Coming down with a serious case of IM-on-the-brain due to my impending date with IMoo.
Usual symptoms - checking ST waaaaaaay too often, can’t do much at work, watching simplystu waaaaaaay too often, can’t sit still at home, my wife is at her breaking point, only feel normal when I’m biking, running, or swimming.
So I find myself this morning updating check-lists for the race on my computer…because… I can’t get any work done.
While I would imagine most people here are even more organized than I about getting ready for a race, am interested to hear if there have been times when things slipped through the cracks…especially if it was something not easily obtainable at an expo. Maybe can serve as a reminder to all those getting ready for the next month of racing…
By the way, best of luck to all (especially those on their maiden voyages) IMC and Lou racers (as well as my fellow Mooers in their upcoming taper).
You would be shocked on how many people by bikes at the expo or a nearby good bike shops. It varies from bikes being lost in transit, bikes falling off cars, or just because.
For IMAZ 2006 I accidently packed my fullsuit and my sleeveless wetsuits and did not pack either of my wifes. Luckily there was a very helpful tri-shop in Scottsdale that rented suits at a good price. I can’t remember the name right now though.
Well,
While People don’t forget their bikes, some forget they have a bike on the roof when then go under an overpass and some ended up @ the bike shop the Friday to get a brand new bike (It happened once to someone @ IMLP).
Fred.
I forgot my brain for IMMOO last year. I was so prepared and stressed about it being hot like it had been every other year that I did not think, give thought, imagine, or prepare for the fact that it was going to be cold and wet. Even race morning pre race all I worried about was getting through transitions fast and not getting to hot/dehydrated. I took off my water proof pants and jacket that I wear when it is at or below 50 and wet, and gave them to my wife for my dry clothes after the race. I packed one long sleeve shirt in my run special needs bag, that would have been great if I could have made it that far and not gotten hypothermic before I got to the special needs bag. If I would have just put my “dry waterproof clothes” in my bike or run T bag I would have been great and probably could have finished with a smile on my face.
So my suggestion is bring your brain and common sense, everything else you can buy at the expo or somewhere in Madison. No worries everything will be fine, hell last year if you had seen how much “stuff” I had in the back of my Durango you would have thought I was moving to Madison, if I had a flat I had 6 new tires to change it out, and if I got a hole in my wetsuit I had everything under the sun to patch it. I still DNF’ed because I must have attatched the air pump to my ears.
AHHH… that is wives I believe (most people do not have plural) and if I forgot my wife I would realize it immediately because it would actually be peaceful and quite in the car. I can not imagine having more than one telling me how to drive, Oh the Horror of the thought
At a 1/2 last year. I forgot my aerodrink straw and didn’t know it until 20 minutes before the race started as I was setting up in transition. The color just drained from my face and I thought I was doomed.
I had an idea to go over to the race announcer and see if he would ask if anyone had an extra.
5 minutes later I had a brand new straw from someone who was not racing and had one in their car.
I was so grateful and was sorry the athlete didn’t wait for me to come over to the announcer to get it and to offer them a kidney or something for bailing my forgetful ass out.
I don’t know if this is a forget equipment or a “forget” to read the rules, but Joe showed up at IMC (1998?) with only a solid disc wheel. Unfortunately solid wheels were not permitted. So here we are in Penticton and he has no race wheel. He couldn’t even find a good spoke race wheel to buy.
I swear that man is lucky. We are walking thru the athlete’s village area and here is a man sitting under a tree with a spoke wheel. A sign is on the ground next to him…“used wheel for sale”. The man might as well been wearing a halo. Of course Joe buys it, race saved. (8th of the bike OA)
HR monitor strap…didn’t realize until 15 minutes before closest sporting goods store closed (that was ~20 minutes away.) After a little aggressive driving…made it with a minute to spare!
Your checklist should be the following:
Trisuit…Check
Wetsuit…Check
Bike…Check
Bike Helmet and Shoes…Check
Running Shoes…Check
Nutrition…Check
Most everything else can be bought or done without.
That being said…I was shocked last year at the number of frantic people at the LBS’s in Madison looking for cold weather gear the day before the race. I had looked at the weather before I left and packed (and even made a special trip to my LBS to by warmers) everything I owned. Even with all that…I still was a little unprepared. You can’t cover everything. Plan on a 40 degree swing in temps, rain, loosing your nutrition while on the bike, 3 flats, etc. etc.
Hawaii '91: Forgot waterbottles on the bike (got some at the 1st aid station though, so no biggie)
Canada '98: HRM for the bike (found it in my RUN gear bag during the race)
Muncie '00 (HIM): Socks (bike and run…I think I can still feel those blisters)
I guess putting together one of those gear checklists would be a good idea.
I, like tridoc and trigirl was at madison last year. My advice would be to just bring every piece of race clothing you have. I managed to buy a pair of armwarmers at a local bike shop, but even that was kind of meager for how cold it ended up being. If you don’t care about time that much, bring a poncho.
Other than that, make sure you bring some of those airline-sized bottles of booze. You can’t get them at the expos and they’re awesome for… umm… sterilizing wounds… yes, that will do.
It wasn’t an Ironman, but one year at Wildflower I forgot my bicycle seat. I took the saddle off so it would go in the back of my car upright and I left it sitting on the living room floor. I didn’t realize my error until I was unloading my bike race morning to go to the transition area. I didn’t race that year…
