A few weeks ago, I was reflecting on things and realized that my life had suddenly taken some strange twists. Last November I had signed up to do a race that I swore many times I would never do (Whitbread) and more recently I had taken up snowboarding to be with my son and found that I liked it more than skiing. What is scary is that I have no problem finding good reason to do both. So I asked my wife if she thought I was having a mid-life crisis. She asked me if I was going out with strange women and I said no. She said I was only in the early stages of the crisis. Feeling a bit relieved, I decide to go ahead and tell her that I was thinking of the possibility of doing the Jules Verne. She then told me I needed an evaluation. I realized I better not talk about the Jules Verne for a few more months.

In January, I went to the Team EF base in Villamoura, Portugal, where I spent three weeks getting indoctrinated to the world of the Whitbread, affectionately referred to by me as, The White Bread. Those who know me know that I can