If you are a Scuba Diver and live in Texas or near Texas, I have an event for you!!! TRASH FEST 2008. It is a great charity project that caps off the diving season each year. This year the event is schedules for Saturday, October 4^th.

TrashFest is the nation's oldest underwater cleanup campaign bringing together scuba divers, businesses, government agencies, schools, civic and youth groups, scout troops and local citizens to improve the quality of the Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas. The Comal River became famous when Ripley's Believe It or Not featured it as the shortest river in the world. The 2.5-mile Comal River is one of the largest springs in Texas with 8 million gallons of water flowing through every hour. The water is pure, clear, about 73°F year round, and attracts thousands of tubers and tourists each year. After the tubing season winds down, divers from all over Texas and beyond gather to pull cans, shoes, sunglasses and other assorted trash and debris out of the river.

Since the first clean up in 1974, more than 9,500 volunteers have removed: 188,000 pounds of trash, 300,000 cans and bottles, 370,000 pop-tops and bottle caps, 6,900 sunglasses and shoes.

Registration is half the cost this year than it has been in the previous years due to the overwhelming success and number of volunteers over the previous years. An individual participating costs only $8 per person, and a team is $50.

You will be diving for about three hours from Noon to 3pm, and then in the evening there is a Barbeque dinner, and over $10,000 in door prize giveaways.

So go ahead and save the date, October 4^th in New Braunfels at the Comal River is the place to be. For more information and registration details go to www.trashfest.net

I am SO SO Sorry!!! It's been a while since I have written a blog, but so much has happened and so much is going on!

Where to start?

First, I want to tell you about my most recent ride, which was one of the most fun I have ever had. My husband and I did a 63-mile tandem ride in the North Texas area.

The ride started off at 7:30 in the morning, as most rides do and it was early!!! I wasn't feeling that great that morning but I stuck it out.

The ride began from Texas Motor Speedway, we would start off on the track and do a lap around the track and then head out onto the roads. Riding on the track was an awesome experience, and kind of scary. The turns were so steep, I am not a huge fan of NASCAR, but I have watched races occasionally, and there you just don't realize how steep those turns really are.

My husband was the captain on the tandem and I was the stoker. He of course wanted to go high up on those banks, but I wasn't quite as excited about that. So he only went up about half-way.

Majority of the race went really smoothly. I didn't have to work nearly as hard on pedaling and keeping up, and he was able to pedal as fast as he wanted and I would be right there with him.

Most people say that a tandem is a great way of testing a couple's communication, which I totally agree!!! You have to be on the same page, communicate often, and understand the other persons needs. Every time we would stop for a break people would ask us if we had our first fight on the bike yet, and truthfully we never did. I guess tandems can be a difficult experience for a couple if you don't BOTH want to do it. It worked for us.

As a suggestion, if you are a couple and both of you enjoy cycling, but one of you is faster than the other (the man, or more athletic person) then tandems are a GREAT idea. If you just want to get your spouse involved in cycling and they have never rode before, rent a tandem before you buy. You will find 100's of tandems on ebay because men purchase them wanting to get their wives into cycling and they think a tandem is the answer. It won't work! Bad Idea! That's my two cents.

The ride went GREAT. We didn't finish dead last as I did in my first 63-mile solo ride, which was great. We were actually the only tandem to even attempt 63-miles in this particular ride, the other tandems did 40 miles or less.

What made this ride even more significant, is that morning, prior to the ride, I found out that I am pregnant. My husband and I had all these goals of riding and preparing for the Hotter N Hell 100, which he is still going to do, but unfortunately I am done riding long distances. My training is now limited to stationary bikes.

Because I am pregnant, I am also restricted from Scuba Diving. So you won't be getting any dive blogs from me this summer. So my future blogs will likely be about the adventures of my husband, friends around me, charities that I am still involved with, events, etc.

I am traveling some this summer and my husband has several things planned to do throughout the summer that will be fun to write about, anybody heard of Zorbing?

Again sorry about the time it has taken me to get out another blog. I will be more consistent, but with pregnancy things to deal with, work and other activities I have been swamped.

Thanks!

Tiffany

I have seen one of the best films ever! Sharkwater. I don't love it for its impeccable editing, or ability to tell a fluid story, not for its theatrics, and pyrotechnics, animations or stunts ... I love it because it is real, it is true, and it is an unbelievable story of what is happening to sharks.

FIVE STARS!!!

I am a scuba diver, and I love the marine life. I wouldn't say that I am an animal activist, or an environmentally conscious person (not anymore than most) but this story is amazing.

I was introduced to the movie Sharkwater at a convention in 2007 at DEMA, where I had the opportunity to meet the producer and director Rob Stewart. He did most of the shooting, the writing, the scripting and it was his vision to bring this story to life.

Sharkwater has won numerous awards in international and national film festivals, and it certainly hasn't received the notoriety it should get in theaters in the US.

It was released in only one theater in Texas, and thankfully I lived near the theater and could go see it. The underwater imagery is unbelievable.

