Another spring a long time ago, I traveled from home in snowy New England to a different triathlon in the sport’s Mecca, southern California. As I pulled on my wetsuit for the first time that year, one of the natives looked at my pale winter skin and asked,
“Dude, do most of your training at night?”

Ouch! This spring I spent the week before the Ford Ironman 70.3 California on vacation in the Virgin Islands working on my tan. I was brown when I toed the race’s starting line, but wondered if I’d feel the effects of spending 7 nights on an island where rum is cheaper than tonic. I was not to find out.

The swim wasn’t as cold as I’d expected, and I’ll give a shameless plug for team sponsor Blueseventy’s neoprene skull cap, these things work. Hey, how about this action shot?
And check out the guns and the tan as I’m justing starting the bike portion of the race.

And here’s a picture of my bike after 10 minutes of biking.
Crash! Not only did I bust the bike, bend a race wheel and DNF, all for the first time, but I left some vacation tan on the road. Ouch indeed.