Michael Whitesides

At age 13, my introduction to cycling was the 200 mile Seattle To Portland Bicycle Classic which I completed in nylon running shorts (ouch!) on a Huffy special (double ouch!). Initially, I thought shaved legs, spandex, and expensive bikes were odd but soon fell in love with cycling. Since then I have raced many UCF races, earning CAT 2 status. I also ran track and cross-country in high school and college.

In 2007, a friend convinced me to try a local sprint triathlon. As a complete non-swimmer, I was happy to survive the swim. After the first triathlon, I was completely hooked! In part, to inspire my kids to dream big and work hard, I started doing Ironman races. I completed Ironman St. George in 2010, Ironman Coeur d’Alene in 2012, and Ironman AZ in 2013 and 2014. I also found some success in the Ironman 70.3 series by qualifying in Boise for Ironman World Championships 70.3 in 2011. In 2014, I missed qualifying for Kona at IMAZ by one place (42 seconds). I’m working hard this year on my weaknesses (swim) to try to qualify for Kona at Tahoe this fall.