In my first installment I wrote about most of the ways I've sabotaged my race before the starting gun even fired. Most. Not all. How about the time I raced in Marseilles, a race where I was a special guest, a speaker, a sponsor, and I was DQd from that very race.

It's the only penalty I've ever gotten of any kind in a race, and this was for not paying enough attention to the rules, specifically where to attach race numbers.

I've screwed the pooch so many times this topic has to be an article series.

I once traveled to a century ride and forgot to bring my cycling shoes. I've flown to races without knowing whether the plane was large enough to take a bike. I've rented cars without thinking about whether the bike box would fit.

Now, you might expect that I'd know better by now. And I do. Some of the stuff I'm writing about occurred in the 1980s. One in the 1970s. I have shot my race in the head in each of 5 decades.

How have a crippled my race between before the end of the swim? Well, let's see. There was the Wildflower Long Course one year when I thought I'd get ahead on my hydration by drinking a lot in the days leading up to the race. I had to stop and pee 3 times during the bike ride (see related article on the trouble that can get you into).

Here are other rules of the road, each of which I've broken:

- Fancy transition technique. I don't think you ought to try to put your feet into your shoes while pedaling (see rubber-banded shoe set-up above) until you test it out, often, and get it down pat, before your race.

- Look before pulling out to pass: I'm very diligent about pass on the left, ride on the right. Don't think that because you're a faster cyclist than those in front of you there's not a yet faster one behind you. (This is the lone case in this series where I didn't screw myself, rather when someone else screwed me.)

- Don't be so aero on the bike you ride your bike like you open-water swim. I've got a plate holding my clavicle together because I “sighted” every 8 or so pedal strokes. The picture of me here is a couple of miles before that happened and is one of those (too rare) moments where I was looking straight ahead. You can look down a bit and below is a very common shot from photographers shooting big races, like the Ironman in Kona, like any big-time time trial in cycling. We see riders looking down a lot, but if you're looking down you're not looking ahead. This took me out and it's taken out a lot of people I know.

- Too deep a front wheel: Anybody can handle a 30mm-deep wheel. Most can handle 40mm. Many can handle 60mm. Once you get to 80mm or 90mm, that's a wheel that's going to catch a lot of air. You don't even need to have wind for it to catch air. Trucks driving past. The wind that hits the side of the wheel on a fast descent in the normal course of steering. I do not recommend racing anything deeper than 60mm on the front unless you've ridden it in training under a lot of conditions. Rear? That's less a problem. Ride the 80mm on the rear. The front is the issue.

- No sealant: I would rethink the strategy of riding without a sealant in your wheels. We have on Slowtwitch articles on sealant. It's not going to fix every flat, but it's going to fix some of them.

- The straw: People can disagree over this, but I prefer to leave the straw on the valve, leave the presta valve open, and if it all works right just leave it alone.

- Spare tube must match wheel: Yes, I've flatted, gotten the spare tube out, and realized the valve wasn't long enough to poke out the inside of the race rim. Not to worry! Just take off the straw (valve extender) and put it on the spare tube. That's fine, unless it doesn't seal. My advice: Put a proven, sealed, straw-affixed, tube in your spare bag or box, and make double sure it's long enough for whichever wheel might flat.

I've got more! We're just scratching the surface of my list of self-sabotaged races? But that should sustain you until the next installment arrives.