction
Working with Rick has been an inspiration.  He's an artist with concrete.  We originally were planning a flagstone patio.  Even now, I think that would have been beautiful.  Now, we've moved to something much more special.  It's a sculpture.  It's a highlight, a unique jewel within our home.  Rick has worked with us, to incorporate our ideas and whims, and helped us shape them into special accents, and attention to detail I can already feel.  The benches?  His idea.  Part of the pour.  Another idea he suggested?  He knew we wanted modern.  So, he says, maybe we could use stainless steel instead of the normal joints.  Sweet!  Another exciting twist?  Rick showed us some exposed stone he created in a concrete planter.  So, he took some beach finds we gave him, and embedded them in the bench.  See the lights in the stair riser and the ends of the bench.  It's a 12 V system embedded.  He embedded irrigation too, for the flush planter we'll have.  I will tell you more about the ipe river later.  It goes between the window and blue spruce.


It's been a blast.  Can't wait to do more.  The final pour is scheduled for Thursday.  Cross your fingers for no rain.

Final pour complete.  Now for the finishing touches.

Concrete in.  Non-stop rain since.

Here you see the kitchen steps, and the recess where the ipe will be, flush with the concrete. 

Sydney, photos

We Had a great time in Sydney, especially around Circular Quay

Australia, tons of fun

My new possum hair sweater and cockatiel

We had such a great time in Sydney, and Melbourne, it's hard to capture the moment.  The food, arts, the scenery, the people, and the adventures.  Every day there was new excitement.  Here's some of the big memories, and actually will probably turn into their own blog posts.

Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge

Landmarks-  The Rocks, Sydney Harbour, Sydney Harbour bridge, the Opera House, Manly and Bondi beaches, and the park in Sydney, and the zoo.

Exotic (to us) food- Barramundi, Kangaroo, Crocodile, possum (just kidding! :-) )  I forget what else.  We had so much good food. 

Art- Bondi beach art walk, sculptures everywhere, Sydney art museum, Aboriginal paintings, didgeridoo, boomerangs

Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool just south of the Opera House in the Royal Botanic Gardens - that's me in the blue cap!

Pools- Well, based on input from friends, I tried the pool at Bondi, where the ocean splashes into the pool,  the best swim I have ever had in a pool.  I had great luck at the hotels as well.  Certainly the Marriott in Sydney and the Langham in Melbourne.  Both had really nice atmosphere, and views.  Both were around level 9 or so, adding some drama as well.  Then, on our way back to Sydney, Kirsty found this other fantastic pool in Sydney, on the edge of the park, by the Navy ships.  Beautiful pool, infinite-style lengthwise, then big gutters at water height front and back.  Salt water, with new, nice starting blocks, probably 7 feet deep at the starting line, and of course 50 meters, like Bondi.  Yes, overlooking the bay, but not water rushing in, like Bondi.  A new high-bar for a competitive pool.

Sydney, Australia, We made it!

We arrived!  This is the view from our hotel, the Sheraton 4 Points.  We had a bit of a shuffle to get our rooms, and thank you Ravi for being so generous with yours.  We are overlooking Darling Harbour.  Just below, you can see the Botanical Gardens, and the Maritime Museum (see the submarine?)  In the background is another contemporary bridge, not the famous one by the Opera House.

A special thanks to Joyce and Jennie and Matt for all the tips and places to go.  We've now been and totally enjoyed the Circular Quay, the Rocks, the street fair in the Rocks.  We had breakfast at the City Extra Cafe.  I loved the Rocks.  Awesome shops, all of them seemed to be something special.  A few of note, Ken Done, Aboriginal paintings and didgeridoos, and boomerangs.  I also love the opals.  I was here about 10 years ago on a stopover and had 3-4 hours here.  I walked to the Opera House, and the Rocks, and a nice cappuccino.  I got some nice take homes too.  Opal jewelry for my girls at the Rock Hound, and an Aboriginal boomerang for my boy.  I digress, but it was an awesome stop then, and again today.  As exhausted as we were, we really got some good time in today, finally having a beer at O'Brians by the hotel, and realizing we better have dinner soon, as we were fading fast.  We ended up at a nice steakhouse, ironically, no one had steak, but we did have Barramundi with fennel, which was great.  Also kangaroo carpaccio and cheese souffle to name a few.  Everything was delicious!

 Sydney Cup cakes say it all.  Melbourne Cup, Boo! and I <3 U!

