Three days to Enea Bydgoszcz Triathlon. Three days to my first triathlon in five years — and instead of a calm countdown, I have a bike that may not even be race-ready. The closer the start gets, the longer the list of problems becomes: equipment, disrupted training, a strained calf and the old uncertainty around open-water swimming. I am still packing the car on Saturday and heading to Bydgoszcz.
This article preserves my perspective from July 2026 — the final days before the race — as episode two of the Road to Ironman 2027 project.
In the first Road to Ironman 2027 episode, I made the big target public: a full-distance race in Italy in 2027 and an ambitious attempt to break ten hours. Before I can think seriously about the full Ironman, I need an honest benchmark. The half-distance race in Bydgoszcz will show me where I really am after five years away from triathlon racing.
The new Felt was supposed to bring calm, consistent training
I bought a new bike in May. The Felt was meant to be the machine that would carry me towards the Ironman dream. I moved the carbon wheels across from my road bike because they looked better and were simply the better set. That was when the complications began. The rim brakes were completely different from what I knew, and I could not open them far enough.
I wanted to ride immediately, so I did something I would not recommend to anyone: I filed down the brake pads. Unevenly. It was a temporary fix and, for a while, it worked. My first ride was on 30 May — only 30 kilometres, in the rain. The bike felt light and fast. My position did not feel nearly as good.
Forward visibility was poor. Looking up the road forced me to bend my neck sharply, leaving me with serious neck and lower-back pain after the ride. My foot also went numb. I had experienced that on the road bike too, which made one thing clear: changing bikes alone would not solve it.
The bike fit brought hope — then something snapped again
On 15 June, I had a bike fit with Krzysztof at BMC Lab in Mikołów. It was exactly the right decision. After the assessment and position changes, almost everything began to make sense. I thought the adjustments were finally behind me and normal training could begin.
Then I discovered that I did not have the correct bolts to secure the aero extensions properly. Once I bought them, the front-derailleur cable snapped. The bike went into the workshop and stayed there for a week and a half, precisely when every session on the time-trial bike mattered.
I switched to the gravel bike. A gravel ride is better than no ride, but it cannot prepare the body for 90 kilometres in the aero position in quite the same way. My last ride before the fitting was on 13 June; I did not get back on the Felt until 29 June.
After collecting the bike, I managed five rides and several short brick sessions. Confidence was beginning to return. Then, during the final test ride, the very same cable snapped again. When I recorded the story three days before the race, I was without the bike once more. It was due back on Friday, one day before I left.
This article contains affiliate links. If you use a partner banner, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Running offers some calm, but no guarantee
Compared with the bike problems, running is going reasonably well. I strained my calf and occasionally feel discomfort at the back of the leg, so I had to ease off for a while. I am not turning that into a diagnosis, and there is no fitness to gain three days before a race. The useful choice now is simply to avoid making it worse.
Running is my strongest discipline. If I can get through the swim and complete the bike leg without drama, I hope I will still be able to make up time on the final stage. At the same time, I remember that my previous race in Bydgoszcz unfolded very differently from what I expected.
The biggest opponent is waiting in the water
Swimming is the greatest unknown. It has always been difficult for me, and open water can strip away my composure far faster than a pool. During a race in Katowice, I came close to stopping. I continued, but the memory stayed with me.
One week before Bydgoszcz, I put on a wetsuit and returned to open water for the first time in five years. I chose the hottest spell and went to Trzy Stawy in Katowice, where the water was very warm and shallow in places. After one kilometre, I had had enough. I wanted to get out earlier, too, but knew that doing so would send me to Bydgoszcz with an even heavier mental burden.
I stayed and finished the session. I would not call it a good swim, but that day I won more of a battle with my own head than with the distance. The next attempt was slightly better. My pace was still well below pool pace, but the tension began to ease. At that stage, that mattered most.
The target is sub-five, even though nothing feels certain
My previous triathlon was also in Bydgoszcz, five years earlier, when I finished in roughly 5 hours 26 minutes. This time I would love to break five hours. Is that realistic? Honestly, I do not know. The swim is a major unknown, the bike must first return from the workshop and work properly, and my legs still need to cooperate at the end.
I am not going to Bydgoszcz with a guarantee of a good result. I am going to discover what all those months of preparation are really worth.
That is what my countdown looks like: far from ideal, full of problems and question marks. But that is also sport. There is never a guarantee that the plan will survive all the way to the start line. You work with what you have, then decide whether you are still willing to stand on that line.
In a few days, I will have the answer
On Sunday, I will give it everything. First, I need to get through the water. Then I have to trust the bike. If my legs cooperate, I will try to run the way I know I can. When it is over, I want to be able to say one thing: it was worth it.
This is episode two of the Road to Ironman 2027. If you want to follow the training, mechanical failures, races and lessons, stay with me for the next chapter.