Triathlon Sierakow

[Moff]

As some of you might have heard, a couple of of BCTTTers went to Poland to do a small, very serious race and no beer or pizza was consumed.

That, of course, is a complete lie.

For me, the clusterfscks started early; by which, I mean the first major cock-up was on our arrival in Berlin - I lost my bike. All of the luggage came off our flight and there was no sign of it, no staff to ask, no announcements and no signs. How could the useless sods lose a bright blue bike box!? I asked at the service desk the other side of customs and I was directed to the other end of the airport for an hour-long wait to be reunited with my bike. We drove to Poland, met the rest of the crew and went for beer and pizza that evening.

Friday began with a swim and transition recce, then registration. The water was much warmer than I'd expected but due to an issue with my contact lenses, sighting was much more difficult than usual. At registration, we were handed finishers' T-shirts (!?), bottles, bags, magazines and a sample from the nutrition sponsor - ALE (sadly not the hoppy type). A brisk 12 km ride to the venue followed in order to rack-up bikes.

Race day

It was cold waiting on the waterfront for the gun. Transition closed an hour before my start time and I wandered the beach for a while - my wave was 20 minutes after Kwerty's. My wave was ushered into the starting pen to the enthusiastic cries of the commentator - I understood little of it, but I was assured he was congratulating the competitors, supporters and volunteers. Some rousing, Pirates Of The Caribbean-esque, music played - "Oh shit, this is it" I thought - then the cannon and into the water.

It didn't feel cold and I found my rhythm quickly; the other swimmers took some interesting lines and i quickly found myself in the front half of the pack. I left the water in 21:00 and started the long stagger up to T1. It was not a quick transition; I struggled to get out of the wetsuit and to get my bike kit on but I got out on the bike and clicked onto the big ring to cruise out of town. The first 10km wasn't pleasant and I wasn't sure if my bike was broken or if I was but I managed to grind through it to reach the first aid station and the start of the smooth, flat second half. The second lap was much the same but I dropped two bottles passing through the feed station, nearly causing a face-road interface. T2 loomed after 1:41:30 and it was time to start the leg I doubted the most - the run. It started badly and got worse which led to a 1km "run" and a 4km hobble walk after twisting my back and then withdrew after the first lap for beer and an ice cream.

It was actually a great race if my complete lack of fitness is ignored and the smooth, relatively flat bike course and warm water were an absolute delight.

Tl;dr: Swim great, bike alright, run shite.

[Jack Hughes]

Well done!

Something to work towards next year now

[Jimba]

Well done moff, no point carrying on if you are broken. Glad you enjoyed it.

[md6]

Good call to pull out, no point pushing on when injured. Sounds like a good weekend, I really should get on board the train to Poland next year...if i'm allowed,

[King Sad]

Oh dear, pity about the injury ... beer, pizza and ice cream has got to be some compensation though

[gingertri]

Was the cold beer and ice cream for the back? It sucks to travel that long and dnf but hey - you now have next year sorted!

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