Praise be upon you.
i cover myself in the blood of non-believers and put shoes on my hands to hit those in the next lane who do not praise dan. the holy of holys.
Wildflower '99- rode out of T1 without realizing my front wheel had flatted? while I was swimming. Went down really hard on that first little downhill about 20 meters into the bike. Covered in blood, changed the tire and did the ride on a severely bent rear Alum. rear derai. Had trouble breathing most of the way, I then shuffled/walked the run to find out the next day I had 4 bruised ribs that the doctor said I made considerably worse by continuing. Still have road-rash scars to remind me how dumb I can be.
A couple years ago there was a 3 day stage race literally in my backyard. It was my chance to show off for my friends and family. I trained for it and I was ready to do really well. I was out warming up for the time trial when our team manager rolls up in the van and screams that I’ve missed my start time. I throw my bike and myself into the van and we race the two miles or so to the start. I’m 5 minutes late and needless to say I finish dead last in the time trial. All ends fairly well, though, because I’m so pissed that I get in the first break that goes in the next stage and we gain 7 minutes on the field and I ended up placing in the top ten overall. Needless to say, for months after I was reminded of my stupidity.
Stupid things.
Putting my bike in the wrong rack. The extra time it took to take it off the rack and go to the correct spot was the difference between finishing second and fifth in age group.
Trying to put a bike jersey on in T1 while I was still wet cost me about 30 seconds. The difference between second and fourth in age group. The next year I wore a trisuit and took first in age group.
Both of these were sprint races where every second is important.
These are awesome posts. I think Roy takes it with the wind trainer crash in the living room. LOL. Classic.
can’t top roy but back in the day thing were a bit less serious and pratical jokes were played frequently.
at a local biathlon (they were called that before duathlons) my “friends” thought it would be funny to duck tape my bike to the rack. never laught so loud and i knew right away who did it
i still beat him.
frank
I jumped onto my bike and began what turned into a major battle just to clip into my pedals. After several hours of this (well, it felt like hours anyway) I finally realized that I’d forgotten to remove my “coffee shop caps” (plastic Speedplay cleat covers) from my bike shoes. I spent the next few “hours” alternately hopping up and down on one foot or the other, just outside of T1, trying to remove the dang things. Normally, these covers pop right off (Hell, NORMALLY I remove them before the race!), but with an HR of 165 and lots of people watching, it’s a whole 'nother story.
P.S. I’ve been doing all I can to keep from bursting into a fit of laughter here at work while reading this thread. This is good stuff!
La Jolla 1/2 marathon entry fee: $40
Your buddy, your ride to the race, running out of gas on I-5 on the way to the race: Unforgiveable
Getting picked up and delivered to the race by a hottie nurse heading home from the night shift: Priceless
.
I don’t know if it was dumb or if the tri gods were bored. Start before the swim I stepped in the biggest pile of dog shat. Through the toes and everything. If that wasn’t enough, I came out of the swim missing a front tooth that had been temporarily capped the previous day.
First time at a local sprint tri. I got there just before registration was closing. Didn’t bother to look at the course map or ask any questions. Got out of T1 in good position. Bike was even better. Trying to get back to the lake to what I thought was T2. Here is the conversation between me and a volunteer while I was riding circles around him on my bike:
Me: “Where is T2?”
Volunteer: “Right here.”
Me: “Can’t be.”
Volunteer: “Yep.”
I actually rode through the transition and rode back to the same volunteer.
Me: “But isn’t the transition at the lake?”
Volunteer: “Nope.”
Me: “But my running shoes are at the lake.”
Volunteer: “Well, you better go get them.”
So I put my bike at T2 and ran two blocks, in my bare feet, back to the lake to put on my running shoes and run back to T2 to start the run. I lost about 25 positions during T2.
1987 Oly dist. tri - leading the bike, passed a volunteer on a corner where I was supposed to turn…since I was the first one to pass him he did not realize that he was supposed to point for us to turn here. I was used to volunteers standing on a corner to prevent anybody from turning where we should not. Woops! Turned around after about 1/4 mile and still got off the bike first. (one of two races I ever won)
Great Floridian '01 - left my bike/run singlet in hotel. Had to borrow. Also left my gel flask & gels there too. It was a long day.
USTS Madison - on the run - thought I saw people turn into some woods, there was a path, so I followed. Nope…not the course. Got lost coming out! Found my way, but not the same way I came into the woods. I see a theme here!
First corner of the first tri I ever did there are volunteers telling everyong to slow down around the corner because it was slippery since it had been raining earlier. Not me, I was racing for DFL. Bike goes out from under me bust up my knee hip and elbow. Luckily I was so slow then I didn’t get hurt bad. I have been scared to corner at high speeds ever since.
Thought of two more, one involving me, another a buddy.
Me: Loaned my wetsuit to a newbie who was doing Sportfest at South Walton Beaches, Florida. At the last minute I went down to do the race, so borrowed a training partners wetsuit. Came out of the swim, and couldn’t get the wetsuit legs off over my feet. It just would not come off. I was laying on the ground wanting to cry. Lesson, don’t use equipment you are unfamiliar with at a race.
Buddy: At Powerman Alabama one year he asked a race official when his age group was going to start. Race official says, “See that group of people running over the hill?”
i was severely overheating during the swim to the point that i thought maybe they would be fishing me out like tim deboom. came running out of the water kind of disoriented and proceeded to put my bike helmet on over my swim cap. at least i noticed right away and didnt’ head out of t1 like that.
From my buddy’s second sprint triathlon:
My buddy is not a particularly strong swimmer. That said, he starts the swim in orderly fashion, not realizing that he needs to ‘sight’ every several strokes to keep his line. As this was a small, local race, with few ‘in water’ volunteers, no one was there to correct him as he went off course. Eventually, he hits some stairs on a dock on a diagonal away from the race course. He changes direction and continues on in an effort to get back on the swim course. After many minutes of head down effort, he pauses to check his bearing.
He finds himself in a cul de sac completely out of sight of the race course. He looks around to see a guy in a fishing boat. The guy looks at him and says, “Man, I’m no expert in triathlon or anything, buy aren’t you a bit off course?”
The hazards of no black line. He finished the race.