Wednesday I leave for Brazil. The race is called Fast Triathlon, or Triatlo Rapido. Last year Team USA placed third behind Brazil and Canada. Now, I won’t go into all the excuses we had for getting third, like me deciding not to eat for two weeks, Victor being a full time law student and Matt crashing during the first round of the race, but I will say, the team of Victor Plata, Matt Chrabot and myself will be returning to Brazil this year and doing much better.
My itinerary is this: Wednesday afternoon I fly to Dallas, where I get on a flight with Matt and Victor to Sao Palo on the red eye to arrive Thursday morning at the race site in Guarujá, which is driving distance from Sao Palo. The race is Sunday February 1st, and the rest of the 18 man field will leave that night. I, however, am staying in Brazil until the 9th of February so that I can race in the Santos International Triathlon on the 8th.
On the 9th I fly to Honolulu, rather than Seattle, where I will live and train through the end of March.
This is why packing is taking me a long time to do. I have a week and a half in Brazil, two months in Hawaii, and likely four races on my Calendar before I get back to Seattle. If I want to minimize shipping costs, I would be wise to make sure I have the everything I need. If I want to maximize my ability to get from destination to destination by myself, I would be wise not to over pack.
Hi Ben, if you need any assistance down here in Santos-Brazil, please feel free to get in contact. I live here, will race Internacional and my house is 2 blocks from transition area and the beach. Last year Ben Samson stayed here with Manny Huerta and told me that this year he would race Santos course again. Just read your name on a press release I received about the Fast Triathlon and 2 days before found your blog and added to my favorites, great coincidence!
Safe travels Ben. Can’t wait to hear about this race. I’m sure you’ll be happy in Brazil where all I think you need to wear is a thong. That should make packing pretty easy for you. Make sure to bring some Kswiss stuff and no 1/2 ton of chard the week of the race please.