Spain 2026-07

Spain 6,

Sept. 24, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

I am staying in Dena-Meana, about 20 km from Pontevedra. There are very few rooms available in Pontevedra where the Triathon is taking place. Nirvana books up all the rooms 1 year in advance and then sells it back to the public at double the price, Most of the Canadians are staying out of town and taking a bus or a train to the race. I rented a car for the week which was disappointing at first. However, all things considered it gives me the possibility to visit the area.

I woke up early in the morning. Not wanting to make the mistake as last time, being undernourished for the race, I ate a substantial breakfast and drove 20 minutes to Pontevedra. The traffic in the city was horrible and everyone was looking for a parking space. I squeezed into the smallest space in a free lot and walked over to registration where I got my body markings for the race. I dropped off my bike in the transition zone and memorized the spot. There were 4500 bikes present. It was cool with a cool breeze and my race was to start at 4;00 pm with a water start. The water was cool so I wore my wetsuit.

I ate a light lunch and waited patiently for the race to start. I drank the sugary energy drink that I bought yesterday and carried the chocolate bar with me. I also have a recovery pack, a powder to be mixt with water for after the race. My water bottle was filled with a mineral liquid to be drunk during the bicycle part of the race. I was all set.

The swim was ok, with my wet suit I was warm enough. Surprisingly I don’t swim as quickly with a wet suit. I came out of the water feeling ok and jogged off to get my bike. My age is written on my calf so I usually get a lot of cheers and encouragement. I mounted the bike and took off. The bike part of the race was very difficult. It consisted of 1 long hill interspaced with curves and then downhill for the 2nd part of the race to the finish line. I didn’t even peddle as I was going too fast.I was exhausted. I stopped twice to catch my breath and 2 motorcycle refs stopped to ask me if I needed help. I waved them on and continued. The girls start their race after the oldest guys so i raced in a pack with the girls. They all shouted encouragement to me.

I dropped off the bike, took a drink and jogged off for the run. The run consisted of 2 lengths through the streets of Pontevedra lined with cheering crowds all yelling ‘go Canada’ for me. I was proud. The run had 1 hill after another. All along the way they give you water in a glass. I drank a bit and spilled the rest over my head to refresh myself. I finally got to the finish line and a pretty young put a finishing medal around my neck.

By the end of the race I was soaking wet. The temperature dropped and I started shivering. I walked into a restaurant and crashed onto a chair. The lady took one look at me and knew exactly what I needed. She gave me a huge bowl of chicken noodle soup followed by a yogourt and a tisane. After an hour I was ready to take on the world.

I took my bike and bag and wandered off to find my car. The ride home seemed long and I went straight to bed on arrival, sleeping of course with my medal around my neck.

Love,

Brian

Spain 2026-07

Spain 5,

Sept. 23, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

I ate breakfast at my usual café and slowly made my way to Pontevedra. I managed to find a tight spot in a free parking lot. Hopefully I will find my way back to it as my iPhone has run out of battery. The super tiny battery bank does not seem to like my iPhone. I may have to buy another one which is always more expensive, bigger and heavier. Oh well those are the trials and tribulations of travelling in a foreign country.

I picked up my rental bike in the parking lot and had the fellow adjust the seat and put on my own pedals. It is super light with semi automatic gears which the fellow had to explain to me how to change gears. Sometimes modern conveniences are above my level of comprehension. I managed to find my way to the registration counter and was able to register without too much difficulty. People here take an extra bit of time to help white haired seniors find their way around.

It was 16 C this morning but has warmed up to 30 C now at 3:00. I race tomorrow at 2;00 pm so the heat should really be fun. There are a lot of stands at the site selling various foods and drinks for the race. Last time I made a mistake and was tired and dehydrated at the end of the race. I found a stand selling foods and beverages and was served by a young knowledgeable young lady. I explained what happened to me last time. She gave be a drink to have just before the race, special energy bars for the bike ride and run and a recuperation drink for afterwards. She also gave me a water bottle with an electrolyte drink which I can fill at will.

