2014 Off Season

CRAZY ASS FANS! Grab your hot chocolate and snuggie, it’s time for an update.

It’s been a while since I checked in. In case you didn’t know, I skipped the race report for my last race at Challenge Rancho Cordova because I crashed out and it didn’t make sense to write about a swim and 10 minutes of riding.

After that, I went to Kona for some in depth journalism including beach scene pictures with the ROKA guys pics coming soon, a beer mile (I was 3rd in 6:32, I think), an interview with Callum Millward (below), and of course, the Underpants Run. I’ve also done a fair amount of writing, including:

• 5 Weeks of Training Before Worlds feature for Strava,
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Triathlon in One Article and
• The Not So Perfect Season for Triathlete Magazine

Matt and I preparing for our 2015 Men of Triathlon Calendar Shot at the Underpants Run – photo cred Aaron Hersh, Triathlete Magazine.

At 33 seconds you can see why I stick to print.

But the offseason has been focused on a few things:

Sponsorship Renewals 

As some of you know, tis the season for pros to find out if and how much we will get paid next year. Most of my partnerships are through the end of next season, but a few big ones are up for discussion, including Specialized, Jaybird, and Strava. And of course, I’m always looking to add an appropriate partner or two. Even though I’m in a pretty good spot, it’s a scary time of year for me and most other pros as things shift, budgets are set, and negotiations begin. For most pros in the sport, sponsorship pays the vast majority of our income/expenses, so the end of the contract season can be a nail biter. I wrote a new article on this topic for Triathlete Magazine that will come out in January issue, so be on the lookout.

Still Hoping for a Waterbed Warehouse Sponsorship

Men of Triathlon – Please Donate To Me

Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Matt, Chris and I have rebooted my favorite offseason project – the Men of Triathlon Movember Calendar. We’ve added new guys to the roster, and encouraged Age Groupers to join as well. We’ll be publishing a new calendar full of terribly amazing photos, available for pre-order today. In addition to buying a calendar for charity, you can also donate to me, which would be great since I’m getting my ass kicked right now (my donations also go to the team…).

New Picky Bars Crew & Wrapper Reveal

As always, though, I’ve been spending most of my time at Picky Bars. Over the last three months we’ve gone from 4 to 9 employees, and it’s been absolutely gonzo. I’m really stoked with the new people that we’ve added and worked my butt off to find those people, get them up and going, and set an appropriate direction/tone for the next year. It’s a blast and I think we’re poised for a big 2015.

The new Picky Bars packaging featuring customer submitted photos. #lifepoints!

The culmination of our first project together was our Wrapper Reveal Party last Thursday, where we revealed the #lifepoints photos we selected for our new packaging. These are customer submitted photos that will be on our bars for 4-6 months. It’s an awesome initiative that we’ve been working on for the past 10 months or so, and I’m really happy with the results. This new packaging will be available on our website Black Friday, combined with our one biggest sale of the year. Check em out and let me know what you think.

Our Wrapper Reveal Party at Crux in Bend.

That’s basically it, folks. Outside of that I’ve been hanging with Lauren and the Dude. Not doing much training, and just enjoying the offseason. I’ll be back at it probably later this week. Hope things are going well!

The Newest Picky Bars Flavor (just kidding).