Jon's Jibber-jabber

So this post is a little contemplative. I have been doing a lot of research on cycling between buying my bike and researching the next bike purchase (for my wife). Of the three sports that comprise triathlon, cycling is the most complex. Swimming is just you. Running is just you. You can do both naked and barefoot if you really want. In order to cycle, you need a bike. It is a change of mind, coming from running, to rely on equipment in order to complete a race. For novice triathletes (including yours truly), the concept of equipment failures and the complexity of moving parts is difficult. In the beginning, it was intimidating. The more you understand about cycling, the more comfortable you become with the risks. Here I go on a little tangent. I promise I'll circle back. In epidemiology, the foundation of the discipline is a concept centered on the "epidemiologic triad" or "epidemiological triangle." Transmission of disease has three parts: host, agent,

Event: Ft Ritchie Triathlon and Duathlon Location: Cascade, MD Distance: Olympic (Sprint also available) Date: August 4th, 2013 This past weekend I participated in the Ft. Ritchie triathlon held in the Cacoctin Mountains in Cascade, MD.  Ft. Ritchie is an old abandoned military installation near Camp David and serves as the backdrop for this event.  This year was the event's fourth year.  This year, the race was sanctioned by USAT for the first time.  Cascade is about an hour and 45 minutes from Annapolis (one hour thirty minutes if I don't drive).  This would be my second Olympic distance triathlon. Swim : The swim course was in Lake Royer on the Ft Ritchie grounds.  The lake is small and is not open to swimmers or power boaters except for events.  The Olympic course was two 750m loops.  You had to run along the beach and down the pier in between loops.  The water quality was cloudy but surprisingly clean.  There was a moderate amount of vegetation, especially in more s