The inaugural Pensacola Beach Triathlon has come and gone, and Endurance Cycling and Nutrition was there.  In true cycnut.com fashion, we've upload 1100 images from the event.  Considering there were about 200 participants, that means we should have at least a few pictures of everyone, as well as a couple of the surrounding area and spectators... oh, and a few bikes.

The images have been uploaded into four different galleries to make browsing through easier.  However, there are two cameras, and in each gallery, you will run through all the photos from one camera (Tammy's are all called DSC XXXXX) before getting to the second camera (Tom's are all called 314JXXXX).  Yes, its a bit disjointed, but the idea is to be in multiple places at once, capture lots of action, and hence the confusion.

The image galleries:

Swim pictures

Ride and transition pictures

Run pictures

Miscellanous pictures and Awards - includes staged photos

If anyone wants a full size original image, message me through the site with the image name (e.g., DSC 00091 or 314J4450).  All the images are free to download and use, just not sell.  If you have a chance, reference the site, so we can continue to support the triathlon community.

A few images:

Being a road and time-trial bike guy, I've never paid much credance to cyclo-cross.  Sure, I've read about it in VeloNews, but thought of cyclo-cross as something that folks in Europe did during the winter when they couldn't be on the road.  From the spectator side, I've always seen its popularity more as a result of prolific beer consumption than sport.  That said, I had a chance to ride the 2012 Felt F55X cyclocross bike earlier this week and was nicely impressed.  First off, its basically an aluminum road frame with a carbon fork.  There is a road saddle, standard handlebars, and Shimano Ultegra STI shifters.  The bike handles like a road bike.  Its responsive, nimble and STURDY?

Yeah, a beefy road bike that you can take off road or off curbs.  Its the sexy version of an urban cruiser.  Mountain bikes have traditionally been used as good, reliable bikes for urban travel and to/from work.  They're nice and solid and sure foote with wider tires... able to handle gravel, potholes, and curbs, not to mention the ability to run off into the grass when some bubba in a pick-up decides to slurp their coffee than pay attention to the exact heading of a 5K pound vehicle.  But the Felt F55x is basically that AND a road bike, with a bit more speed, a bit more refinement, and isn't 28 pounds.

I’ve been using Stevia extract for a few years now, most notably in lower calorie electrolyte drinks where you don’t need the calories but want fluids and salts.  This replaces most of the calories and provides a nearly identical taste.  If anything, the sweetness lingers just a bit longer than table sugar and makes it an excellent choice for citrus drinks (lemonades and sports drinks)  and even blender concoctions such as protein/berry shakes that need just a little hint of sweet since blueberries, blackberries and strawberries can be a bit sour by themselves.  Keep in mind, pure stevia extract is about 300 times sweeter than sugar, so a little bit goes along way… a 1/32 teaspoon scoop is often enough for single serving drinks.