NRL Athletes Andrew Duensing and Zac Rossen have decided that this summer they would like to go abroad and volunteer through the highly reputable organization International Student Volunteers (ISV). Both have been accepted into the volunteer program, and are looking to raise $500 each. We are asking for donations of $5, but anything is appreciated. You can donate here.

But wait, that’s not all! Zac and Andrew will bike to any University within 120 miles of Danville, CA on January 2nd. If you donate, you get to vote on which one. Some good options are (but you are not limited to) UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Sonoma State, Santa Clara.

Check out the interview live on the Outdoor Nation site here.

With a weather forecast calling for sun and low temps (=”sending temps”), climbing athletes Guy Bresler and Nitish Nag headed to the Owens Gorge and Happy Boulders out in the Bishop area with Sarah Dendy and Maya Rosencrance over the Turkey Day holidays. Check out the short vid to get a glimpse!

Wrapped up an awesome weekend of collegiate racing with NRL Racers Jordan and Nitish at the Arcata Ridge Trail Festival at the Humboldt State University. With 4 events, the weekend was packed with fun! (STXC, XC, DH, Super D) The forest was lush and reminded us of Jurrasic Park. Great job to the promoters for putting on a really cool race!

Honey Stinger, based out of Colorado in the USA is a manufacturer of awesome food products like energy bars, protein bars…and the favorite of all, the WAFFLES. Yum!

            Once we arrived on race site, my teammates Shannon Greene and Christie Farson walked over to transition and it soon began to hit me that the time to race was drawing upon me. The day before I discovered that the course had slightly changed and organizers made the transition area farther from the swim exit which would require one to run pretty fast to the transition area and guide their bike up mid hill before passing the mount line, which was inconvenient, but oh well, life goes on.

As usual before the swim I warmed up before my wave, the 24 and under male were corralled into the pen. My thoughts at the time were to somehow swim fast enough to decrease the gap that my other teammates Cj, CR and Tim would have on me and as things couldn’t get any worse, my amazing trio of tri cuties, Christie, Erika and Shannon were much faster swimmers and would be chasing me down 5 minutes after my start. After the countdown, I dove into the waves and with the usual punching, kicking, smacking, I managed to make it out into the blue and sight the pier. Throughout this time I have swimmers all around me and the only thing I could think of and see were arms far in the distance, arms that most likely belonged to my teammates since two of them were wearing sleeveless suits. After feeling comfortable, I began to shorten my stroke and increase my cadence against some of the choppy water. Once around the pier, I sighted the arms in the distance and swam straight in. I was so happy that I was out of the water because I Knew it was time for me to really bring the hurt.

As I made my way into transition, I knew some racers would take a light jog, but not I. This was my opportunity to reel in people. Upon exiting the transition area, all I could hear were the chants of teammates yelling “GO FUENTES” or spectators yelling “GO BEARS!!” Hearing such support only strengthened my resolve to work hard to catch up to as many people as possible. Upon my first 7 miles I managed to catch about 7-8 racers among them were teammates who gave me words of encouragement. Throughout the rest of the lonely stretch I was pushing myself and slowly I began to see the racers who had passed the turn around point and realized that I would not be able to catch them. I expended too much energy in the initial pursuit and I was beginning to hurt. After a few minutes past the turn around, I began to see familiar faces, the men and the 1^st woman, Erika Erickson on the pursuit. However, mid way on the return, I hear a disk wheel and began to wonder who was behind me and saw an older age grouper who started 10 minutes behind me flying by. At first I felt that I should of pursued him, but realized that 1) I’m racing an age group race and my goal was to do well in my division, and 2) I would risk burning myself out just by keeping up with his pace. Wise choice, and for a few miles I was by myself with my thoughts, the pain and of course the long line of athletes that started after me, such a beautiful sight.

      Entering T2 I knew that Erika and other age groupers would be pursuing me so I tried to be speedy and mentally prepare myself for the run. But as with life you can’t control all variables. The “GO Bears” chant and encouragements helped a lot in building myself up to a good pace, but after the first mile my body was beginning to hurt pretty bad. Mentally I wanted to go much faster but my body wouldn’t budge. But seeing my fellow teammates and coach along the run course definitely helped push myself a little more. At the 5k turn around, I was passed by a 26 year old racer and within a few seconds I managed to pass someone as well, so I wasn’t going terribly slow. But seeing his age on his left calf brought a sense of ease. Since my initial goal was to do well in the men’s 20-24 category, I figured chasing this man down was not a priority. So regretfully I settled, not entirely by choice though as my body ached, especially my ankles but some how seeing him 20 meters in front of me I managed to increase my turnover and ultimately have a second strong 5k split. Once again I passed my teammates which helped greatly as I was in the Pain Cave, which is actually a great place to be this time of year. I managed to finish strong, but at a glance at the clock I saw the time of 2:13 and some change and I will admit I was disappointed however later I learned that my actual time was 2:10:35 a Personal Best for me this year. I was so ecstatic because all of my hard work had paid off. But to make matters even better, my teammates praises made me feel that not only was I racing for myself, but also representing a legacy of determined athletes that are known as the one and only, Cal Triathlon Golden bears.