TriSports.com Blog

Helping Kids Swim

This summer TriSports.com and TriSports Racing teamed up with the Foothills Optimist Club by providing financial support to the town of Marana to purchase summer swim passes for disadvantaged kids to the Marana Municipal Pool.   The Town of Marana works directly with the Marana Community Food Bank to help identify the kids that are most in need of the summer pool passes and has, with the funds from the Foothills Optimist Club, been able to cover the cost of approximately 200 summer swim passes for disadvantaged youth over the last 5 years.  This year, with the challenging economic times, the Foothills Optimist Club approached TriSports.com and TriSports Racing for financial assistance.

Presentation of the "check" to Marana Mayor Ed Honea

I met Tom Ellis, Manager for Marana Parks and Recreation, while attending the monthly Optimist Club meeting and Tom commented that one of the biggest fears for not having the summer swim passes for these kids is that in the heat of the summer, they will resort to the local washes to keep cool and that can be very dangerous.   Offering assistance to an organization such as the Foothills Optimist Club, which works at bringing out the best in kids, was an easy decision for our two companies as it is deeply rooted in the TriSports.com culture to give back to the community and both of our companies strive to get kids involved in sports whenever possible.  We considered it an honor to partner with the club in providing the summer pool passes for disadvantaged youth, and are proud that they are now enjoying a cooler summer!

Excited to get in the pool! (photo courtesy of David Sanders/Arizona Daily Star)

Ride of Silence – 2011

For the last 5 years or so our staff has been attending the annual Ride of Silence.  This is a national event that is hosted in cities all around the country to remember and honor those that have lost their lives while on a bicycle.  We close our entire operation down early so our staff can attend this event.  This year we had over 20 folks from our staff attend and the total rider count was about 150.

TriSports.com Staff gets ready to ride for about an hour without talking – a tall order!

The ride is about 12 miles long, fully supported by the Tucson Police Department and during the ride you are not allowed to talk – it is a little eerie.

A look up the road of the 150+ riders.

For me it is a time to reflect on those people I have lost in my life that weren’t necessarily killed while riding a bike (thankfully I don’t know a lot of people this has happened to) but friends that have passed that when they were here they loved being on the bike.  Hopefully you will have a chance to join the Ride of Silence in your community next year.

Gotta love the TriSports.com water bottles in the basket of this cruiser!

Outside Magazine names Tucson a “Cyclist’s Paradise”

Way back in August of 2010, Outside Magazine named Tucson the Best City for Road Biking.  With “winter” upon us, it seemed a good time to bring some attention back to this accolade.  Tucson is, indeed, without equal when it comes to the varied routes one can ride within 30-45 minutes of any part of town.  The hardest part for someone doing a cycling vacation here is deciding which rides to do and which to save for next time!  If you are visiting and looking for a great route resource, check out Desert Journeys.  From great climbing routes like Mt Lemmon, Madera Canyon and Kitt Peak, to easier rides like Old Spanish Trail, River Rd and Oracle, combined with virtually 365 days of good riding weather, Tucson truly is a “cyclist’s paradise.” 

Riding Freeman Road in Tucson

Endurance sports training camps galore descend on Tucson from about January through April to experience the Winter Training Capital firsthand, and TriSports.com is lucky to be involved in many of them.  We LOVE to help camps determine routes, host them here at the store and provide whatever help we can to make their Tucson experience one to remember.  We even have our own Tucson Training Destination Specialist to help the individual or camp with things like accomodations, restaurants, routes and more!  But cycling is only one of the many attractions mentioned when Outside Magazine picked Tucson.  They also mentioned our low unemployment rate (nearly 2% below national average) and our low cost of living (35% below San Diego).  Even better?  Our clean skies.  The American Lung Association puts Tucson as the 6th cleanest city when it comes to air particulates.  In addition, they loved our easy-going attitude and open-mindedness when it comes to diversity.  All of this makes Tucson not only a great place to visit, but an awesome place to call home!

Clowning Around at Phoenix Children’s Hospital

Triathlon is very important to us, and so is our community.  Occasionally, an opportunity within our community comes along that has nothing to do with triathlon, but the message is so powerful that we can’t say no.  The Executive Clown Corps is one of those opportunities.  We got involved with this organization a few years ago and it has been extremely rewarding.  The Executive Clown Corps is a group of executives who take some time out of their lives to don clown make-up and costumes and do their best to add a little fun to the lives of sick children at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.  The latest event was actually to honor the employees of PCH for their efforts at raising funds to help pay for the expansion of the hospital.  We dressed as mimes and served up delicious hors d’oeuvres and desserts to the staff as they awaited the announcement of the final tally and the winning department.  Some of the kids did come down to visit, as well.  I spoke a little with Leyla Marie Falcon, a young lady fighting a tumor in her brain, and she was in great spirits! 

