Last weekend I was out Sherpaing for TriBeccaTO while she raced the Breath of Life Tri in Ventura, being a Sherpa can be lots of fun, you get to help someone, which takes a lot of the stress of them. I would say that on the whole triathlon is a pretty selfish sport and giving yourself over to run around after them, carry bags take pictures and tell them to “hurry up, I want to go home” is a pretty neat way of supporting them…well maybe not the last one, (joke)!
Of course you get to see a whole bunch other folks doing some pretty cool stuff and some pretty crazy stuff too!
Here’s are some thoughts and observations on stuff I think is cool, wish I had thought of or is generally awesome and of course stuff which is stupid, crazy or just plain dangerous
- Riding and running in a tutu and insect antenna!
- Wearing an aero helmet and a cotton t-shirt?!
- Running with your friend who is having a really tough time…the last two ladies on the course!
- Smiling and enjoying it…unless you are competing in which case it’s game face all the way!
- If you want some crowd support wear a kit with something on it that people can shout, I usually generate “Go Hammer” from my kit and I like it, it’s also easier to shout that as a spectator rather than “go blue Orca kit with white trim and yellow shoes and red visor”, plus that’s a horrible clash!
- We’re all familiar with the “nearly there” but I heard it being shouted at mile 1 on the run…only 5.2 to go!
- Four 32 ounce water bottles on a bike for a 24 mile ride on a cloudy and cool day; that’s an extra 8lbs you just added in weight after you spent $5,000 and another $3,000 on Zipp wheels to get the bike to less than 16lbs!
- Mounting the bike and then stop 10 yards into the ride to squeeze your tires to check the pressure
- Causing a crash and then riding off…yeah that happened!
- Following the course markings, I saw someone riding on the wrong side of a divided road into head on traffic
- Finally as a competitor thank all the volunteers! No volunteers no race!
So if you get a chance be a Sherpa, it’s almost as much fun as racing…almost!
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