Iceberg Pool, Bondi Beach

Salt water 50 M pool

Auzzie size splash in the pool.  Notice the PCA swim cap?  :-)

Water Dog Park - The Dog - Mountain Biking in Belmont

Ray out on Water Dog Park Trail

This picture does not do this park justice.  It's an awesome little park, with lots of steeps, single track, challenging technical stuff.  No, I can not ride the whole thing without getting off in a few spots.  Yes, it seems innocuous at first.  A park behind suburbia.  You can just about see the whole thing from various vantage points in the hills.

Dropping in, almost immediately it's a grind, depending where you start.  We went around to the Ralston/Alemeda entrance, or just West and South of there.  I forget the names of the streets.  There are actually about 6-8 places to jump in.  This little park is well maintained, an incredible myriad of trails to chose from, but I don't think there are any choices where you won't get a serious ride of climbs, switchbacks, and just plain tight trails.  A full loop is probably only about an 8 mile loop, but it lends itself to doing figure 8's or any number of adaptations to get in a good length ride.  Even the 8 is worthy of a nice ride in and of itself.

Jib Jab
Dang.  For so long I have been trucking up to Marin to ride Mt Tam, with my buddies Chris and Matt.  It is riding paradise, and I really enjoy going with these guys.  Having said that, it is a haul.  For me to limit myself to riding there is nuts.  So, finally, after at least a year, I finally found Water Dog.  No, it's not Mt Tam, but yes, it's a blast!  And it's riding distance from my house.  On bike, I can be there in about 15 minutes.

This was one of two rides I did here with Ray.  I gotta comment on his attire.  Don't you love that shirt?  It's a crash dummy!  It has some silly tag on the back saying if found, put back on the trail or something.  I forget.  Oh Ray.  Heheheehe, even included a typo.  Yep, spelled cyclist with an s on the end.  Very funny.  That said, Ray is a great rider.  He rode my buns into the ground.  The first day was particularly difficult, and even the second, after a good rest, Ray powered up hills I couldn't and stayed on in the technical stuff when I would get off.  Still, it was fun, fun, fun, all the way around though.  So good to see my buddy after all these years, just hanging together and having fun.  He had new brakes and the discs were acting up, so we ended up at this other gem of Belmont.  Passion Trail Bikes.

Thanks, Ray
I know you planned me into your trip, which I really appreciate.  I hope you had as much fun as I did.  Our friendship lives on, and I felt completely rejuvenated on that front.  Ray, you are a special part of my life.

As you can see, my pictures were, well, limited.  We tried this one trail, that goes tight around the lake.  As it turns out, it wasn't a finished trail.  Ray and I went exploring anyways....  :-)

Passion Trail Bikes ***** (5 / 5 bikes)
Just like the name says.  Essentially, nice mountain bikes, parts, and accessories, and a huge shop, great people.  No kids bikes.  No road bikes.  No messing around.  You know how some quick auto lube shops have that little sitting area?  Passion does too.  And you can get a cappuccino (make your own) or you can pour yourself a delicious micro brew from Devil's Canyon Brewery, which is just a couple blocks away.  It's like a college house bachelor pad.   Yes, dirty dishes in the sink.  coffee grounds around the machine, couches looking extra worn, and a mini-fridge with a tap out the top.  Just pure enjoyment.  Such a treat.  So, we pull in here, late Saturday afternoon, after having rode Water Dog.  We basically needed to get Ray's bike brakes fixed within the hour, or he was going to have to deal with it in Thailand.  In every respect, our chances were a long shot.  Can you diagnose the problem?  Can we get credit for the defective parts Ray just put on in Colorado?  Do they have replacement parts? Could they work on the bike, essentially drop what they are doing? 

"Do you two want a beer?"
Yep, we explained the situation, and the guy was totally on the ball.  Understood the issue, immediately tested the bike, and had some ideas in his head.  So, yeah.  They were busy in the shop, but gave us tremendous support.  So, once he figured out what was what, he says- "So, do you guys want a beer?"  "yes"  "Blonde or Scotch?"  "Blonde, we have to ride home."  Hahahahhahaha!  Awesome!  Dude fixes Ray's bike on the spot.  We are sipping a delicious brew, and the next days' ride, Ray was so excited to be back on track.  Wow.  Full endorsement for Passion.  Great experience.  Really, one of those special moments when you are so happy to be a part of mankind.

References:
This trail has some good references from Passion.  Also, the maps about online and on the trail.  In the end, Ray and I decided, staring at maps doesn't really help.  Just ride.  You can't get too far afoot.

Local Rides thanks to Passion