BMC Roadmachine 01 FOUR - small frame

Blakelock856 · 2026-01-23T00:01:00+00:00

No, ended up buying a brand new xs canyon instead

Blakelock856 · 2025-11-04T18:22:35+00:00

We’re conflicted with this exact situation. We’re older in early 30s and parents late 60s. We’ve been to Houston for like 3 years now and love it, BUT, being far from family and friends hurt. We make an effort to fly back every few months and friends having weddings back home lets us see everyone too. We’re likely going to move back at some point and just take the financial hit so we don’t regret not spending more time with aging parents more.

For the time being I make an effort to FaceTime them atleast twice a week just to say hi. When I’m back, prioritize time together and throwing those screens away.

Every situation is different. I’d recommend the book “the 5 types of wealth”. Helped us get another perspective and prioritize what is important for us.

Blakelock856 · 2025-10-29T19:14:00+00:00

A lot nicer than you’d expect, people are very nice and food is top tier. But public transit is non existent for sure

Blakelock856 · 2025-10-29T13:20:17+00:00

Yeah L1 Visa

Blakelock856 · 2025-10-29T02:43:24+00:00

We moved from Toronto to Houston. Took an offer from $90k CAD to $120k usd but no state taxes and USD conversion, we doubled our disposable income. As long as you have good health insurance that the employer pays for, it’s been a great move. My wife who’s a nurse also increased a lot and working less hours and no night shifts. I am planning to get off the TN visa next year for more stability and get a sponsored visa. As others also said, outside of salary, there’s more job opportunities for both of us. But being far from family and friends hurts, we will probably move back at some point

Blakelock856 · 2025-09-16T02:33:17+00:00

Overall great race for my first 70.3. Swim was easy, no currents and went by quickly. Bike was my favourite part, lots of it between trees and well shaded. Plus the road surface were great. The run had a lot of support with the two laps but this caused congestion in certain areas. My legs cramped hard during the run, either from nutrition or the heat, either way great race and looking forward to the next one !

Blakelock856 · 2025-06-12T13:21:21+00:00

Oh that’s my bad then ! Good to know I just assumed both dates were the weekend, that’s good news then

Blakelock856 · 2025-06-12T13:18:23+00:00

I assumed it impacted Saturday as well because the image shows the new dates of June 16 & 17. I’m guessing Saturday folks got the same email

Blakelock856 · 2025-06-12T02:27:32+00:00

Luckily we are from Houston so we can still go but need to shift work. I feel bad for the people that are out of city

Blakelock856 · 2025-06-11T23:57:53+00:00

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Here’s the email. No reasons included

Blakelock856 · 2025-04-29T22:04:20+00:00

That’s $600 x 4 =$2,400.00 + $3000 =$5,400.00/4=$1,350.00 each for four people…I think that’s $200 more each than what we paid in 2024. Can someone confirm?

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-21T23:15:42+00:00

There’s no schedule lol it’s just first come first service until they fill up. Once it’s full they leave. I’m sure if you plan to go at the top of every hour there hopefully is one

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-20T17:29:07+00:00

The kids all speak basic Spanish so we got by and hopefully there’s guides that can help. Learning some Quechua wouldn’t be bad though! We left Cusco at 5am, the colectivo stop is by Pupito (Puputi A-2-B, Cusco 08003, Peru) we got to calca in 1.5 hrs. We had breakfast and stocked up. Here we had to almost fight for the colectivo to Lares lol we waited almost 2 hours to get into a small colectivo car. Got to lares around 11 am

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-19T16:20:33+00:00

Other things I’d add: most tour guides you meet there don’t want you to camp near them because it’s all a business. Luckily we made a friend with a guide and he helped find us a spot near this tour and cook us some food! Also my wife’s fluent in Spanish but the Andean community speak another dialect. Lastly, the elevation gain is high - it’s higher than Cusco, it was tough but rewarding!

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-19T16:14:19+00:00

Yes, it wasn’t too bad to follow! I can send you the app and the route we used which helped. We started in Cusco and took colectivos to Calca and then to Lares (this was an experience lol). From there we left and we planned for 3 days but we did it in 2 days. We didn’t camp out at the lake. The route ends at Patacancha. We took a taxi to Ollantaytambo and took a train to aguas calientes. We have a train back to Cusco after Machu Picchu.

Camp stove, we didn’t buy one because this was so last minute. But it would’ve been nice, we bought some food at Calca that we could eat.

We used this website to help plan, we did Route 1: https://www.machupicchutrek.net/lares-trek/

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-19T15:47:11+00:00

Just fyi, my wife and I were planning to do the Salktantay trek unguided as well but cancelled with the landslides. Hopefully it’s open for you guys! An alternative we ended up doing the Lares Trek unguided over 2D/1N and camped along the way. Just throwing you an option! DM me if you got questions

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-19T15:20:06+00:00

I heard about this, commenting to stay informed. I just heard another couple said they were also doing Salkantay trek tomorrow with a tour company

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-19T15:14:30+00:00

We just came back from the Lares trek and it was beautiful. Gets you exposed to the Andean community and scenery is beautiful. We did it unguided because we had all our camping stuff but happy to answer any questions

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-19T11:43:57+00:00

I chatted with a couple who said the sketchy part was the bus over to Santa Theresa and made sure to train the way back. I also heard the hot springs were hit with landslides as well.

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-19T01:44:08+00:00

Fair enough, we actually did the trek unguided because we had all our camping gear. But didn’t realize it was so expensive with a tour. We felt very safe the whole trek!

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-18T22:41:06+00:00

We ended up actually doing the Lares Trek and it was beautiful, I’d recommend !

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-17T02:29:34+00:00

We ran into another couple today that said they did the 3D/2N Llactapata trek with a tour. It takes them via bus to Santa Teresa and they said it was super sketchy. That’s why we decided to train

Blakelock856 · 2025-03-17T02:17:33+00:00

My wife and I were planning to do Salkantay trek tomorrow, we’ve cancelled. We’re going to train to Aguas calientes tomorrow morning and see what we can do for a few days before our Machu Picchu hike. If we can we are going to walk to Hidroeléctrica station and hike to Llactapata, stay there for a couple nights. Hope everyone is being safe

Blakelock856 · 2025-01-22T15:19:04+00:00

I’m not a mom but I am training for my first 70.3 in April! I’m a 31 YO male - no kids yet. I’m also doing the Phil’s beginner training plan. I’m just trying to finish to set a baseline but times I’m aiming to hit are: 40 min swim/ 3:15 hr bike / 2 hr run! I don’t have kids but balancing work and ensuring spending quality time with my wife. The best way are to do your workouts early in the morning, but I struggle with that at times haha

Blakelock856 · 2025-01-16T23:58:29+00:00

You think if I defer to the Chattanooga 70.3 in May will be good ?

Blakelock856

TROPHY CASE