2019 Member Spotlight – David Jiang

August, 2019

How did you get involved in triathlon?
My brother asked me to do the Maryland Duathlon with him although he couldn’t make it the first year so I ended up doing it twice! I enjoyed it a lot and thought it would be fun to try adding swimming next. I found out about a DC Tri happy hour at Shake Shack, learned about NTP, and signed up for it the following year.

What was your first triathlon?
Black Bear for the goal race. It was a hilly race and my first open water experience so it was weird seeing feet ahead of me. Since then, Rob Read who was also in my NTP class and I joked that we should collect or race all the bears so last year I did Bear triathlon.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in a triathlon?
I tend to forget things and have pretty much forgotten everything possible. Usually it’s leaving water bottles in the fridge. The biggest one though was forgetting my running shoes in the car at Escape the Cape. There wasn’t enough time to get back on the bus to the parking area so I ended up running barefoot. I couldn’t walk for days after!

Any fun facts about yourself that you’d like to share?
I grew up across the street from Lance Armstrong’s aunt and uncle and got to ride with him one time when he was visiting. He did not like BMX!