At a sprint race in San Diego in or about May, I watched a guy do the entire bike leg while wearing his wetsuit. I never did figure out what that was all about…
On a training ride about six months ago, I was riding up a moderate hill, in the aerobars, looking a few yards ahead. All of a sudden, I heard a loud bang and a huge screeching sound. I looked up, and saw that an oncoming Saab had lost its driver side front wheel, and was skidding along the road on its axle, sparks flying everywhere. The wheel/tire assembly was keeping pace with the car, but was coming straight at me! I swerved to the left, and the wheel flew past me on the right, missing me by about a foot. It bounced off of the guardrail, and smashed the front end of a parked Toyota about 20 yards behind me. I pulled a U-turn to see if the teenage driver of the Saab was ok, and she said, “It had been making a rattling noise for a couple of weeks!” I was like, “Great. One more car issue to look out for while riding…”
I’ve seen lots of newbies at sprint/try-a-tri races that forget to take their helmets off and go hammering out onto the run with their hard shells still atop their noggins.
I saw a guy coming downhill off Yellow Lake at IMC in '99 that flew by me like I was standing still in a full tuck. I thought to myself that he must have amazing bike handling skills, since the tar filled cracks made me nervous enough to back off an coast down the hill, then he abruptly caught his front wheel and flew airborne off his bike and into the ditch. I thought that he would be dead but he popped right back up onto his feet and waved me on saying he was fine … I guess if you ride that crazy you crash so much it’s no big deal.
A guy did an Oly tri in a clown suit a few years ago, complete with red button nose, orange hair and make up. He won his AG and was in the top few over all. He said his point was to prove that “tri is all about having fun.”
i have thought of doing a similar thing, because it is all about fun. i would personally choose a gorilla suit with a shirt saying “any monkey can do it!” of course i would need abouot 100 water bottles and a life supply of ice packs to finish even a sprint event
A Japanese dude came & raced IM Australia earlier this year but one problem: he left his bike shoes at the hotel.
So what does he do? Did the bike leg in bare feet on his clipless pedals! He was also damn fast and qualified for Kona - pretty crazy but also pretty awesome!
At a sprint race a couple of years ago, I was watching the dismount line. A guy comes in from his bike ride and calls for medical assistance. He gets off the bike and he’s shaky and wobbly and says he’s got a monster headache. I take his bike and another volunteer helps him walk to the medical tent. On the way, he guy takes off his helmet and I can’t believe what I see. He reaches up and pulls off his swim cap. “Hey, that feels a lot better” He takes a few minutes to recover and sets off on his run.
At our Rothsee Triathlon ( Olympic Distance, which was won by Chris McCormack in 2003) a competitor lost his saddle after about 10km. He rode the remaining 30km without it and finished the race.
I think I would give up if this happens to me.
One day I saw 1800 people willingly pay lots of money to swim 2.5 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a marathon. That’s by far the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.
a friend who broke his chain early into the xterra worlds bike course, which of course meant he did the only sensible thing and ran his bike the rest of the way. Worse, two races ago at another off-road tri he broke his chain 3 miles from the end of the ride, runs his bike in and still, still beats me to the podium by like 2 seconds.
Not sure if 'craziest, describes, it, but the guy doing a few of the sprint series on Key Biscayne (Miami), wearing a Stars and Stripes thong. Not a pretty sight, I have to say, especially riding behind him up Rickenbacker Causeway, although it was motivation to hammer up the grade to get past him.
OK I know I’ll get it again for this BUT. For me it’s the anti religion and anti United States stuff that is put out by some slowtwitchers without anyone standing up!
Last time it was how bad organized religion is, I guess they meant as opposed to unorganized religion. Heck you can look for and find bad things about any organization.
Second the U.S. has some problems but it’s still the best thing going (IMHO)
Now I could be one of the BOYS and agree with everything said , I could even tell everyone how smart and great they are ( we do have many talented people on this forum) but I can’t believe I’m the only one that gets rubbed the wrong way by these two topics.
Everytime I do a Tri. I marvel on the great life GOD has given me. Everytime I enjoy my freedoms I marvel on the great life the US of A has given me.
OK let the flames begin.
While doing a duathlon in the winter in the uk - the bike course was covered in black ice. Head down and hammering I watched a motorbike fly past me, on its side, shedding sparks. I’m not sure who was the crazier.
I think I saw someone complete a sprint tri in Malta in 30C while wearing a wetsuit the whole time. I may have had heatstroke at the time …
My son when he was 7 did the local kids race and was doing great coming out of the water in the top ten out of 40 or 50 kids. He gets to his bike starts to change, shoes, cycling gloves which he insists on (got’em from Frankie A. so they have special powers), then he puts on the helmet, which is ok but he didnt have his shirt on yet. He realizes he’s gotta put on the shirt, so naturally begins a long long arduous process of trying to get on over the helmet. Since parents were’nt allowed into transition, I’m leaning over the fence shouting “Dude that is not gonna work” by this time he is completely stuck looking like the headless horseman. Finally the light bulb goes on, he takes off the shirt gets the helmet off, puts shirt on, then helmet…finally he’s on his way, and still in the top 50. When he finished the race, I ask if he had fun, he’s like “yeah it was great but i gotta work on that transition thing” Classic.
