Tips - Little things you never think about (Page 3)

And, uh, if you happen to be transporting your bike in the car, and um, accidentally nudge the brake levers so  that they are rubbing on the wheel rim, you should check that, too, before you start. Cuz if you wait until mile 14 to notice, you'll be pi$$ed.

I mean, or so I'd imagine and all...

Repeated tightening of that little washer/nut (after each reinflation of the tube) will cause the tube to be pulled through the hole in the rim, causing that tear. Not that I ever did that....

I fixed that for you. And I wanna race next to you at the next tri!

John

X2, love the toothbrush idea!

On that note, I recommend not using the same stick of body glide for both your crotch and your eyebrows....

Edited by cpfint 2009-04-29 4:09 PM

yeah, use your rack-mate's supply for the crotchal area!

From someone who's only owned a bike for about a month, appears to be accident prone, and is learning many things the hard way: drink with your left hand and keep your right hand on the break, so when you need to slam on the break you won't fly over the front wheel.

OMG I had my FIRST race this weekend and I learned this lesson! It was supposed to be 90 and sunny, so I went to put sunscreen on after getting bodymarked.  I ended up smearing the black permanent marker from my arm all over my lovely, new mint-green zoot tri top  Also, the number on my arm was unreadable! And I got a little bit of permanent marker on my chin. 

Don't do it!  

Wear two swim caps.  Put one on, thenn your goggles, then the second cap.  If your goggles get kicked off, the strap is under the top cap so they dont go very far.

Bring a pack of flushable wipes. When you walk out of the Porta Potty give the rest of the pack to the next person in line.

If you're planning to fix a flat with CO2 during a race, be sure to practice doing this BEFORE race day. You need to make sure you've got the right tools and know how much air to put in. It's well worth wasting a couple cartridges rather than exploding a tube on race day.

Um, if you wear one cap, and put the goggles under that, the same thing happens. ;-)

What a great idea!

----This is a great thread.  My limited experience:

Further to toe nails- never ever get a pedicure before a race !

2nd a race belt

I place a cap ON my run shoes - so I remember to take my helmet off - nothing like running out of transition with your bike helmet on :-)

I think the problem is more in terms of overtightening the washer.  Maybe I'm not one of the cool kids, but I loosely screw it on to hold the stem in place (otherwise you can get shearing action as the stem rubs back and forth while seating the tire back on the rim, and get the stem ripped out- not that I have had that happen more than once or twice...).  Then when the tire is pumped you can tighten it to the wheel without ripping it off.  Unless you Hulk-out and really screw it down to the max.

mrs gearboy won't share her sprots bras with me.

My tip is to keep the spare goggles, race belt, and a marker in the transition bag at all times.  If you keep the bag with the wetsuit, you will be less likely to forget anything. I also like to keep a spare race belt in the car for those time that I run a local 5 or 10k so I won't forget to bring one.

I was so worried that I would do this (because, um, maybe in practice I had seen it done) that I put a note inside my shoes that said HELMET!!!

ok this isn't a "NEED" more of an annoyance fix.........  Anyone else hate a stiff number that is flapping in the wind and on the run?  i learned from a really fast master's runner, well i watched him and then tried it myself, crumple up his number into a ball and then flatten it out again.  try it.  the number "sits" so much better. 

Do the training months/years ahead of time instead of the week before the race, your body will thank you for it.

I learned a tip from mrs gearboy from years of helping our daughter at horse shows, where the numbers are often on a stiff piece of plastic - pin it to the shirt on 2 opposite corners of the number.  That way it won't flap.  Of course it won't work if you are using a race belt., but for running races it is more practical.

Replace the yellow netting thing in your aerobottle with a shower poofy.  Nothing like seeing the first bump of the bike course scattered with yellow netting things on the ground.

I need to put a race belt in the car - great idea.

In fact, this a great thread!  Keep 'em coming!

Take a white  plastic bag and tie it to the end of the  rack where  you racking your bike in trastion area on top  where it makes a an X sorta. You can find your bike row quicker and make alot of friends who say thanks afterwards cause they found there bikes  quickly too after the swim . Who want to think about looking for numbers just run to the bag lol

Although if someone in more than one rack does this you're SOL.  I think non-movable markers are probably better. 

I know you were joking but I like running without a shirt so I always ask a race official if shirtless is legal before the race. It is NOT legal in any Ironman 70.3 race and I found that out the hard way costing me about 40 seconds to run back to my transition area for a shirt.

Don't really understand the "tip" about not talking w/friends in transition pre-race. I do it all the time and will continue to do so. IMO, unless you're a pro, these are friendly competitions so I want to know the top guys in my AG.

As long as you're the only one who does it.  Reminds of "the Simpson's" when Homer is helping to design a car "You know those thingies that you put on you antenna to find your car?  Everyone should have one of those!"  Last year, I saw three people w/ orange bike flags at their station. 

I don't think that this has been mentioned on this thread (but has on this site many times) - Thank the Volunteers, they really can make or break an event and they don't 'have' to be there.  As a volunteer, I always appreciate the 'thanks'

One thing I've started doing this year is using Google Earth to map out the bike and run route,  and then 'play' the route so I at least have a general idea of what the course will be like if I dont have time to scout it out before hand.


Edited by ratherbesnowboarding 2009-04-30 9:53 AM