Weekend Workouts - January 19th and 20th

Big fun in the cold last week.  Temperatures rising for us this coming weekend so its time for some adventures along the coast and up on Mount Tam!

Saturday Ride - 9:30 am

Down south this weekend for some more paceline work along Half Moon Bay to Pescadero.  Great chance to catch a view of the 20 foot swell coming in for Mavericks Sunday.  Last week we had some great continuous paceline action from our group and we look to build on that, as well as build miles and confidence.  Directions can be found here, but we will start at the first dirt parking lot on your right after driving south from Devil's Slide on Hwy 1.

Montara - Pescadero: 51 Miles

Simple, but varied and beautiful route along the coast and the foothills.

Map displays Kilometers

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Montara - Pescadero - La Honda: 64 miles

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Sunday Run - 9:30 am

An M2 group favorite, we will do a tour of Mount Tam's south slope starting from Mt. Home Inn.  You can park in a dirt lot about 50 yards past Mt Home Inn on the right.  The driveway is the firehouse entrance as well, hard to miss. 

Running the Matt Davis Trail to Pantoll, the group will return along a higher route on Stagecoach, through West Point.  For those wanting some additional miles, you can continue towards the coast on Matt Davis for a good out and back to the intersection of Coastal Trail.

Route:
- From the parking lot, starting uphill past the firehouse and taking a left on Matt Davis - .75 miles
- At about mile 2.5 you enter the Bootjack picnic area, continue through it, and pick up trail on the other side of the parking lot that continues to Pantoll Ranger Station.
- You get to Pantoll Ranger Station at mile 3, you can continue straight across the road (Pantoll Road) on Matt  Davis
- Extend this out and back as much as you want, but we like to run to the Coastal Trail intersection at Mile 4.6 and return to Pantoll.
- Cross back over Pantoll Road and go straight onto Stage Coach Road (fire road) at Mile 6
- You will climb up to West Point at Mile 8
- Returning to Mt Home in, run downhill on Old Railroad Grade
- You pick up Gravity Car Road at Mile 10 and continue downhill to the dirt parking lot

Participating in M2 Group Rides
M2 Group Training members are of course welcome for all rides/runs and events.  Gold Pass members who wish to join in on weekend rides can upgrade their pass $25/month.  10-15 pass members can use a class pass for a ride. 

Fitting M2 Farewell to Ironman in Penticton

Sad, but true.  Ironman for the time being will not be in Penticton, but M2 was well represented in this seemingly final installment up North.  For all that M2 has endured in Canada, he is happy to see PR's and Ironman first timers perform so well on that hallowed course.

Great races all around to our athletes:

Sara Peschel passed nearly a 1000 people with a strong performance finishing at 12:57:22
Jessica Yin finished in 8th in her AG with an amazing race for 11:11:55
Mario Maturo in just under the 12 hour mark for his first Ironman with 11:58:28
Andrew Castaldi had a well balanced race for a PR at 10:37:22
Gary Rafferty dropped under 10:30 in his first IM for 10:25:51

Enjoy some rest and have a safe trip home.

Now we'll have to see if they keep M2's monument around for Challenge next year.

Mid Season Updates and Ironman Lake Tahoe!

Big news around the bay with Ironman Lake Tahoe being announced!  The team here at M2 is feverishly planning out options for 2013 lead up to this inaugural event that has everyone really excited.  Its about time we had an Ironman in our back yard!  You can keep up to date with our preliminary plans and announcements on our Facebook event page by RSVP'ing here.

The first half of our season is wrapping up and we wish our Ironman France and CdA athletes luck on their journeys.  No Lance in France, but from the pictures they've been sending us back, I think we are all very jealous (photo credit to Jenni Kirk, Happy Birthday!).

Some very notable results from our athletes closing out the first six months as well.

Tim Smith punched his Kona ticket at Ironman Cairns by finishing 17th overall (including pro's), and winning his Age Group with a 9:22:25 time highlighted by a 3:15 marathon!

Wildflower saw some great results as well with Sandrine Micoleau capturing 4th in her Age Group while Brett Miller edged out Stefan Irion for 5th in their Age Group during hotly contested race.

Dan Ross has been on a tear taking in Age Group honors with a 2nd at Metro Triathlon, and a 1st at Reservoir Triathlon!

Not to be outdone, Christine Aldeguer took on Escape from Alcatraz and crushed it, grabbing 2nd in her Age Group while breaking the 3 hour mark on that brutal course!

Add that to our impressive showing on the Tour of California ride, and 2012 has started off well for everyone.  M2 would like to say thanks for all the support.  Its a great time to be involved with the studio and we all look forward to more events and adventures to come.  You can check out some amazing shots taken by Loren Geller here, or from our talented, roving photographers here.