I will be off to the assembly area in a few minutes to meet with my team. There are 4500 athletes here from 60 countries. All the countries assemble by continent and in alphabetical order. We take a group country picture and then march in under our respective flags through the cobblestoned streets in front of 10,000 fans cheering us on. Wow!! Everything is filmed for local and close circuit TV.

Continued:

My iPhone was not working as the connection was loose. I found a great telephone shop with a knowledge salesman. He seemed to be happy that Canada will have EU status and would immigrate to Canada if at all possible. He fixed my phone and sold me a new battery pack, somewhat heavier than the one I have but with more memory and much much faster to charge. It took some time for him to set everything up, but it was worth it. I missed the team photo but got several photos of the parade. I marched in with the Canadian team. It was really fun. 4500 athletes and 1000s of spectators with a lot of camera men. The World Championships Triathon is very important all over the world except North American.

looked for the Israeli team but could not find them. I am not sure if they were with Europe, Asia or the Middle East group. I saw one group of individuals with a Free Palestine flag. I walked by, showed them my dog tags and told them I was with the IDF. I was with a large group of Canadians, mostly looking big and strong, so my risk was minimum.

I am eating supper at 10:00 pm, in a restaurant overlooking the water. Life is beautiful. I am looking forward to the race tomorrow.

Love,

Brian

Australia-New Zealand 1

Australia-New-Zealand 8,

Oct. 21, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

’Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.’ I repacked my already stuffed to the brim, suitcases. again. i had to find a place for my new medal and had to really push to close the bag. I called an Uber to take me to my motorcycle rental place across the bridge in a suburb of Auckland. I am getting rather good at ubering and can summon up one all by myself. I arrived at the motorcycle shop and met the man in charge. He explained the workings of the bike to me and gave me some advice of windy roads to take for my next leg of my journey. I rented a Honda 500 Rebel CMX which is rather small and easy to manoeuvre on the hilly narrow roads that I will travel on. The bike came with 2 saddle bags and an over the wheel trunk. I repacked taking only what I would need for the trip. All bikes are geared the same, one down and 4 up. For one second I forgot and started the bike, ready to go in 1 up, second gear. The fellow looked at me and I could see by his face that he was wondering if this was my first time on a bike and should he be really renting it to me.

When ever I get on my bike, I always say to myself, ‘this could be my last ride.’ So far I have been wrong. The bike although small, was not really small. Riding a new bike with the gears on the opposite side as my triumph is always a challenge. They drive on the left side of the road here. My TomTom motorcycle GPS allows me to choose primary, secondary or tertiary roads, hilly, very hilly and very hilly roads, curvy, very curvy and very very curvy roads II had chosen to ride on the latter of all three choices. I started up the engine and wondered to myself if I had not bitten more than I can chew, as usual. 1 hour into the ride, I had gained back my usual over confidence and knew that I could easily master the low cut Honda.

The drive out of Auckland was rather boring as I had to go back over the bridge and through the entire city. The city has small towns, attached to each other and go on for 1 hour, not very interesting. Finally, I arrived in the country side. I drove on for several hours through rolling hills and small farms. I arrived at the turning point where I had to decide whether or not to continue on to Tauranga or head north up the peninsula and follow the ‘spectacular road’ that the motor-shop man had described to me. I chose the latter and headed up the peninsula. This was supposed to add 3 hours to my journey. It added another 5 hours but it was really worth while.

The road was narrow, windy, hilly, and curvy to the extreme, perfect for my first day on a new motorcycle in a new country. A real baptism by fire. The road wound along the sea with the mountains often coming right down to the water, The road was often cut out of the mountain. Finally, I arrived at the top of the peninsula and road across to the other side. Here the road cut through the mountain with hair pin turns and switch backs. I road in 2nd or 3rd gear for the most part doing 30-50 k/hr. Many turns were marked 25 k/hr and it was impossible to go faster. Later on the roads were marked at 100 k/hr. I never dared to go over 80.

I arrived in Tauranga, 10 hours later, having stopped only once for lunch and many times to take photos. I usually don’t like to ride a bike after dark or in the rain. I finished my journey in the dark and with a light drizzle. My GPS lady got lost and I drove around Tauranga for 1 hour before finding my hotel. I was ready for a beer.

