Shortly before the New Year 2008, I caught the triathlon bug. I had just finished my first marathon and loved it, however was already thinking about the next big challenge.
Back in September 2007, a guy named Lance Leo came to speak to our training group one Saturday morning after our long run. He was about two months out from doing his first World Championship Ironman in Hawaii which he had qualified for the previous November. Between this encounter with Lance, running into various other triathletes, watching the World Championship on the TV in mid December and discussions with my training partner in crime, Nick, I was ready to ‘tri’ this (pun intended.)
I had never swum a lap in my life. I think my parents made me take swim lessons when I was like 5 or 6 years old at the Y in Ohio and I was able to tread water for survival, but had never swam. Obviously this creates some serious challenges for an aspiring triathlete.
I also didn’t own a bike. The last bike I remember owning was a gold and black Huffy that Wes Bickel stole out of my garage and threw in the quarry by my house in like 4th or 5th grade. Wait, I owned a sweet sky blue Huffy ten speed that I totaled at some point around like 7th or 8th grade. That bike was rad.
Anyway, so I couldn’t swim laps and didn’t own a bike. So what is the next logical thing to do? That’s right, register for two races, one being in late March. Each year, the MAP Triathlon is the kickoff event of the NC Triathlon Series. There are close to 900 participants across a lot of categories, from Elite to Novices, Age Groupers, you name it.
Mid-January, I ran into a guy named Brandon at a birthday party that I had met on a couple of previous occasions through this mutual friend. He had just finished his season of triathlon. We got to talking and I explained to him my triathlon ambitions. I explained I’d never swam and he agreed this posed a problem to my goal. He was quick to refer me to a book and DVD called “Triathlon Swimming Made Easy” by Terry McLaughlin, founder of a swim school and technique called Total Immersion. The guys house where the party was hosted, he actually had a copy. I thought there was no way a book and DVD was going to make me a swimmer. And I was wrong.
Keep in mind that shortly before obtaining these tools, I had gone to the Y and attempted some laps. I could do three – count ‘em, three – without feeling like I was going to die. It was a tad frustrating to say the least. I decided to quit struggling and pick up the book and DVD. I read it in two sittings, watched the DVD a couple of times and was off to the pool to learn how to do it right.
Really long story short, in about a month I was swimming. I’m not sure how to explain it, but one day at the pool after doing the drills, it all came together. In one fluid motion, it hit me like a brick ‘yes, this is how you swim.’ Granted, I wasn’t fast (and am still not) but I felt like I could swim for days. So at least I wasn’t going to drown, which is always nice.
The next component was the bike. Ok, so shopping for a road/triathlon bike may be one of the most confusing, tedious, overwhelming, demoralizing and time consuming things I have ever done. Needless to say there are a lot of options - too many options, to be quite frank – and these options covered a price range from about $900 for something worth riding to oh about the price of one small child from China, which is roughly $8-9K if you weren’t aware how much a small child from China costs.
My buddy Nick and I looked long and hard for these bikes. He had no bike either (except a sweet Gary Fisher mountain bike, which comes into play later.) Eventually I ended up landing on a local bike shop called The Spirited Cyclist. They are a Cannondale, Giant and Look dealer.
I had ridden a ton of bikes during this search and had determined an all aluminum was just too stiff/rough for my liking, especially if I was going to be spending a bunch of time on it. I loved the all carbons, however they were just too far out of my price range. I also looooved some of the triathlon-specific bikes I had seen at various shops and online. But did I mention small child from China?
I landed on a Giant TCR-A1 that Ty and the guys at Spirited cut me a fantastic deal on, especially given that I had to get pedals, a helmet, shoes, etc, etc, etc, etc (there is a lot of stuff you have to get for cycling) etc, etc, etc and etc. I was all set up and ready to go. Nick scored a stellar deal on eBay on a Fuji all carbon. He had been eyeballing Fuji’s since day one. I was really glad he got one.
About the only thing lacking was a team and a name. Nick and I often joked about how we were getting into triathlon on a marathon budget (which is basically, well, shoes.) He rode his first few weeks on his new bike wearing his old, muddy Gary Fisher mountain bike helmet. It really didn’t look too bad, however Nick felt the need to alter it enough to look like a road helmet. So he removed the visor and peeled the G, S, H, E and R off the sides, leave simply ‘ARY FI.’ We loved it. We quickly became Team AryFi.
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