Great Dane… it’s their second… both you could put a saddle on and ride. How’s that for big. 
Here ya go on some pics. Great weather for the ride on Lemmon on Friday. I had a great! time meeting, speaking and riding with people all weekend. It was a fun event and was very well done. It would be nice to see this sort of “kick off the year” event gain some steam and grow.
Hey Mark, you didn’t get any pictures bombing down Mt Lemmon?
Was that you cruising down with the P3 and Marines jersey? If so, I was the guy in the TriSports.com jersey on the silver Felt F50, we came down with Evan (Waste Management) and Marty (Genuine Innovations). Thanks for a fun ride down.
If you’re still in Tucson for a while, maybe I’ll see you out on the roads. Enjoy the weather, this wek should be pretty decent.
~Tucker
Couldn’t grab any shots… was too busy trying to keep from getting dropped by you!
Marty/Nick and I chatted the rest of the way home… once we were on the flat we kept the pace hot till traffic and the lights got too bad.
I’ll be here thru Saturday… gotta get one shoot-out ride in, right? 
Thanks again for helping me with the homestay. Erin and Brynn (and Neena and Harry) have been AWESOME!!!
Ya, the pace was pretty quick coming down, the attacks were relentless for a while there.
You have to do the shootout at least once. I plan on racing a crit this Saturday, so I’ll miss the shootout this week. I should be riding all week with a couple of other guys if you’re looking for others to ride with. Drop me line.
See you out there,
~Tucker
Dev,
You would have loved the big group ride up Mt Lemmon on Friday. It was amazing. Great group. Great effort. Funny stories from Jimmy Riccitello to keep my mind of of the pain. Everyone in great spirits. Coffee and ruhbarb pie at 9,000ft never tasted so good!! Then a full bore, 5,000 ft descent. I was lucky enough to be able to stick to Jimmy’s wheel most of the way down - I knew that he knew the best lines
It dawned on me on the flight home what was different about this TriFest thing - it was not a race. Most people’s only experience of traveling when it comes to triathlon, is to a race. This was different. It was a totally different vibe. This was for a great week of training. Meeting old friends and making new ones. Exchanging ideas and learning something new. And doing all of this in from what I could tell, was one of the best places to train, that I have been to and I have traveled a fair amount. Because it was not a race, people had time to talk, to hang out and do things( even crazy things like riding up Mt Lemmon on zero training!!) that they would not do if they where travelling to a race.
I hope that next year that TriFest is even bigger. It has real potential to do that. All the elements and the great organizational and professional foundation that Trisports.com threw behind it this year are their.
So forget Gatineau Park next year at this time and head to Tucson.
I just got back myself and cannot say enough good things about the Trisports.com folks as well as the good time had at the Trifest and Expo. Trisports was so hospitable that they even allowed me to take a shower after the group rides and run so I didn’t have to head to my friend’s home before the conference each day.
The Trisports store is phenominal and very well stocked(should be…the online warehouse is in the back). Their employees are capable and personable.
As far as the conference went, I liked each speaker and found something of interest in each presentation, no question was off limits. I wanted to learn something about nutrition, training tips and mental preparation…I got it. Listening to Steve Hed(and Andy) talk about wheel design was amazing. He was very frank and personable…no wonder some of the greatest cyclists in the World trust him. Other presenters Mark Allen, Dr.Marc Stricland, Lee Zohlmann,Andy Potts,Dr. Hingle and Dan Empfield were great(I didn’t go to see Sally Edwards)
The group ride up Mt. Lemmon was everything that I hoped it would be and then some. That ride alone was worth the effort of going to Tucson…twenty plus miles of just climbing to about 9000’…heaven. Thanks to Jimmy Richetello for leading the ride. I did alot of other training around town…of note Sabino Canyon and running the tram road.
The Expo was great and WAY better than any race expo. I got to see all the new wetsuits, bikes, clothes, shoes, wheels and gadgets. Exhibitors of special mention who upon first meeting were super nice and friendly…Fleck of Nineteen wetsuits, The FLUID.com guys, Ben of Zoot, Adam of Guru, Lars and Blake of VeloNews, Andy of Hed, John of BlueSeventy and the folks from the Battle of Midway race(thanks for the schwag). Lots of pros there to support their sponsors and participate in the rides.
Mark Allen is a good speaker and his conference topic was good and to the point. He handled a Holiday Inn technical glitch with patience and class. NOTE to Holiday Inn/Tucson…get your s*#t together, though the food was good.
Ate dinner at Li’l Abners last night…what a treat.
Can’t wait to go back. I will try to post some pics later this week.
So that was you with the camera over your shoulder.
I think you managed to get the only picture in existence of me actually smiling! (front and center in your last shot) My husband doesn’t believe it is me, but I was having a blast.
What a great trip that was…can’t help but be a little sad to come home to ice in Dallas. 
G
This event has so much potential. I really hope that it continues to grow.
Say hi to Bob and Christie for me!
Cody
Yes, Steve, that is exactly the point. This past weekend was not about a race - it was completely about our sport. Getting different groups together (athletes, reps, vendors, coaches, legends, etc.) and promoting what we do as a lifestyle. Along those same lines, it is important to note that TRIFEST is not a TriSports.com event. Yes, our staff was instrumental in getting the event off the ground, but we made a big effort this year not to exclude anyone and will continue to do that moving forward. We hope that as the event grows people from all areas of triathlon will recognize the significance and importance of what we are trying to accomplish. Thanks again to all of you who took that first step this year by coming out. Hope to see you all again next year (in addition to all of you who couldn’t make it out) - March 7-8, 2009.
I believe that was you on the hot new red and black felt? Sweet rig! Did you just take ownership of it? I saw one being built earlier in the week at Trisports.
Hope you had a great trip!!!
That was me…hence the uncharacteristically big grin!
I actually rode it 2x the weekend before at our training camp (gorillamultisport.com), but the fit wasn’t quite right so I left it to pick up when I came out for TriFEST. It is a pretty sexy bike…maybe too much so for a woman-of-a-certain-age…I only hope I can do it justice.
I was VERY happy to be doing my second trip up Gate’s Pass in 8 days and quite amused by your camera antics.
Getting one of the few decent photos of myself riding was an unexpected perk! Thanks!
G
I was VERY happy to be doing my second trip up Gate’s Pass in 8 days and quite amused by your camera antics.
It’s what us crazy folks do when they let us out of the cage. 
I also was impressed by your picture taking while on the road. At first sight I thought “that guy’s going down hard any second now”. You held it together pretty well.
Were you also the one taking them on the way out to Mt Lemmon?
Another TriFest review. This time from Triathlete Mag Editor Jay Prasuhn. Check it out at Jay’s new blog below:
On the lemmon climb itself I was taking pics but not on the way there. I’ve been messing around with arm length shots while on the bike for so long it seems pretty easy to do now. And plus… it gets ya some great pics!
Dude, no pics of me!!! Where’s the love???
Brian,
I didn’t see you there on Sunday morning? Where you?
Seems like you were everywhere!
G
Slept in. The high stakes poker and blackjack Saturday night killed me.