Love,

Brian

All the photos below were taken on my motor cycle journey, from Auckland up the peninsula and then back down to Tauranga.

Australia-New Zealand 1

Australia- New Zealand 3

Oct. 16, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

I woke up this morning feeling great and knowing what a great day this would be. Boy what a surprise I was in for. I went to bed at 9:00 pm, still not being used to the time change. I woke up at 6:00 refreshed and ready to start the day. My friends Paul and Katerina went off to do a 2.5 hour hike up and down the local mountains here. I set my gps for the local police station to make a police report on my missing ipad. The GPS mal functioned for 1 hour until I ran out of battery life. I arrived at a small police station only to find it closed. I some how found my way back to my house an hour later by following the beach road until I recognized my street.

P and K arrived at the same time as me so we went off to a beach side restaurant for a light lunch. Paul and I then went over to the triathlon site to check in. They took one look at my bike and said that I could not race in a world championship using a road bike with straight handlebars. I had never heard of such a thing but apparently it is written somewhere in the handbook. Paul immediately went onto our web site for Canadian triathletes called Slack. He sent out a request for a bike hoping that someone would have raced in the olympic triathlon today and so would not need the bike for the sprint race tomorrow.

Within minutes a nice girl, Luisa, from Ottawa accepted to lend me her bike as she had finished her race and did not need it tomorrow. What a wonderful person and what a great sport. We met at the transition area and had the bike mechanic adjust the seat and change the pedals for me as I use a different type of racing pedals. I then registered the bike and left it in the transition area.

I will race tomorrow at 8:10 am in the 75 to 79 age group. I will meet my saviour later in the day and have invited both her and her husband out for dinner tomorrow evening.

This evening we got all our stuff ready for the race and put on our tattoos. You can only have your bike, running and bike shoes and a wet suit in the transition zone. They are very very strict here.

Love,

Brian

Australia-New Zealand 1

Australia-New Zealand 2

Oct. 16, 2025,

Hi Every one,

I arrived in the airport in Sydney with 2 bags on rollers but still rather unmanageable. My Ibis Airport Budget hotel was a few a few hundred meters away, so I rolled and bumped my baggage along for 20 minutes. Needless to say on arrival that my Ibis Hotel with a slightly different name was in the opposite direction. I wanted to check in early but they wanted and extra $30 for the privilege so I just left my bags in the locker. I took a train downtown to visit Sydney.

While in the airport at San Francisco I managed to get my ipad stolen when I looked away for an instant. The plane was leaving in a few minutes so I had no time to make a police report. I went to apple in Sydney and they blocked all the data and locked the ipad. The app ‘find my ipad’ showed me that my ipad was still in the airport. Maybe someone found it and turned it in. In any case it is insured so I bought another one from apple. Apple transferred all the data to my new machine so I was in business. I was rather discouraged and hungry so I drowned my sorrows eit a Caucchino and a muffin. In an hour or so once I started writing on my new toy, I felt better. I switched my sim card for an Australian sim card I minute to late and received a welcome to Australian message from Bell Canada that cost $30.

I picked up my rented bike on the other end of town and bumped along with 2 bags and a bike to a train station that took me to Wollongong, a small town on the ocean where the triathlon is takeing place. I rented a house with another couple about 10k from the village , on the sea. We are staying in a 4 bedroom, 2 story very will appointed house with a garden. The beach is just down the street. My house partners are a couple from Australia who are very nice.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the triathlon site to register. They gave us our tattoo numbers, a large bag, a swimming hat and instructions for the race. We had a meet and greet dinner with the Canadian team at a beach restaurant. Later in the day all the teams got together for the Parade of Nations through town. The streets were lined with 10,000 spectators and there were a lot of television camera. There are 4000 thousand athletes here from 73 countries. There are many races here including the elite race, the age group races , the sprints, the olympics, aqua bike faces and duathalons. I am doing the sprint, age group 75 to 79 race.

For the parade, each nation marched in as a group. We are about 200 on our team. Israel has a small team here. When I saw them, I went over to them, told them that I had been with the IDF and MDA and asked permission to march in with them. They were very. pleased and shock my hand. Some one walked lover to me and asked me if I would wear a ‘free Palestine bracelet .’ I quietly refused telling him that I was on the other side.

