Author Alex Hutchinson

I like big wheels. As hard as I try I can't seem to convince myself to buy a road/tri bike but it turns out that I don't have to change. As my aspirations lean more in the direction of doing the Englewood Triathlon I started talking to people who have been there, done that. The owner of Real Bikes Englewood , the town's newest bike shop told me that the Englewood Triathlon has a Fat Tire division. Perfect! I checked the results from last year's race and sure enough there was a Fat Tire class with 8 competitors, 3 men / 5 women. That makes this adventure even more fun. Not only do I get to test my endurance in swimming, biking and running but I can do it on my knobbies. What makes me excited about this venture is that I love to time trial on my MTB. Last summer I did two of them with the Tempo Cyclery group and managed a 10 mile time of 33:40. It was some of the most fun I've had on a bike. With this in mind I decided to go to the actual lo

The 2012 Turkey Trot 5K running race took place on Thanksgiving at Edison College in Punta Gorda, Florida. 540+ runners came to enjoy 50 degree fall weather, make space in their tummies for Thanksgiving dinners and to support a great cause. This Turkey Trot benefits Habitat for Humanity and boy did they make out well. In addition to the runners there were also hundreds of people walking the 5K distance. The course created for the 5K never left the college grounds. They cleverly used each road as an out and back format adding in a lap around the pond. This was great because it allowed you to see the leaders and be motivated by their awesome pace. Timing was done by the  Zoomers Run  club, who always do a spectacular job.  The first decision of the day was how to handle the 50 degree chill. Floridians are not comfortable in this kind of weather so each had to decide what to wear. Personally I arrived in my Charlotte BMX jacket, the only one I own but by race time I

A BMX friend who reads my blogs asked why I had suddenly become interested in running? As many of you now know my long term interest is that of competing in a Triathlon. Even a Sprint Triathlon has a short finishing run as part of the trio of sports. That's what started me on 5K running races. However, they have begun to fascinate me for other reasons. I never imagined that this would be a part of my life. Having said that, my answer is simple: running is honest, local and cheap. You can't beat that combination of virtues. Allow me to explain. Let's start with the costs. Most sports are pricey. For the past four years I have been competing in cycling races and they are very expensive. I paid $1,500. for my Fuji Reveal cross country race bike. I paid another $1,000. for all the parts to assemble my Sette Venom downhill bike. This didn't include hundreds of dollars in protective pads, spare parts and repairs. Mountain bikes break down a lot when you ride

At 35 years old I fell in love with the sport of cycling. Since then I have raced Mountain bikes in cross country, downhill, Super-D and time trial competitions. I've even crossed over to BMX racing but it wasn't until very recently that I paid attention to another sport that shares the same spirit as cycling but adds the benefit of developing a more complete athlete. The sport I'm talking about is Triathlon. Now when I pictured Triathlon, my mind filled with images of runners and swimmers traversing incredible distances in crazy short times. What I forgot was that the cycling portion of these races would now be my strength. Most everyone who tries Triathlon comes into it with at least one strength so I'd be no different. So what about the other two parts of the race? Most recently I competed in a 5K race and completed it in a reasonable time despite an almost total absence of training. It's a start I can easily build upon. The big challenge for me