Beach to Battleship

OK ... those of you who were picking on me for obsessing about the weather forecast 10 days ago ... what say you now? 37 FREAKIN' DEGREES!!!!!

And next year they've decided to go a week later!! I've never done a tri in a parka before. Maybe next year.

In discussing ways to stay warm on Saturday, remember: 1. The air temps are going to climb rapidly in the sunny conditions, and you should get warm on the bike pretty quickly; and 2. Pro riders stuff their jerseys with newspapers on 60 mph descents at elevation, not on flat time trials at sea level, no matter how cold the air temperature. The point being that they use it when descending as insulation to keep the sweat that they generated while climbing from freezing solid on their bodies from the wind chill while they descend for many miles. In other words: they're not generating body heat when they do this - they're trying to conserve it. No matter how cold it is on Saturday, it's going to be sunny, and you're going to generate lots of heat, and if you stuff newspapers down your jersey, you're just going to end up with a big wad o' soggy sports pages, and you likely won't be any warmer. The weather forecast is a lot like last year, and I think you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll feel okay on the bike. Best bet: skip the fish wrap and go with a reasonable combination of synthetics. Good luck to everybody!

Also keep in mind that, while the race started at the same time last year, it was daylight savings time then. It's not this year. Relative to the race start, the sun will be up an hour earlier. It took me about an hour to feel comfortable on the bike last year. Maybe it won't take so long this year.

But also, we headed to the mid-70s last year. We're only headed to the mid-60s on Saturday.

I'm happy that I did my last Canuck race in September with a 6 degree celcius start, and a water temp of about 60 degrees f!

Toe covers for the ride, a long sleeve shirt or jersey over your tri suit, maybe a light jacket you can put in a pocket if it's breezy!