Bryan Frank in action. (Photo by Jay Frank)

It is the middle of the night and triathlete Bryan Frank wakes up to the sound of hissing in his bedroom. Earlier that day he had changed the front tubes on both his road bike and his time-trial bike and one of them had started to go flat.

“When I realized what it was, I was like, ‘What the hell?’ I didn’t even get to ride on that tube,” Frank says. “And despite what people say, I don’t sleep with my bikes, they were just in my bedroom.”

Later that day, when he was 30 miles into his bike ride, the second bike went flat as well. Two flat tires in one day.

The bikes are lucky to find a spot among Frank’s gear as his apartment looks like multiple athletes are in residence with bikes, running shoes, cycling shoes, sports clothing, bibs and caps scattered throughout the place. His favorite running shoe by Mizuno has been discontinued and he has been buying them up on the internet and stashing them in his closet.

They are all necessities on the road that leads to his plans on Oct. 10. Frank will be living the dream that all triathletes dream; he will be competing in the 2015 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

After racing in qualifying Ironman events in Lake Placid in 2011 and Austria in 2013, Frank made the cut at the Chattanooga Ironman in Sept., 2014.

“Kona is the pinnacle of triathlon races and two years ago I never thought I would qualify,” said Frank shortly after the Chattanooga race.

In a race that turned up a dead body in the Tennessee River during the swim and a vandal who tossed oil and tacks on the course during the bike, Frank hung tough during the run to finish between a Russian athlete and a Danish athlete to clinch the fourth place spot.

Shortly after finishing, he headed to the recovery tent and was told that he had qualified for Kona. He scrambled to find his parents who had been cheering him on from the sidelines.

“My body started breaking down during the run and I began to feel my Kona dreams fading,” Frank says. “When I found my parents after the race, I was glad for the rain that was hiding my tears of joy.”

His final time was 9:36:17.

Frank, who works in biological research, is sponsored by Rose Physical Therapy and the Snapple Triathlon Elite Team. He is a Dallas native, has lived in the D.C. area since 2001, is the treasurer of D.C. Triathlon Club and is a member of its LGBT offshoot, TriOUT.

His life for the past 12 months has been pointed directly at the Kona race in two weeks.

Starting back in the early spring, he began a 17-week build with his training peaking at 18 hours per week and ending with a three week taper going into a race alongside his teammates in the Mont-Tremblant Ironman. That race was just last month.

Following that he did a short recovery training period, went back into a build and will taper to peak at the right time.

“My speed on the bike is good, my run pace is good and I feel good in the water,” Frank says.

The Kona course will be standard Ironman fare, a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile run. However, there will be 45 mph crosswinds, 95 degree temperatures, no shade and an unforgiving course. A little over 2,000 triathletes qualified for the race and roughly 200 more are brought in through a lottery. Ten percent of the athletes will not finish the race.

“It’s definitely not a race where I will be looking for a best time,” Frank says. “I want my friends to cheer me on at the finish line, not from the medical tent.”

In a nod to his sexuality, Frank will be bringing a pride flag to Kona and is planning to have a friend hand it to him when he is a half-mile from his run to the finish line.

“It is all starting to get real and I am really getting nervous. The world championships are a big stage for me to be playing on,” he says. “All the sacrifices have paid off. I have wanted this for a long time.”

The event will be streaming live on Universal Sports on Oct. 10 and the D.C. Triathlon Club will host a Kona viewing party on Nov. 14.