Sharkwater is the story of sharks, how important they are to the environment and what is happening to them. They are being killed by the hundreds of thousands, and many breeds near extinction, for only their FINS! The third-world countries like Costa Rica have fisherman that catch these fish by illegal means, cut the fins off the sharks, then toss the sharks back in the water for dead. They take the fins and sell them overseas for $200 per pound.

Overseas they use the fins to make Shark Fin Soup, a tasteless soup mind you, that is generally only served to the wealthy and royalty, it's a soup that states your position in life.

This film is amazing and definitely needs to be watched and promoted more than what it is now. The movie has just been released on DVD and Blu Ray Disc. I found this last night, you can buy Sharkwater at WalMart for about $20 bucks on BluRay Disc, just go to the WalMart website, or you can get it in stores.

I have no affiliation to this movie other than watching it and loving the truth of the story. It has a little bit of violence in it as the boats they are in are attacked while out to sea, and there are some graphic video segments of the torture these animals go through, including gouging out the eyes of sea turtles, and of course seeing the fins cut off the sharks.

The trailer for the movie was created by the same guy that did the trailer for all the Star Wars films. This normally would have cost several hundreds of thousands dollars, but he did it for free, because he understood the cause and importance of the movie.

I did it! 60 Miles on a Bicycle.

On my fourth bike ride ever, I did a 62 mile ride in Aledo, TX. It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. Here are the details:

5:00 am: It's freakin' early. Wake up and load the bikes and start the 45-minute drive to Aledo.

6:30 am: Arrive in Aledo there are tons of cyclists here. It was insane. I didn't think cycling was this big of a sport. I felt pretty good because I was thinking with about 1200 cyclist surely I can't come in last.

7:00 am: Finally get parked (yes it's still dark outside) and head up to the table for registration. Get your packet, your map, your number, pay your money . . . and get the t-shirt. Practically the only reason why I signed up. My husband and I signed up for the 62 mile ride, the options were 8, 20, 41, 62, 75 and 100 miles. I was feeling pretty good, because I was in the harder half of the ride options.

8:00 am: And we're off. Imagine about 800 riders (75 and 100 milers started 30 minutes earlier and 8 & 20 milers started 30 minutes later) all taking off at one time on a standard road, insanity. I think the first 10 miles I was riding off of adrenaline. Fear of hitting someone and causing a domino type effect. SCARY!!!

There are breaks set up throughout the ride. Thankfully about every ten miles. I overheard a few people before we started talking about when they were going to take their breaks, or worse "if" they were even going to take a break. There was certainly no question in my mind that I was DEFINITELY going to need a break.

9:00 am: It took me about an hour to ride 10 miles. Now that is not very fast, in fact I am sure most people could peddle backwards at that speed, but hey it is ONLY MY FOURTH TIME TO RIDE.

I was feeling pretty good, when we arrived to our first break sight. I saw all the riders who were already there stopped, loading up on bananas, fruit, nuts and whatever else they could get their hands on. My husband and I decided that we felt pretty good, and so we decided not to stop.

10:00 am: We went another 10 miles down the road and made our first stop at the 20 mile mark and there took a restroom break, and got some food and drinks. There were lots of people there, so I felt like I was keeping up with the pack pretty good.

Then here came the problems ... remember I am not that fast. This is where I lost track of time. Hills, flats, downhill, winding roads, more hills. It became quite difficult. Not to mention it was windy and cold, and yes we were peddling into the wind the majority of the time it seemed.

I got to the halfway point and was feeling good, a little tired, but I knew I could keep going. The crowd was starting to thin out and I felt more comfortable. As we would reach the stop points for breaks I started to notice that there were fewer and fewer people at each. I just figured we just all thinned out a bit more and that there were plenty of people on the roads.

At one point we stopped to fix a chain and looked over to see wild turkeys in the front of a house. They were awesome ... I have never seen them in person before (at least not on a platter with stuffing inside.)

When we reached the sign that said 40 miles go right, 62 go left ... that is when we knew we had to make the decision to stick to it. I told my husband lets go and we did. It was a nice country road, and I was cruising along (at a really slow speed.)

That's when I really noticed, we are the last ones! Really I am the last one, my husband was just going slow to keep up with me.

About that time here comes this old guy, whom I like to call SMILEY. He was very nice, but had this awkward accent that kinda got on your nerves, and he decided that he was going to stay with us the rest of the time. Unfortunately he was riding a mountain bike, which apparently is like twice as difficult to ride because you have more road friction.

(My husband made the mistake earlier in the day of telling me that I should never let a mountain biker pass me, that is how I know I am going too slow, he later had to recant.)

Anyways, Smiley stayed with us all the way to the end. There were lots of moments of frustration and defeat in this ride for me. I was going up a humongous hill and my legs were so tired I couldn't get out of my clips that my feet were in. All I could think about is I am going to fall and not be able to get out. I was teary eyed and everything. Devastating. Then I got up the hill and things were fine.