Visiting with Leyla Marie Falcon

One of PHC’s long-time patients, Richard, gave a speech thanking the staff for the devoted care through his battle with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.  It was a great event to honor the staff that takes such good care of so many sick children.  A large heart was also constructed for everyone to write their Valentine’s wishes for all of the children.  Overall, the staff raised $356,951.00!   Looking forward to our next “clowning around” event!

Executive "Clowns" with Richard

Let The Water Harvesting Begin! Update #3

After nearly 3 months, it is finally time to start harvesting the water from our newly installed Rainwater Harvesting System (see Update #1, and Update #2).  Since this was installed during one of two dry seasons, we actually only missed one or two small rain events (hence the whole reason for us installing this system – we live in a DESERT).  The last part of this project was connecting the building to the tanks.

Inside look at one of the diverted roof drains.

Outside look at the connected roof drain.

Last week, during our one week of winter here in Tucson, we got almost a little over a foot in each tank (over 4,000 gallons). We are expecting to harvest about 100,000 gallons per year from our roof PLUS an additional unknown amount from our AC condensate and swamp cooler wash out.   All of this will be used to irrigate all of our landscaping around the facility.

Bringing in 2011 – Rubber side down

Here is a great piece on the TriSports.com/Eclipse Racing Cycling Club and Team.  We stepped up as the title sponsor a little over a year ago and it has turned into a great thing for the community.  I will apologize in advance for the intro commercial….so now you know.

Winter Training Capital – NOW OPEN

Last week marked the end of the triathlon and road cycling season for the majority of athletes in the northern hemisphere – we had well over 10,000 athletes here in Arizona for the El Tour de Tucson and Ironman Arizona.  While these events mark the end of the season, they also mark the opening of the Winter Training Capital - here in Tucson, AZ.  While most of the country is battening down the hatches for a nice cold winter, Tucson will have lows in the 40′s and highs in the 70′s.  If you want to get a head start on your 2011 season then you might want to consider a trip to Tucson, visit your favorite triathlon store AND get some great OUTSIDE training in this winter.

Up the Lemmon in January!

Here are the top 5 reasons to visit Tucson and TriSports.com this winter:

1. Thanks to some stimulus money we have over 200 miles of fresh asphalt on key bike routes in Tucson.
2. See the newly expanded TriSports.com – if you haven’t been here in the last couple of years you will need to come check out some of our additions.
3. Two M’s – Mexican Food and Mt. Lemmon – enough said there.
4. You can come and check out our recently installed rainwater harvesting system – one of the largest privately owned commercial systems in the US.
5. Your spouse/significant other has been asking for a vacation – what better way to accomplish this than awesome training for you and spa for them?

Ruskin Elementary School Teaching a Healthy Lifestyle

TriSports.com does not only support triathlon races, clubs, teams and athletes; we also see the importance in teaching our youth that making healthy choices now will result in a healthier lifestyle later.  To this end, we often help out various youth and school programs that make an effort towards teaching kids these valuable lessons.  Ruskin Elementary is one of these schools, and they exemplify the dedication that teachers and parents have towards helping their children learn about being healthy.  When Ruskin was starting out with their goal of creating healthy children, we supported them in their Fitness Expo, and since then, their program has grown into a benchmark of what exercise and healthy eating can do for young children.

Ruskin kids exercising

This year, they received their region’s award for the 2010 Governor’s Challenge  for “outstanding efforts to promote fitness for students, parents and teachers.”  More than 2400 schools competed for this honor, and only 11 regional winners were selected, so Ruskin is definitely doing something right!

Ruskin receiving award

The Pride of TriSports.com

Last weekend I was on a group ride with the TriSports Cycling Club.  Our ride was an 85 mile training ride gearing up for the El Tour de Tucson (the largest perimeter cycling event in the US).  While on our ride we made a minor detour to say hi to several members of the TriSports.com staff cleaning up the roadside for a sponsored section of road that our staff keeps clean (it leads up to the base of Mt. Lemmon). 

Cyclists and motorists seeing the direct impact of TriSports.com Staff efforts.

Some of the road clean up crew - they are awesome!

About an hour later we were traversing the foothills and we ran across the Jr. El Tour group that we help out with (we supply them with bikes and other fun swag) – the kids were very excited to see us. 

Here I am mingling with one of the future cycling world champions!

As we left the Jr. El Tour kids it really sunk in that we ARE making a difference within our community.  I was riding with a great group of people in a club that we title sponsor, we got to see our staff volunteering their time to keep the roads clean and I got to see many kids with smiles ear to ear (after climbing a 500 ft. climb) so excited that they were on the bikes we provided.

Water Harvesting Update #2

One of the two foundations. The foundations are oversize to accommodate a seating area for our guests (mainly during large group rides).

A completed foundation - forms still up while concrete cures.

The tanks are built from the top down. Here a lift holds up the tank for the final assembly.

Bolts, lots and lots of bolts - over 1,200 per tank.

When this project is complete it will be one of the largest rainwater harvesting systems in the United States….and my Hydrology professors never thought I would use my degree, jeesh.