This must be what the caravans of old were like. Everything needed to keep the wagon train moving had to come along for the trip. At extended stops, entire tent workshops are setup to offer repair and maintenance services. The Ironman event was no different. There were several large tents filled with gear and the men and women who would apply them to the bicycles. Very cool.
And if I haven't said it already, my respect and admiration to the participants of the Ironman Race. They all worked very hard to get here, and to participate. Hats off to them!
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater, Florida: Ironman Pre-Race Photos
Clearwater, Florida: 2009 FOSTER GRANT IRONMAN Pre-Race Photos
More great pre-race photos of athletes and preparations for the 2009 Clearwater Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3. Everywhere I went, I saw scenes like this one, with athletes partially or fully dressed in race day garb, talking with people that I imagined might be coaches, friends, supporters, family, or just interested spectators. What with 55 countries represented, you can imagine the wide selection of languages, dialects and accents to be heard as I wondered about. It was deliciously worldly and diverse.
And speaking of delicious and diverse... if you click on the photo above, of the colorful shoes on their feet, you will see something that made me laugh out loud. The man on the left is wearing very special socks indeed. The writing says "save the ta-tas"!!! It's true! Click on the picture and read it for yourself if you don't believe me. Well, I knew from the ribbon that it had to be related to some sort of breast cancer awareness campaign. And of course it is. As soon as I mentioned it to some friends, they told me all about it, and that I was, again, late to the game. Well, I know SOME of you out there might not know about it, so I am telling you now, and because I think it's really cool, I am including a link to the website. SO click this link if you are interested in checking out the Save The Ta-Tas website.
Click this link to read about the 2009 Clearwater Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 on their website.
Oh, and did I mention that the 2009 FOSTER GRANT IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 70.3 was presented by Ford. Yup, they had quite an impressive display down there at Pier 60. They had numerous cars on display, including the Taurus SHO, the Escape hybrid, and the sweet looking Ford Flex pictured below. That baby got back, eh? Oh yeah. It might seem a little boxy, but I think it's kind of cool looking. This one certainly caught my eye! According to the Edmunds.com website, the MSRP starts at $28,550. Click this link if you want to check out the 2010 Ford Flex on the Ford website. If you click this link, you can read the Edmunds.com review of the 2010 Ford Flex.
I don't want to bore you... but I do lots of pictures to share... so come back tomorrow and I will share at least a few more Clearwater Beach Ironman photos.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater Beach, Florida: 2009 FOSTER GRANT IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 70.3
Important Notice To Athletes: Click this link to read about the relocation of swim for Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3.
It's back! The 2009 FOSTER GRANT IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 70.3 takes place today, November 14th, presented by Ford. Did you know it was coming? Did you see the barricades lying in the medians waiting to be erected for today? Is your neighborhood one of those getting cutoff for a while?
Think about it: 1,650 athletes; 55 countries represented; ages from 18 to 79 in the field. And not just one 79 year old, but 3! First they will swim 1.2 miles, then ride their bicycles 56 miles, and then run 13.1 miles! All in one day!! Click this link to read about the race on the FOSTER GRANT IRONMAN website.
I had the good fortune to be down on Clearwater Beach this past Thursday as athletes began to appear in droves. In various stages of preparation, including check-in, bicycle claim from the transport service, and practice. Yes, lots of them, running, jogging, cycling all over the place. And good for them too! The only thing I did not see was any of them swimming. Their might have been some swimming, but it was really windy and cold. And in at least one area, I notice the life guards had the red "No Swim" flags out. Yikes. This probably explains why the swim course has been changed. See the link above if you are curious.
I watched the various athletes checking in at various stations around the event area, and I could not help but wonder what it must be like to be part of something so very BIG. Something of a scope so much larger than oneself. Oh my.
