even in high school I used to lube my chain with vasaline. All I knew was that it needed grease. There weren’t any quick links back then and I don’t remember ever cleaning it either.
I’ll keep it tri or swim, bike, run related so I don’t have to admit to asking Robin Soltez to marry me in 2nd grade by giving her a note with a yes / no checkbox. Her reply - NO, she was going to marry her cousin. I hope that worked out well for her. Do I press post, no / yes. Ok, post
I brought my own marker to my first triathlon. At that time it was unclear who’s responsibility it was, race management or the participant.
Yes, it was really a dumbass thing to do but in my defense I have to add that it was in the early 80s and there was not a lot of information about such matters.
At least I didn’t wear a hockey helmet like one guy did.
I did my first race in a jammer style swim suit. The 40K bike was enough to completely wear out the crack area and leave me walking around the finish line exposed.
I got a new race wheel and thought my wife should use it for a duathlon. I decided I should put her cassette on it. When I did I didn’t realize there was an extra shim and the cassette lock ring was about .001" from the frame. She got half a mile away, on the first hill and the lock ring caught the dropout and spun into the frame.
Fast forward 30 minutes… Wife comes back pushing her bike, covered in grease and her only DNF.
Oooops.
I once tried putting on a long-sleeved T-shirt for an unseasonably chilly bike leg in a sprint Tri… welcome to the 6-minute T1. That was back in about '83; I don’t think the modern Tri top had been invented yet. I know we didn’t have wetsuits and the swim was somewhere around 65* so I only had minimal function in my extremities from the cold even before trying to wrestle with getting long sleeves over a wet body.
I forgot, not sure if this is dumb, but I had a few nectarines the day before a race and they made themselves known about 10 min before the start of a race and the line for the bathroom was about 20 people long. I had my daughter’s kiddie potty in the car and I had to use that. Which was not easy to do in the back of a minivan (thank God it wasn’t my civic). That was bad.
When I got my first pair of cycling shorts I used to wear my boxers underneath. Luckily I read an article in “Bicycling” that mentioned you weren’t supposed to do that.
I didn’t realize how common a mistake it was til last year, when another friend started cycling. Her Facebook post cracked me up:
“I just found out you aren’t supposed to wear underwear with cycling shorts…cycling just got a whole lot sexier!”
It seems everyone is referring to race snafus. Mine is a training thing.
Trying to go out and kill it every workout. Getting passed this has helped me considerably in my training and also clearly in my recovery.
Next day I had torn both arches in my feet and battled PF for 2 years.
I decided one year that I would do a half iron race on nothing but water. It was over 100 degrees.
My only excuse is that this was a long time ago & there wasn’t nearly as much information about nutrition floating around back then. And yes, I know a LOT more about hyponatremia now. And bonking.
A few really stupid mistakes at the same race…
First Mistake - Back before tri shorts existed I decided to wear a Speedo instead of cycling shorts at the Muncie Endurathon (half iron distance). All of the cool looking races in the magazines wore Speedo at the time. The the fact that I had never ridden more than about 35 miles in a Speedo prior did not occur to me. For insurance against chafing I placed a large glob of Vasoline under my saddle prior to the swim. It ended up being a very hot day and when my legs started to really chafe/rub I reached down to get some Vasoline only to find out that it had all melted away.
This is when my Second Mistake - basically paid no attention to calorie intake on the bike - caught up to me. At about 40 miles into the ride I bonked and my average speed went from around 22 to 23 mph down to around 12 to 15 mph.
It ended up being a very long day as I had also committed a Third Mistake - I had not really done much distance running in training. As slow as my bike ended up being I think my run actually took even longer.
To top it off I was hit with a drafting penalty. I still can not figure out how I was called for drafting as I was either passing everybody (I had not done much swim training and was one of the last out of the water) or getting passed after I bonked during the bike.
DK
Ran my first marathon with boxers on underneath my shorts.
I used to train exclusively by Heart rate
.
dumbest ever: while doing my first ever half iron i decided that trying a new supplement would be a good idea. first water bottle in, when my gut cramped up i decided that it wasn’t going to agree with me. finished the race but ended up in the hospital. was the first and last time i’ve raced on new supplements. 8 years later and i still use the same nutrition.
second dumbest: for some reason thought that putting a jersey on in T1 would be a good idea. after 4 minutes of fumble f&$%ing around finally got in on and headed out. was 2nd in my group out of the water and just about d.f.l. getting out of T1. i did feel good about being able to provide the specators with their laugh of the day though.
Came out of the swim ready to hammer the bike … blasted through transition … pulled into first place on the bike … race director pulls up along side me in a car and yells: “Where’s your helmet?” … doh! … my only dq.
Hey!.. I still wear underwear under my cycling shorts… At least I finally changed from tighty whitey to CWX briefs.
Here’s another one… I did an Ironman and put all my second half food in my special needs bag. They lost my bag. The next aid station I ate two Snickers Marathon bars (not knowing they have 9 grams of fat each). I bonked, I cramped, I dehydrated, I vomited, I DNF’d and finally got two bags of IV before I felt normal again.
Just because it’s on the course doesn’t mean anyone should eat it.
first TRI I spent what felt like an eternity in T1 putting on jersey, socks, shoes, gloves, headband and probably several other pieces of non-essential equip- all for an 11 mile SPRINT bike leg! My wife took way too many pictures of me sitting on ground wrestling with my socks. Since then my T1 time has dropped by several mins and the list of non-essential gear has been slashed.
Hey!.. I still wear underwear under my cycling shorts… At least I finally changed from tighty whitey to CWX briefs.
What’s the point of spending $100+ on shorts with an expensive chamois when you’re just going to put cheap cotton in between it and your precious bits?
My first tri I decided it would be easier to put socks on in T1 than in T2 (don’t ask why I thought I needed socks at all). I decided that my Injinji socks would be the best choice (the ones with the toes). Numb hands, wet, gritty feet, and socks with little pockets for each toe = 17 minute T1 time. I was litterally rolling around on the ground on my back trying to get the damn socks on my feet. But, being my first tri I was afraid to alter from my “plan” even when my plan turned out to be really dumb. I proceeded to drink 6 full bottles of Gatorade on the 56 mile bike because that is what I had figured I would need to avoid dehydration for the projected 90 degree temps, even though it was cold and rainy on race day and I was not sweating at all. Again, my overwhelmed mind would not let me deviate from what I had mentally rehearsed. I bloated like crazy and had to stop 3 times on the run to pee.
Biggest lesson - have a plan, but do not be afraid to change it when it becomes obvious it is not working.
What’s the point of spending $100+ on shorts with an expensive chamois when you’re just going to put cheap cotton in between it and your precious bits?
The CWX aren’t cotton. However I only wear cycling shorts because my team pays part of my race fees when I their kit. I really don’t like the chamois and don’t use them in Tri. Never chafe and don’t need the padding. A chamois is a waste on my butt.