Last month I had my first opportunity to compete in a triathlon in a different country. XTERRAs are held in all kinds of exotic locations like Guam, Brazil, Saipan ... and Wales.

Guess which one I chose?

Yep. Racing in the rain. Wales won out easily over a tropical paradise — the country known for its sheep, castles, scenic coastlines, singers like Tom Jones, rugby and, unfortunately, car thefts and suicides.

Why, you might ask? Three weeks later, I’m still not entirely sure.

But it had a lot to do with the fact my entire family is from the UK, and going back there to race gave me a chance to visit them and have some supporters at the race — all of whom attending their first triathlon.

XTERRA UK took place in Vale of Neath in South Wales on June 21 — summer solstice. But, you guessed it, in Wales where it rains approximately 200 days a year, we were pretty much guaranteed not to see the sun.

The first challenge of racing overseas is planning the trip, getting the best airfare and choosing an airline that will take your bike and not charge you more than it’s worth to get it there. And then hope said airline actually delivers — about a fifty-fifty chance.

I arrived in the UK on Tuesday before the race and miraculously got my bike at the same time.

Three other XTERRA racers, Conrad Stoltz, Amber Monforte and Dan Hugo, who caught a plane from the East Coast, had a nightmare of a trip and did not get their bikes until the day before the race.
I got lucky this time.

Getting around Wales
I drove over from England with my brother, Ross, who has lived most his life in the UK and now makes his home on Jersey (as in “old” Jersey, as in the cows).

I let him do all the driving as the combination of driving on the left on roads narrower than our bike lanes scares me. And if you think Truckee has too many roundabouts ...

Most people speak English in Wales (it’s hard to tell sometimes) but town names are mostly in Welsh, which uses mostly “ys,” “ws” and “rs,” and seldom uses vowels. This makes getting directions difficult.

For example, the longest town name in the world is in Wales:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. But there are shorter town names like Rhydwaedlyd, Ynysgynwraidd, Ystumllwynarth, Swyddffynnon and Gaerllwydd. I have no idea where to even start with the pronunciations.

The race was held in an old mining town aptly named Resolven — at least I could say that.

Two days before the race you would have no idea there was a world-class triathlon happening in the quaint town, and neither did its inhabitants. The best directions we had to the course were to take a right by my house, and just past the burger van.

What’s more, the weather had been clear for two days before the race, which guaranteed rain for the event itself.

Saturday morning, the race started at two small man-made lakes.