So I have lots of pictures to share... come back tomorrow and the next day for more and more Clearwater Beach Ironman photos.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater Florida: The Ironman Cometh... With Photos
It's that time again! And wow, are things getting busy out on Clearwater Beach! I was having a photo walkabout out there yesterday, and the place was HOPPING! If you like to get in the mix of it all, and see all the triathletes getting ready for race day, get on down there. If you don't like crowds, and chaos, and mayhem, stay home! :) I am not able to post a picture from my walkabout yet, so today's picture is from a prior event. This man is quite an inspiration! Click this link to see previous Foster Grant Ironman photos posted on this blog.
Click the link to visit the Foster Grant Ironman website. Click this link for traffic information. Click this one to go straight to the course maps.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater, Florida: Sam Walton, Where Are You? WalMart Sign
Who knew? I mean, who knew Sam Walton would build a multi-billion dollar empire with his low priced stores? How many of us wish we had thought of it ourselves?
Meanwhile, the store that gives so many people a chance to do more with their meager budgets, also strikes fear and resentment into the heart of small towns and WalMart's competitors. Where are we now?
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater, Florida: US Hwy 19 Overpass: Got Structure? How About Infrastructure?
Wow! I mean, WOW! That is some serious structure there. Talk about a mountain of steel. And we built that, we humans.
This is one of the monstrous, somewhat new overpasses they have sprinkled up and down US Hwy 19 in Clearwater, Florida. Although I call them monstrous, I cannot deny the glee with which I drive over them, knowing they let me skip about 6 different traffic-laden intersections, and shorten my trip by 15 minutes or more!
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater, Florida: Pretty Green Tree Seeds (Cones?) (Cypress?)
Of all places to find some beautiful signs of life and growth... in a small pond next to the sprawling Walmart parking lot!
And it actually seems like a drainage, storm water control sort of pond to boot! I love these little signs that Mother Nature has everywhere. To me, they seem to say "Just fall asleep for a little while, puny humans, and I will reclaim what is mine."
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater, Florida: Got Gas? Infrastructure Says Yes
Yes, yes, it's actually a FRESH POST! OMG! Just when you thought it was gone for good... but sorry, no promises as to getting back to a totally daily schedule. But I do still enjoy this, and hope to increase the frequency gradually until I can get back to daily or near daily. And no, this is not an April Fool's joke! (But let me tell you, I can BARELY remember how to do this!)
And let me tell you, I can NOT get enough of snapping these old metal caps and grates etc. If you totally hate pictures of these things, you are going to hate me, 'cuz I snap 'em when I see 'em.
Have a great day, and try to make someone smile today.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater, Florida: Motorcycle, No Helmet, Street Fighter?
Okay, so maybe a scooter just doesn't have enough power, enough cool, to carry you around town and to work and back. So what about a motorcycle? And what kind? Well we all know the Harley Davidson style cruisers are not exactly budget rides. So what else? The old sport bikes styles are just about gone, as in the KZ400 I had as a first bike, or the Honda Nighthawk 750 that was my second bike. Now I am learning that these dirt-bike-slash-street-bike rides are relatively inexpensive and so showing up more and more.
A friend referred to them as "street fighters" and told me they are popular in Europe due to their nimble nature, fuel efficiency, and low purchase price relative to full blown motorcycles. Cool. I never really had much interest in this style of bike, but I find myself looking at them more and more and wondering if this is what I should be looking at for a next bike. Hmmmm
And hey, show of hands... this guy might not be the coolest guy on the street, but most people probably think he looks cooler than the young lady on the scooter in the previous post. Do I care that much about cool? No, but I do care a lot about having the power to get out from under the bumper of the morons who will run you over if you are not looking out for them!
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
Clearwater, Florida: Scooter Girl Saving Gas
So, how much time have YOU spent trying to decide if you could really feel cool riding a scooter? Let's face it, 50 miles per gallon, or better... Yeah, it gets tempting.
But then, sometimes they just don't look like they can get you out of the way in time. Don't get me wrong, they make a lot of sense in general. I still end up thinking motorcycle when I think about it for any length of time. Oh well.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Dunedin Daily Photo, and Clearwater Beach Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Clearwater, Florida!
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