Biff Swims, Bikes and Runs for the Sequel

Here’s the scoop. The sequel to my novel The War Bug (coming out this October) has a long sequence featuring a virtual triathlon. I know nothing about triathlons other than the people who do them are in a lot better shape than I am. But that’s OK. I have a month and a half to get ready. That’s right … get ready … as in not only have I entered a triathlon … I’ve entered the Olympic level event: 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike ride and 10 kilometer run. I’m gonna swim, bike and run to research the sequel to The War Bug.

Piece of cake.

And elephants wear panty hose. I’m gonna die!

Well, maybe not. I’ve been swimming 100 to 120 laps at the Nashwaaksis indoor pool all winter. That’s, like, 3000 meters … double the swim for the triathlon. Last fall when I stopped running for the winter (which I do each year after several mishaps involving icy intersections and speeding cars) I was running around Killarney Lake six times. And Killarney Lake is the site of the run for the triathlon. And six times around is the 10 kilometer run. And, of course, I bike a lot in the spring, summer and fall.

Now all I have to do is put them all together. And live through it.

Today I biked one leg of the bike route (10 K) and ran around the lake three times (5 K). And lived. My bike is a Norco Pinnacle mountain bike (considered a mite heavy for competition, but nice for general riding) and there was a strong wind, so my timing wasn’t anything worth mentioning.

But earlier in the day I visited my old friend Matt Savages from Savages Bikes. He’s lending me a thousand dollar racing bike for the triathlon. I sat on it today. It sang songs to me. Songs about speeding down roads like the wind skimming over the rooftop of life. Or something like that. It felt good.

More on the bike later.

While I was running around the lake, I passed two lovely young ladies running the opposite direction. I talked to them in the parking lot later. They’re entered in the Spring level triathlon. Cut each of the Olympic levels in half and you have the triathlon I should have entered. They’re obviously smarter than me.

I’m in pain at the moment. My inside thighs feel like steaks hammered by mallets. My knees are trying to tell me something, but I haven’t deciphered their message yet. It could one of pain. It could be one of regeneration. It could be they don’t like the position I’m sitting in as I write this.

Things will reveal themselves in the weeks ahead. It’s the Duncan Hadley (don’t have a clue who he is or why they named a triathlon after him) Triathlon at Killarney Lake outside never-sunny-anymore-in-the-spring Fredericton, New Brunswick. It’s held July 10. By then there will be sun. There will be sun.

Stay tuned.