We're just getting started!

So.......

Lot's going on out here in Boulder. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Geoff Nenninger. I'm a triathlete and I live in Boulder, Colorado. I just got engaged to my long-time girlfriend Alissa, and we're going to be married next summer.

I've been racing triathlon since I was 11 years old while being raised as a swimmer in Northern Virginia. After successfully racing as a Junior, I came to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder (GO BUFFS!!!) and make my triathlon dreams come true. For the past 3 years I've been racing as a 'pro' (though not making much money!) but I've been thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Living in Boulder allows me to train with some of the most talented athletes in the world. As you'll see in the future, Boulder is a sort of 'fantasy camp' for triathletes. From swim workouts at Flatiron Athletic Club coached by Dave Scott to group rides and runs with some of the sports greats, I really have it good out here.

To fuel my passion (read: get paid and buy food and have a life) I work at Colorado Multisport, the best triathlon shop in the universe! Honestly, though, we have a really kick-butt team at CMS including Tim Troha (owner/athlete/fit specialist), Ryan Ignatz (pro Xterra triathlete/fit specialist), Aaron Hersh (top AG triathlete/master mechanic), and Lance Panigutti (GUTTI/short-course ITU guy/2nd place 24 hours of Triathlon [go figure]). I started at CMS after 3+ years working at Cutting Edge Sports, another shop in town with a great staff and overall enthusiastic atmosphere.

I also am co-owner of Primary Bicycles, a newborn bicycle frame brand based here in Boulder (I am trying to satisfy every stereotype of Boulderites through my racing, working at, and owning businesses all directly related to cycling/triathlon). We've got some awesome products in the works that you'll be hearing about in future posts. I've been riding one of our prototype carbon fiber frames for the past 3 months, and I don't mean to toot my own horn but we're onto something. We should have frames and forks in stock in the next month or so in the carbon model, and our titanium/carbon model will be released later this fall. I'm not going to say much, but keep your eyes peeled for a Triathlon/TT model early next spring!

My triathlon coaching business is boulderTRIATHLON. We're mostly an online coaching company, with athletes both in Colorado and on the East Coast. If you are interested in coaching get in touch with us as we are accepting new athletes!

So far as my athletic pursuits go, I've had a marginally good year. Started off the year with a win at the Triathlon Season Opener while in Florida visiting Grandma with Alissa on her Spring Break. Followed that up with a 3rd Overall at the Tri The Creek Triathlon in Denver and a 13th Overall at the Prospect Lake Triathlon to the likes of Hunter Kemper and the resident team from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs (which happened to re-qualify me to race as a professional for the next 2 years!).

Lately though, my season has taken a slight downturn as my running has taken a backseat to improve my swim for ITU style racing. My swim is just about where I need it, but the end result is that I self-destruct on the run as seen at Boulder Peak and more recently the ITU Pan-American Cup in Longmont, Colorado. So the past couple of weeks have seen a drastic increase in run volume. I think it is working as I just about hung in there on a group run this past Sunday with Steve Hackett, Craig Walton, Jake Timm (former CU/UW middle-distance guy), and Marek Dvorak (long-time friend and some-time training partner). We went for ~90 minutes in North Boulder and I was hanging tough until the last bit I just couldn't quite keep up the pace on the uphills. No biggie, in a couple of weeks I'll be good to go. I just have to hit the pool hard for the upcoming ITU race in San Francisco in November.

I've got the Harvest Moon Half in just over a week. This is my first Half so I don't fully know what to expect, but I'm really excited about it. My inclination is to think that I'll do OK just because I won't have to cross over into the red zone as much as in an Olympic (especially the ITU variety). So I feel like it will be more akin to a hard day of training than any of the racing I'm used to. Check back here in a couple of weeks to see if I still think this or if I'm really full of crap right now!

I've been doing a bit more cycling than earlier in the year as well, including some rides with Chris McCormack and Paul Ambrose. I figure if Chris is doing these rides pushing toward a win at Kona, then they're probably plenty good for me! As a matter of fact, we've got a ride tomorrow morning at 7:30, so I'd better hit the sack pretty soon. Our meeting spot is convenient as Chris and Paul both live in my apartment complex in Boulder! Chris has a sweet new ride from Specialized that you might have seen. The new Transition S-Works is really trick and has quite a few aero features that are going to become more and more common on bikes, but Specialized is really on the forefront including some of this stuff on a production bike. Innovative internal cable-routing and proprietary brakes are two of the features that I really took note of while we had Chris's bike in CMS earlier today. And the bike looks stunning in person. I have to admit, when I simply saw it in pictures, I had my doubts about the raw bike-lust that it might generate. But to see it in person the bike definitely screams out and captures peoples' attention.

You'll notice that even though I've got my own bike company gig going, I am a complete bike-nut at heart and lust after many, many makes and models of bicycles! It's kinda like what Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles says: "I would never say that 'At Vanilla we make the finest bicycle in the world' That's pompous. I can say, however, that I build the finest vanilla bicycle, with out question. If you see another bike out there and it makes you want to freak out and do what ever you can to have it then that's the bike for you." I really, really like this (as well as some of his creations... holy crap, talk about bike lust!!!). I feel the same way about Primary... we make some of the finest bicycles in the world as people who have ridden our bikes will tell you, but as long as your out there riding... we're all on the same team!!

Ok, bed-time. Until the next post...