…I’ll tell you mine. And did I feel stupid or what. The wife and I did a sprint tri one time. Good event for us as I got an AG third and she came AG second. That morning we were quite rushed in the motel room. I quickly put on my speedo and then threw a pair of shorts over top and headed out for a bite of breakfast before registration.
We did the race and I finished a few minutes in front of my wife. I waited at the finish line for her. When she arrived the first thing she said to me was “You’re wearing your speedo inside out”.
I was thinking that I haven’t been doing this long enough to goof up yet. I’ve only been doing Du’s for 2 years now - 3 if you consider the 1 and only race I did 3 years ago on 1 months training. Then I remembered that I have one for you.
I wanted to go back and do the same race as my very first Du. It would be a C- race for me in that it was a sprint Du, at the end of the season and I entered last minute not giving it much thought. I gave it so little thought that I showed up a day late. Doh…and I was going to be so much faster this time. My wife and kids still give me a hard time about that one.
Stupidest tri-goof? That one is easy. This May at Wildflower, I pulled my bike out of the car and proceeded to reassamble it, only to discover I had left my saddle and seatpost at home. It was in the living right where I left it…
I’ve pulled off a few bonehead moves in the past couple of years.
Last summer, the first race of the season…I forgot to pack my cycling shoes ! Fortunately, I carry a roll of tape in my bag. When I ran out of the T-zone, I flipped the pedals over to the “smooth” side and taped my feet to the pedals- like old straps!
I had to have my head on straight when I came back and remember to un-tape my feet well before the transition.
Then this year, I arrived in the parking lot of a race, unloaded my bike and…realized that I had left my front wheel back home in the garage
I loaded up stuff to do a low key club event. My tri-bike was still in the shop getting a new fork put on so I brought my old road bike. I get to the lake and find that I brought the wrong cycling shoes - I have Speedplay on the tri-bike and Look on the road bike. So I did the cycling in my running shoes.
I was racing in a duathlon a few years back and when I got into t1 after the 1st run, I realized I had left my bike shoes in the car. I grabbed my car key from my transition bag and ran to my car, got my cycling shoes and then went on to finish 10th overall. You should have seen the look on my mother’s face when she saw me turn around and run into the parking lot.
Honorable mention: did all my IM training this year on accelerade, and didn’t realize I had forgotten to buy more until about 8:00 the night before IM Canada. Did the whole race on gatorade instead.
Led out of the water in a tri with a couple of other guys about 1 min up on 4th place, ran over to the black kestrel with orange tape on the aerobars. Put on the helmet, it was a bit tight, grabbed the bike and took off. Couldn’t get my feet into the shoes. Fought with the shoes for about 1/2 mile before I look down and realize this ain’t my black kestrel. One U turn later and a quick apology to the bewildered guy who thought someone stole his bike and off I go.
On the correct kestrel.
What are the odds of having 2 black kestrels set up the same including orange handlebar tape?
It was one of my first sprint tris. I decided to go for it. So the night before I took out my Mr. Tuffies and made my bike as light as possible. I even decided against bringing anything to fix a flat with (more weight). You can see it coming. On mile 6 of 12 miles I go flat. I have nothing to fix the flat with–nada. So I start walking in my look style shoes. I then am tired of walking so I decide that I am going to run back. Remember–I am in cycling shoes with look cleats. I also have never run more than 6 miles in my life. So I run 6 miles in my cycling shoes (I just about ruined them)–When I finished the run my wife was sure that I had had some horrible accident. Being strong willed I decided that I may as well finish this race so I put on my running shoes and finished. Amazingly, I did not finish last.
From a recent (elite) athlete’s race report here in the UK:
“As I jumped aboard my bike to get my feet into the shoes I looked down to find I had clipped the left shoe to the right pedal and the right to the left!!! Ahhhhhhhh. After a rapid dismount, shoes off shoes on affair I was finally on my way in a rage of anger and frustration”.
Said to myself. " I feel great don’t do anything to mess it up" on a 1/2 Ironman and decided not to eat anything. BIG mistake.
Put front wheel on backwards ans mag did not work.
Didn’t wear socks at Wildflower Half IM. Feet blistered so bad that I bled through my shoes. Had to go the med tent to have them cleaned up afterwards. Had trouble walking for a week after that.
I get to the race and see that from the bike racks to where you can mount your bike is a long way 400 yards or so, with a whole lot of twists and turns. Since I didn’t want to run the whole way in my cycling shoes I thought:
“How hard can it be to leave my shoes on the bike and strap them on while I ride away?”
Turns out, it was much harder than I thought. Since I never had tried it before, in one graceful move I managed to knock both of my shoes off of the pedals and had to turn around, go back, stop get off the bike, pick up both shoes and put them on before I could start to ride again. I probably lost about a minute to a minute and a half, but to me it seemed like an eternity. Fortunately, the gap between myself and the next faster than me in my age group was 2 minutes so I didn’t loose any places because of my experiment.
Lesson learned: Even though I have heard it a million times, Don’t try anything new on race day!!!
As a cyclist I was in the hospital - in a wheel chair listending to a Doctor tell me that my cycling days are over…I looked up at the TV and saw IronMan on TV…told the Doc I was going to do that. The next day I was on the list for IMLP…my biggest Tri mistake…signing up! My first Tri ever was a sub 11 hour IMLP. Now I just keep going back for more…you know what that has cost me? $2400.00 in IM entry fee’s alone!
I screwed up this weekend at Pacific Grove. Forgot to put my contacts in, so I had to swim without them. I had another athlete walk me down to the beach and just tried to stay with everyone else during the swim. Worked out okay, put the glasses on for the bike and run.
I tried the very cool manuever of jumping onto the bike with shoes clipped in and slipping into the shoes while peddaling. Unfortunately it was at 1/2 Vineman and the incline and riders coming out of T1 made me crash within 10 feet
Using bullfrog sunscreen. Sure it’s waterproof & everything proof, but not full sleeve wetsuit proof. I noticed that it had all rubbed off under my wetsuit when I was in T1, but didn’t think much of it. It was wildflower and I was #517. I got the sunburn of the decade and had a white 517 on each upper arm (from the body marking) which remained throughout the entire season (and through a 3 week long Mexican vacation in November of that year)!
Led out of the water in a tri with a couple of other guys about 1 min up on 4th place, ran over to the black kestrel with orange tape on the aerobars. Put on the helmet, it was a bit tight, grabbed the bike and took off. Couldn’t get my feet into the shoes. Fought with the shoes for about 1/2 mile before I look down and realize this ain’t my black kestrel. One U turn later and a quick apology to the bewildered guy who thought someone stole his bike and off I go.
On the correct kestrel.
What are the odds of having 2 black kestrels set up the same including orange handlebar tape?