The race day checklist

Everything you do now is something you cannot forget at 04:30.

• Timing chip somewhere you cannot leave without itNo chip, no result. Put it on the door handle, not in a bag.Essential
• Bike checked inMany long races take the bike the day before. Some short ones do not. Your guide says which.
• Transition bags handed inWhere a race uses them, they usually close the evening before.
• Bottles mixed and in the fridge
• Kit laid out in the order you put it on
• Watch, bike computer and lights charging
• Breakfast ready to go
• Two alarmsTip
• Read the athlete guide once moreCut-offs, bag colours and the morning close are all in there, and they change year to year.Tip
• Tyres checked, tubes and CO2 packedTip
• Add your own task

The hallway check. Everything here is free to fix now and expensive to fix later.

• Timing chip onEssential
• Race numberEssential
• Photo ID or race licenceSome events check at registration or at the gate. Cheap to bring, expensive to miss.
• Morning nutrition and a bottle
• Wetsuit, goggles, cap
• Floor pump
• Phone, and something to carry it in
• Spare gogglesTip
• A throwaway layer for the waitTip
• Add your own task

You have less time here than you think, and the queues get longer every minute.

• Bike on your own rack numberEssential
• Tyres pumped
• Bottles on the bike
• Bike in an easy gear for the mount line
• Nutrition loaded where you can reach it riding
• Helmet and shoes laid out the way you want to find them
• Bike computer on and pairedTip
• Count the racks to your bike, and find a landmarkTip
• Toilet before the queue buildsTip
• Morning bag dropped before it closesWhere a race takes one, this is a hard deadline. Check the time in the guide.
• Add your own task

The last twenty minutes. Nothing here needs thinking about, which is the point.

• Wetsuit on with time to spareWetsuit legality is decided by the officials on the day from the measured water temperature, not by the forecast.
• Body glide on neck and anklesTip
• Goggles under the capTip
• Warm up in the water if the race allows itSome events open the water beforehand, many do not.Tip
• Find your start pen or seed time
• Sight the first buoy from the beachTip
• Add your own task

T1. The one place where a rule you already know gets forgotten in the adrenaline.

• Helmet fastened BEFORE you touch the bikeStandard across the sport, and enforced. Unbuckling before the bike is racked usually counts the same way. Your race rules are the authority.Essential
• Wetsuit fully off and in the right place
• Race number as the race wants it on the bikeSome events want it visible on the bike, some only on the run.
• Settle first, then start eatingTip
• Drink early, before you are thirstyTip
• Add your own task

T2, and the first kilometre that decides the rest of the day.

• Bike racked before the helmet comes offEssential
• Race number to the front
• Start slower than feels rightTip
• Take the first aid station even if you do not want itTip
• Add your own task

You are not done until your bike is out of transition.

• Collect your morning bag
• Bike and bags out before transition closes
• Eat something in the first half hourTip
• Write down one thing you would do differentlyTip
• Add your own task