Forget MedTrekking. Forget the Mediterranean Sea.

The Idiot has begun training for the 38th Annual Trans Tahoe Relay open water swimming competition on July 19.

His Team Tango, consisting of three women and three men, is not only working out in Whiskeytown Lake near Redding, California. It will also be wearing sleek gold suits when the competition starts in the chilly freshwater lake that straddles the California-Nevada border at a challenging elevation of 6,225 ft (1,897 m). The temperature during the swim is expected to be between 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, or 13 to 16 degrees Centigrade.

The Idiot shows some visiting Swiss motorcyclists his gold suit before training in Whiskeytown Lake.

Tango Team captain/coach/swimmer Nina Natina gives The Idiot some tips.

The Idiot doesn’t swim much while he’s MedTrekking but he did get in two workouts last weekend on the Cap d’Antibes in France with former teammates on the Antibes Masters squad. And a week earlier he swam around the Saint Honorat island while visiting the monks at the Abbaye de Lerins off Cannes. Otherwise he tends to act his age and mellow in the pool.

The Idiot is at the age when he and his contemporaries had a special workout lane at the US Masters Nationals in Mission Viejo, CA, last August.

The Idiot worked on his balance at a friend’s home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.

The Idiot does a balancing act before the swim across the Hellespont in Turkey.

There are again over 1,100 participants in Tahoe this year and The Idiot doesn’t expect to medal as he did when he swam the Hellespont in 2011 and competed in the US Masters Nationals last August. Instead he’ll be happy to survive the rigorous team swim (there are 6 x 30-minute legs, 6 x 15-minute legs, and 6 x 10-minute legs) and enjoy the alpine camaraderie.

The Idiot medalled in his age group during a swim across the Hellespont in Turkey in 2011.

The idiot picked up a medal at the US Masters Nationals last August.

Open water swimming is all about fun with teammates and competitors.

Photos: Des Baum, Liz Chapin, Charles Eisenhour & Joel Stratte-McClure.

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."