SOAS hearts Wine!

We had some fun putting this together.  We know SOAS was conceived over a bottle of good Cabernet. While we are serious about our racing and training, life is also about good friends, good balance and good conversation. Often, we find this balance over a good glass of grapes. Here is a compilation of some of our SOAS gals’ stories of the vino.  We’ve added some of our favorites. Enjoy!

Lisa Ransom

Whine or Wine??

In 2010, I raced IM Lake Placid. Three weeks later I raced a 70.3 in NH...Timberman. This race is a home state favorite and it is a kick ass race in a beautiful part of the world, so we race it every year. It is in our backyard so we train on the course & to race it is a real treat! However, three weeks after Placid I was feeling the hurt when I got off the bike to run. At mile three of the run, my coach, and best friend, Sean passed me like I was paint on a fence.  Before he could say a word I started in, "I don't know coach, I've got NOTHING in my legs...not sure I can..." He shouted out as he passed by "HEY! YOU CAN WHINE ALL YOU WANT.....TONIGHT!"

I was mortified. He was right, I was being a big, fat, baby and I was whining! I didn't want to disappoint him and told myself to suck it up and get my head back in the game! At a turn around point at mile 7 or so, I saw him again and showed him big smiles and said "I'm all good!! You're right!!" he looked at me, like "Um, ok." He was psyched I was in a better place and we high-fived and went our ways.

Later that afternoon, as a group of us were hanging out post race I told the story of how mortified I was that he called me out on my whining. He looked at me in utter confusion and then burst into laughter, "I didn't say THAT!!!!"

"YES YOU DID!! You said 'You can whine all you want tonight!'" and it kicked me in the butt enough to get it together and finish the race strong!"

He said, " I SAID 'You can have ALL THE WINE YOU WANT, tonight!"

Karleen's Favorite

Funny, we hear what we need to hear in the moment, don't cha think???!!!

Karleen Dirmantas

Wine is good!  As a triathlete I’ve found many benefits to drinking wine.
1)A little wine treat is good motivation to get the workout done for the day.
2)“Takes the edge off” after a hard day of work and training.
3)It opens my mind to some great ideas! It sometimes gives me the force to take on mammoth physical challenges.  Amazing!!
4)I always drink more water when I drink wine, keeping myself fully hydrated for the next day of training.
5)Keeps the blood flowing, or something like that.   I’ve heard there’s some studies.
6)It’s Gluten Free, Paleo Safe, and low in calories.

My favorite wine these days is Bogle Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon.  The total bang-for-your-buck wine.  At less than $10 per bottle it will blow your mind. 

Laura's French Wine

Laura Sopheia

As I sit on the plane to Las Vegas, I found this picture from our trip to France this past summer and it brought back wonderful memories.

As I recall this was a mighty fine bottle of vino! A luscious French Rose.  You might wonder how it came to be on Kevin’s bike and here is how the story unfolded and ended up on his bike...

Kevin and I began our ride in Allemont, France at the base of the mountains. It was clear, sunny and cool for July just a truly beautiful day to be alive and on a bike! We rode up and over mountain passes such as the Col D Croix Fer, Col D Telegraph  Col D’ Galibier and finished up on top of Alpe D’Huez.  It was an epic day on the bike with over 20,000 ft of climbing and I was total mess by the end of the ride. Kevin was wonderful and waited for me up each climb and my reward at the top of the Allpe D’ Huez  was this beautiful bottle of wine on Kevin’s bike.  I was ready to open it right then and there. Alas, he had other plans, and in his jersey pocket was a small loaf of French bread and a hunk of cheese.

We rode back down and stopped off in a field with a few cows, opened the bottle, bread and cheese and ended our day under the fading sunshine and the taste of Cuvée du Golfe des St Tropez and each other.

Kebby Holden

My current favorite wine is Hoopes Vineyard Cabernet from Napa. Wine and Dogs: two of my favorite things in the world! It’s delicious! Reg & I received a bottle as a raffle win at one of our favorite charity events in San Diego: The San Diego Humane Society FURBALL. Best black tie event name ever. I am usually pooped from a long run to stand in high-heels for long, but this event makes it totally worth it. Did I mention the great wine?....

Kebby's Wine and Dogs

Andrea's Buttery Chardonnay

Andrea Astudillo

Wine- Yum!
I have quite a few "favorites" but since it's still pretty warm, I’ll go with a Trefethen Chardonnay. I like oaky, buttery chardonnay and this is a good one for that. Also, my husband proposed to me on our way from San Francisco to Napa. Trefethen was the first winery we stopped in, once we made it to Napa, so it's a special place for me.

For reds, I love big cabs and have been getting into Pinot Noirs. Siduri is a great Pinot. We found out about it in a strange way. My husband is a huge Pearl Jam fan and we have noticed at the last few concerts we had gone to Eddie Vedder was drinking wine straight from the bottle with no label. We did a little research and found out it was Siduri. If you like Pinots, it’s worth a try. Costco usually has it. For Cabs, I love Far Niente and its sister winery Nikel and Nikel.

Sooo, SOAS friends: go grab a workout, a few friends and a good bottle of vino and enjoy the good life!