Rollin Along July 2002 

 

Well this is kinda difficult to write this. I am sitting in a tent 13 miles east of Roswell, NM the night before the first installment of the Bottomless Lakes Series. Right now it is dark and I am writing this on my palm top with its glow display screen. It is a very short race (400m swim, 14k bike, 4k run). Why am I here? It is hot, I am being eaten by mosquitoes, and I could be at home in my comfy bed at my comfy house watching today’s highlights of the Tour de France. Well the short of it is, I love racing. Michael Guidicissi and I drove 260 miles through a very nasty thunderstorm to get here. Is it worth it? I don’t expect to win. Not even in my age group. In fact I will probably not even finish third. It doesn’t matter. I just want to race. It’s fun. 

 

Well I am doing this piece on race preparation. I was inspired because I came to this race fairly well prepared, except for my race number belt. It drives me crazy when I do stuff like that. It’s only a little thing but it is already messing with my concentration. Last night as I was packing all of my stuff and I was going to grab it. But I didn’t. I got distracted and forgot about it. I know where it’s at. It’s hanging in my closet where I usually have it. Race prep, I had a flat on one of my race wheels last night. Yeah I know I said last month how tubulars are less likely to get flats. Well I had one. Good thing I found it last night and not tonight or worse, tomorrow morning. I would have been pissed. Now I am gonna have to chance not flatting again because my spare sucks. I used my regular race spare last night. If only I would have had another spare. I am taking another chance. My spare last night was not glued on very good. But I made a decision to go ahead with it. I looked at the course map and determined that there are no real nasty or sharp corners. OK I'm gonna use it. But my race belt. It is still bugging me. It is making me think of everything else I forgot. Sunscreen, bug spray, sleeping bag. Sucks to be me! When I cross the finish line in the morning it won't matter. But it is causing me to lose my concentration on this race. I need to remember why I'm here. I’m here to just race and have fun. 

 

Preparation. I am trying to think of ways can be better prepared. When I used to bike race I used to make a list before every race. I started doing this cause I once went to a large stage race up in Colorado and there were these two guys who went unprepared. One guy forgot his helmet and didn't get to race. He didn’t realize it until he was at the start line. The other guy forgot his shoes. He raced (tried to) in his sandals the first day. He had to abandon because his feet went numb from the cold (it snowed during this race, and it was the end of May) and got swollen. I was unprepared for the cold. Actually, everybody was. We all froze. It was a freak storm. Preparing for a triathlon is different. There is so much more you have to think about. Swimming, biking, and running gear. So here is a list I am going to start following. When you get to that item cross it off. You will probably tweak it to your specific needs. Also, keep in mind that if you drag your family out to one of your races there will be even more on the list. 

 

 

 

 

OK, here is that partial list important race gear

Goggles*

Swim cap/hot head cap (if the water is really cold you can double them up)

Wet-suit

Body Glide

USAT License (money)

Helmet *

Cycling shoes*

Running shoes *

Bike (extremely important)*

Race clothing *

Food / water unless you’ve raced there and know for sure NEVER trust the water)

Water bottles

Race number belt

Lace locks

Socks

Contact lens stuff / glasses (important if you race with contacts and your goggles get kicked off)

Sunglasses (Boston Bill sunglasses if you are Tri Team SW member)

Running cap

Flat repair (CO2 cartridges, pump, tube, tire pre-glued, tire levers, etc.)

Towel (you never know what the transition area surface is like) 

 

Important pre-race items to take just incase:

Money / Checkbook

USAT License

Floor pump

Misc. tools for last minute emergency adjustments

Tent

Sleeping bag

Hotel Info (I hate driving around looking for hotels the night before, or them not having my reservation or rooms, etc.)

Race location info

Race entry confirmation (if you have it)

Food / Water (see above)

Bike lock (if you plan on leaving your bike somewhere out of your sight for any length of time) 

 

The items I marked with a * means that they are absolutely necessary to race. If you ain’t got those, you ain’t racing, period. 

 

Keep in mind that these are only partial lists. I probably left some things out, and included too much. Tweak it to what you need. I hope this helps. 

 

As a side note I did finish 3^rd in my age group (30-34 males) and 13^th overall. I could have finished 2^nd in my age group and broke into the top ten if I would have had my race number belt. I lost nearly 2 minutes on the bike because I was fidgeting around with my race number. I ripped of when I put my jersey on after the swim. If I would have had my race belt my I would have had my jersey on during the swim under my wetsuit (yeah I used one, I didn’t cost me any extra time because I had it off by the time I got to my bike). What cost me all of the time was putting on my jersey and ripping the number off. If I had been prepared I would not have forgotten to bring my race belt and not had to worry about my number until the run. Hindsight I guess. Oh well. I still had a good race. 

 

Keep training. Race Hard…and keep the rubber side down!