Last evening we went out for seafood. I ate burundi fish that I had never eaten before and it was delicious. Today I will go for a swim, relax and catch up on my writing.

Love, Brian

2024 10 Spain

Spain 8,

Oct. 22, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

The spring and summer of 2024 passed so quickly and now we are in the autumn. Although I accomplished many tasks, I failed to do others which turned out to be important as well. I left for Israel in mid March and returned 2 months later in mid May. It was an experience that I will never forget but it put me 2 months behind for my sailing season. This was a small price to pay. I have been an arm chair Zionist for my entire life except for the 3 months that I worked on a kibbutz in 1970. The ‘war’ as unfortunate as it could be, gave me the chance to offer my services to Israel. My contribution however small it was, was not negligible.

I sanded and stained our deck which took the greater part of 1 week. It was a beautiful job and should last at least 5 years.

My usual boat preparation of the J24 for racing season takes 1 week. This time it took 1 month. I sanded off the old bottom paint, a filthy job that was accomplished with the help of my crew friends. I then applied 5 coats of intratect 2000E, sanding in between each coat. This paint is like the original paint which goes onto the hull of the boat when it is first built. It lasted 40 years and needed to be redone. It should last another 40 years which hopefully will be longer than me. The job follows the usual time and cost estimate. A good job takes 4 times as long and costs 4 time as much. I was not far off in my estimate.

I also took 4 weeks to renovate my Laser and 29er that have not been sailed in many years. Many of the young sailors who sail 29ers complimented me on the job and helped me to set up the boat. When I told them that I would be sailing it next year, they cautioned me that no one over 25 ever sails a 29er. We’ll see next year. I finally started racing my J24 in mid July.

I trained for the triathlon enough to get me onto next years Canadian National Team for the Worlds in Australia, but not enough to do well in this years race. I took the swimming part of the race for granted which explains my results.

My motorcycle lay dormant all summer. After the triathlon, I rented a motorcycle to tour Andalusia. I picked up the Triumph 400 yesterday and rode from Malaga to Gibraltar. I planned out the route completely on my computer in Montreal, and then transferred the data to my TomTom motorcycle unit. A motorcycle GPS costs 4 times as much as a regular GPS but it is designed for use specifically for a bike. Vibrations do not affect its use. I ruined an i-phone by using it on my bike and destroyed the camera. The GPS also allows you to choose between primary, secondary and tertiary routes. When choosing a route you can choose between hilly, very hilly and very very hilly roads. You can also choose between windy, very windy and very very windy routes.

I forgot how much fun it is to ride a bike. I choose tertiary routes, very very hilly and very very windy roads. Well….I was not disappointed. For much of the route, I drove in 1st or 2nd gear, occasionally making it up to 3rd gear. There were miles and miles of hills and curves. I could only take many of the hair pin turns at 20-30k. I started off on the wrong route at the beginning , an error that cost me 3 hours in time. I didn’t mind as I really loved the ride and the scenery. I rode for 7 hours stopping for a cappuccino break in a beautiful small town called Ronda.

The scenery was spectacular. I passed through dry, rocky mountains that resemble a desert except for the sand. Small villages, impossible for me to reach due to the steep incline dotted the landscape and appeared to hang off the mountains. They are obviously very ancient and were built for protection.

I arrived in Gibraltar 8 hours later. It’s funny, that after travelling in Spain all day, I find myself in Gibraltar, an English part of continental Europe. In Spain the food was excellent. In many countries if you cannot find a good restaurant, look for an Italian one. last night I had supper in an Argentinian restaurant and the food was great. In Torremolinos I stayed at the Fénix Hotel. The buffet breakfast had 105 different items to choose from. The cappuccino machine had 12 settings. I am at the Bristol Hotel in Gibraltar. It is a 4* hotel, with 4* prices and 1* accommodations. The ‘continental’ breakfast had 9 items to choose from including ‘fresh’ croissants wrapped in cellophane. I don’t understand the phrase ‘continental breakfast’ . On the European continent I have always been served huge, fantastic s. The term ‘continental’ should be replaced with ‘small and cheap’.

Brian