My First Long Course Tri -- Big Kahuna, Santa Cruz, CA
What can be said about Big Kahuna (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) but "bushy bushy blond hairdo, Surfin' USA"?
Well, maybe Swimmin' USA! The crazy, epic swim set the tone for the whole event: You weren't looking forward to it, but once you started it was so fun you did it anyhow! Just like in "Waiting for the Sun", standing there at dawn on Freedom's shore, we raced down to the sea.
Here's (roughly) the route -- 1.2 splashing miles past sea monsters and through swells big enough to obscure the marker buoys and make you feel like a human submarine:
Sighting in these conditions wasn't crazy hard but definitely a notch harder than I'd ever experienced. Basically, I realized that I needed to glance up a fair bit more or time my glances with the swells to avoid going off course. Here is one wave near the end of the pier on the way out to sea:
I did this one on a slightly funky foot, but it felt fine throughout the event (and still does). It was a little weaker than usual, which showed a bit. The 56 mile bike was a great tour of the striking coast there, with farms and wildlands alternating.
Above, I'm wearing regular biking shorts over my tri shorts . . . with chamois butter. Worked out well . . . until I forgot to take the bike shorts off for the run segment! Checklist time. Also, I'm over pinning my event number on! Those safety pins pop out too easily. I really wasted some time at transition-1 that way. It's race belt from now on.
Very unfortunately, two or more participants wiped out on the railroad tracks at Davenport. The race organizers did hold up their end of the bargain, warning everyone clearly beforehand. They are full-size tracks sunken in slots that cross Highway 1 at about a 45-degree angle.
You can guess how they cause bikes to wreck. I'd biked over them a couple times before, and had no problem when I set my wheel perpendicular to the tracks. As for getting CalTrans to do anything about the situation, it seems a fat chance. They certainly don't seem to have much built-in incentive to fix small problems around the state.
When I crossed the tracks on the return trip during Big Kahuna, I saw the second person I'd ever seen who had fallen there. And I've only crossed those tracks six times! He didn't look too bad, but was already in a neck brace. Thinking perhaps maybe something could even go wrong with the perpendicular approach, I slowed and practically walked across those voodoo tracks.
I made a surprisingly similar mistake on the run leg to the one I made the first time I tried an Olympic-distance tri: I didn't take enough electrolyte capsules, relying instead too much on Heed sports drink. I think that drink is great stuff, but it doesn't keep my muscles from cramping.
So I was slowed way down for the last four miles of the 13.1 mile run, but finished smiling at the soft-sand beach finish line in 6:26. The announcer was a classic tri finish line maven, so you couldn't help but laugh as he drawled out, in his best surfer, "Finishin' the Biiiiiiiiiiiig KaaaaaahUnnnAAAA!" Plus the soundtrack was great, with a good rage of "American Idiot". Even better, the post-event feed was stocked with top-notch burritos and more!
The five-foot carved-wood Tiki Man totem was in evidence at packet-pick up the day before the race, but mysteriously disappeared at about 5pm. We didn't see him again until the turn-around point on the run segment -- standing proud out on the coastal mesa! But then he reappeared later -- in the form of Hawaiian-style "bling" that we received upon crossing the finish line:
The lei is of artful artificial flowers, small glossy snail shells make up the necklace, and the medal is ceramic.
Also some serious funds for research on leukemia cures and leukemia treatment were raised by my Team in Training teammates. I did this tri with Team and Training as a Training Captain. So I was partially responsible for training my teammates, leading them (in a somewhat grinding Monday evening routine) through open-water swims with large stingrays in Bay lagoons.
It was all made possible in the first place by those individuals who generously donated fifteen, twenty-five, and a hundred bucks to my first tri this Spring! My employer double-matched that sum, and I went on to (I hope) make a contribution to getting many fundraising participants across the finish line in fine style this Summer season.
Also, our coaches were fantastic. I never would have done that big ocean swim without their training. So here's my thank you to my fundraising donors from Spring season and the coaches:
I did this one on a slightly funky foot, but it felt fine throughout the event (and still does). It was a little weaker than usual, which showed a bit. The 56 mile bike was a great tour of the striking coast there, with farms and wildlands alternating.
Above, I'm wearing regular biking shorts over my tri shorts . . . with chamois butter. Worked out well . . . until I forgot to take the bike shorts off for the run segment! Checklist time. Also, I'm over pinning my event number on! Those safety pins pop out too easily. I really wasted some time at transition-1 that way. It's race belt from now on.
Very unfortunately, two or more participants wiped out on the railroad tracks at Davenport. The race organizers did hold up their end of the bargain, warning everyone clearly beforehand. They are full-size tracks sunken in slots that cross Highway 1 at about a 45-degree angle.
You can guess how they cause bikes to wreck. I'd biked over them a couple times before, and had no problem when I set my wheel perpendicular to the tracks. As for getting CalTrans to do anything about the situation, it seems a fat chance. They certainly don't seem to have much built-in incentive to fix small problems around the state.
When I crossed the tracks on the return trip during Big Kahuna, I saw the second person I'd ever seen who had fallen there. And I've only crossed those tracks six times! He didn't look too bad, but was already in a neck brace. Thinking perhaps maybe something could even go wrong with the perpendicular approach, I slowed and practically walked across those voodoo tracks.
I made a surprisingly similar mistake on the run leg to the one I made the first time I tried an Olympic-distance tri: I didn't take enough electrolyte capsules, relying instead too much on Heed sports drink. I think that drink is great stuff, but it doesn't keep my muscles from cramping.
So I was slowed way down for the last four miles of the 13.1 mile run, but finished smiling at the soft-sand beach finish line in 6:26. The announcer was a classic tri finish line maven, so you couldn't help but laugh as he drawled out, in his best surfer, "Finishin' the Biiiiiiiiiiiig KaaaaaahUnnnAAAA!" Plus the soundtrack was great, with a good rage of "American Idiot". Even better, the post-event feed was stocked with top-notch burritos and more!
The five-foot carved-wood Tiki Man totem was in evidence at packet-pick up the day before the race, but mysteriously disappeared at about 5pm. We didn't see him again until the turn-around point on the run segment -- standing proud out on the coastal mesa! But then he reappeared later -- in the form of Hawaiian-style "bling" that we received upon crossing the finish line:
The lei is of artful artificial flowers, small glossy snail shells make up the necklace, and the medal is ceramic.
Also some serious funds for research on leukemia cures and leukemia treatment were raised by my Team in Training teammates. I did this tri with Team and Training as a Training Captain. So I was partially responsible for training my teammates, leading them (in a somewhat grinding Monday evening routine) through open-water swims with large stingrays in Bay lagoons.
It was all made possible in the first place by those individuals who generously donated fifteen, twenty-five, and a hundred bucks to my first tri this Spring! My employer double-matched that sum, and I went on to (I hope) make a contribution to getting many fundraising participants across the finish line in fine style this Summer season.
Also, our coaches were fantastic. I never would have done that big ocean swim without their training. So here's my thank you to my fundraising donors from Spring season and the coaches:
Comments
All in all, you can't beat the spirit of Santa Cruz! There are three or so Surf Cities in California: Santa Barbara, Huntington Beach, and Santa Cruz. But Santa Cruz is definitely the stand-out!