Smiley and my husband kept encouraging me and telling me that I was doing great. But you know there are those times when the last thing you want is to hear that you are doing a good job and that "I am so proud of you," because really what you want to do is curse the pavement you are on!!! That is how I felt for the last 10 miles of the ride.

I am a red head however, and quite stubborn, and when the SAG wagon pulled up behind me to see if I wanted a ride in, I said no emphatically. I was obviously the last one on the course (with Smiley and my husband.)

We got within three miles of finishing the race and I had to pass under a highway to get to the access road on the other side. It was a downhill stop at a stop sign and there was tons of gravel on the ground. I took one foot out of the clip and started to put it on the ground (for those of you who don't know the bottom of your shoe is plastic, where the clip slides in.) I couldn't get my footing and a good solid stop, and that is when I was initiated into the cycling club ... I fell over.

I didn't have enough leg strength to pull my other foot out of the clip, so I struggled with that for a few minutes. Then finally got up, took a breath, hopped back on and continued on my way. I am sure the cars that were stopped at the intersection were laughing ... I wasn't!

We finally got to the finish line, and I was super excited. I had finished the race. I was hoping for a bit of fanfare, but instead I found about 20 cars in the parking lot, no doubt cleaning up from the day's events. I cycled straight to the car, sat down in the front seat and let my husband put everything up. I was EXHAUSTED.

It was a fun day, a stressful and tiring day, but fun. I can't wait to do the next ride, although hopefully I can have a bit more training before I jump into that again. I am NOT in cardio shape at all ... I reconfirmed that in my head.

I still recommend cycling as a great form of exercise, and for me a bit of adventure.

Tif

So my newest adventure (or sport) that I have taken up is Cycling.  My husband has been cycling for over 15 years, and loves the sport.  For Valentine's Day he bought me a bike, so that we could start riding together . . . little did I know I would be training for a ride that was 60 miles long, in a month. 

My first ride was in NW Fort Worth near Texas Motor Speedway. (I hadn't ridden a bike in more than 7 years)  We rode 30 miles!  It took me about 2.5 hours to do the ride, although if you add in the stops at Dairy Queen and Sonic it took more like 3 hours and 15 minutes.  I certainly wasn't in cardio shape, but to ride 30 miles my first ride out I felt pretty good.

My second ride was two weekends later.  We did the exact same ride, and I finished it about 15 minutes faster.

Last weekend, we tried a new ride near Granbury.  This time we rode 42 miles.  It was a fun ride with rolling hills and fairly easy terrain.  I felt good afterwards, but was definitely tired. 

We started the ride at the Town Square in Granbury, directly in front of the courthouse.  

Once we got out of town it was rolling hills.  We crossed over the Granbury lake which was a beautiful site.  

At about 15 miles I made my first rest stop in a convenience station.  Cookies and Cream Ice Cream and Gatorade refueled me for another 15 miles. 

We continued to push forward through the ride, the first 15 miles was all into the wind.  We would then turn right and have the wind blowing across us.  It was much easier, and I was eagerly awaiting the next right turn so that the wind would be behind us. (Unfortunately by the time we got going that direction the winds had changed.)

Perhaps our scariest moment came when we had just made the turn to head the last 15 miles back to Granbury, and I was behind my husband riding.  He turned his head to the right to check and see how far back I was, not knowing that I was on his left. As he turned his head right, his bike bobbled left and hit me.  I stayed up right, but he didn't.  He was clipped in (his shoes clipped into the pedals) so he couldn't release right away and fell into the road way, a four-lane highway.  The car that was coming was able to get stop, but it was still a scary moment.

The bike wasn't hurt and he wasn't too banged up as well, but his tailbone was bruised a bit. 

Later in the ride was my turn to have a "close call"  I was about two miles away from finishing the ride, and had just climbed a huge hill.  Okay it probably wasn't that big but it was so hard to climb after pushing though 37 miles. 

I was riding in front of my husband and it was a two lane road, coming into Granbury.  There was a car that stopped in the lane, put there blinker on to turn left and waited for the oncoming traffic to clear before they turned.  

Another car behind stopped immediately behind them, it was a little bit of a hard stop, but they were able to stop without an accident.  That was barely the case for the third car, a group of teenagers in a small red pick-up truck.  

From behind me I heard the screeching of brakes, and as I turned to the left to see how close it was, I saw the truck pass me within about 10 feet, as they quickly veered off the roadway onto the shoulder in order to miss hitting the car in front of them, and me.  

I bailed off onto the grass embankment, shocked, adrenaline high, and a bit scared of what just happened.  

I got back on my bike and finished the ride.  It was a lot of fun, and I am glad that I accomplished the goal of riding 42 miles.

But that was just my training.  Tomorrow morning at 7:30 am (central time) I start my 62 mile ride in Aledo in the wee hours of the morning, and hopefully will be done by Noon-1pm, but we will see. 

My husband is eager to do this ride, and then my next one will be April 12th, with the ultimate goal ending in August during the Hotter-n-Hell 100.  A 100 mile ride that starts in Wichita Falls and ends . . . well, God only knows where.