Elbaman III

Dino was a find and in the end I think we were just meant to come together with him. This spring he had won the Italian Duathlon Championship in his 55 - 59 age group just three weeks after his wife's death. They had brought their children to Elba often and coming to this Ironman meant a lot to him. But when he saw the water, the bay, the waves, he got scared and decided to bail on the race. That's when he heard that we were looking for a cyclist...and what a cyclist we got! Our hotel was right in the middle of the race venue and right smack on the bike course. We calculated that he'd come around the 60km loop (three times) about every two hours and ten minutes, so we organized ourselves accordingly. The first two hours I went and had a shower, changed, ate something and then went on the course to watch. Dino came by the first loop in two hours and ten minutes. We watched some more and then we went and had an early lunch so Giorgio could digest in time for the marathon. He wanted to order some seafood dish but I talked him out of that (!) and insisted on just plain rice with some oil. I ate a big salad and some really yummy homemade foccaccia. We went back to the hotel, had a nap, and met down in the lobby again. We went towards the bike exchange to hang out and wait for Dino. It was really fun to see everybody coming off their bikes and getting ready for the run. It was fairly hot out also, probably in the low 80's. Dino came in after 7 hours and 15 minutes of brutally steep hills. Giorgio started his marathon...(continued...)