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 Swim
Comments: Bunch of real fast guys this year, so I don't feel too badly about not coming out of the water faster. Considering the course variability, my pace may actually have been faster. Top 3 women out isn't bad, either. :) And we sure had some swell and waves this year! Navigation to buoys was awesome but for some reason I kept allowing the current to drift me on the final leg in. Super dash out of the water and up the sand to chip swipe, though. Nobody passed me. :) This race has too many competitors (many of whom are flying in from very far), is too top-class, and offers far too much in terms of top-rate weekend events to act like a hokey family affair, including 1) vastly and inconsistently overmeasuring the swim course every year, and 2) not making sure all the competitors begin from the same start line. We were spread all over the beach, so the racers who followed the rules and began in between the start gates were at a significant disadvantage. What would you do differently?: "Cheat" and begin in the water in a direct line to the buoy like the rest of the front pack. Really push the line to the first buoy--you're not gonna die, Yanti, it just feels like it. I need to train running at high speed into the water to really be able to follow the front pack.  Transition 1
Comments: (time includes my beloved 800m coral-studded sloping soft-sand run to T1) I don't own a watch, I figure that was maybe 7-8 min or so, so my actual time getting on the bike and going was decent. Considering I have done ZERO run training this year, never mind on this kind of surface, I'm happy. Super thumbs-up for volunteers giving out water at the end of the swim--really needed it. What would you do differently?: Seeing how blown I was after sprinting out of the water (walked the first 100m or so of the run), I would have been better off (from a whole-race, not just swim-split perspective) doing a steady run out of the water and for the rest of the run.  Bike
Comments: I'm trying to think of any good things I can say about the bike leg. The bike out and in surrounding transition were well-monitored and managed, especially considering there were chip swipes fore and aft. I felt there were enough signs (boards and road markings), volunteers, official and local police on course to indicate directions, including differences between Oly and Sprint routes. (I do know some athletes got misdirected; this happens in many races and ultimately the athlete should know the course, and remember there's every opportunity to view/ride/drive/ask questions about it beforehand. I don't know if the misdirection was widespread or how much of it could really have been mitigated by better race management.) Everything else was utter madness. I rode this course last year. The madness was manageable, and I wrote it off as technical difficulties of adding the inaugural sprint course. I have ridden a lot in open Indonesian traffic and I drive in it every day. On this day, the road conditions were 2-3x as bad as last year. The traffic was easily twice as bad as last year, and so was the course control. Add all that up = disaster. On a normal day, traffic sucks and it's dangerous. But there's a flow and an unwritten set of rules which more or less work. Now, you put serious stress on this flow by blocking off two lanes of the area's only major road, add a bunch of rules which none of the motorists know, throw in a bunch of cops/volunteers who to be fair can't possibly manage any of this, oh, and did I forget the few hundred fast-moving cyclists? and you've got a situation which is far worse than just riding hard in regular crappy traffic and which is in NO WAY suitable for a race. I was screaming most of the way, probably unwise, since that causes motorists to look at where the yelling is from and therefore steer in that direction. On the other hand, some gave me the tiniest bit of room to move through, or did correct to avoid me by centimeters. Or totally ignore me. Couple of nice pics during one of the few clear stretches (but notice I'm still surrounded by motorbikes, although yep, I'm going fast and moving ahead of them).   This is how my bike race went. Looking at the race results and considering the conditions and everything that happened, I was HAMMERING this course. Anytime I was moving, it was FAST. I also have very good bike handling skills, and this put me at an advantage on a difficult and ridiculous course. Felt good, redlining it, pacing was excellent. Had to do a lot of weaving in and out of traffic and crossing lanes because of motorists that completely ignored the supposedly-closed off lanes and instructions of police at intersections. Other than that, I don't remember too much except what follows. On two occasions, I had to come to a dead stop because there was a wall of traffic in front of me and wait from one to several minutes for there to be a clear passage through (which a bunch of motorbikes would zoom through first anyway). On a sprint course, that's a helluva lot of stoppage time (not to mention slowing and getting back up to speed time). #1 Motorcyle hits me from the rear (just a wheel clip) when I slow down at an intersection. I fishtail and crash off the bike, but it's minor--quickly get back on and up to speed, but it's annoying. #2 I think I was approaching another intersection, but I don't remember. (I don't recall either flying over the median when the accident happened or walking back over a median afterward, which is why I think it was an intersection with no median, but I might have. Just don't know). I do remember the through lane for cyclists is clear, and I believe I slowed down anyway--another reason it was probably at an i'section. (You never know what's coming from all the other directions of the intersection and there are often people driving on the wrong side of the road anyway). Right then, a motorcyle cuts in front of me, cutting me off, and I have to lay on the brakes. I remember skidding sideways, hitting part of the motorcycle, and I saw on my right side a taxi approaching at me at speed (had probably driven into the 'clear' lane to move ahead of traffic as well). Impact. All I remember is screaming at the top of my lungs, and ending up (through a bunch of vehicles, don't recall and don't know how) on the other side of the Bypass where a large loaded truck was coming at me. I remember landing on my bike, on my side. I don't remember my head hitting anything (though later clearly it had) or how long I was on the road. The truck had stopped. I picked myself and my bike up, looked around, and saw something I'd never seen before and probably never will again. All traffic, in every direction, had come to a complete stop, and there was utter silence. No revving, no honking. There may have been police or others standing on or by the road, but I don't remember seeing them or hearing them. I limped back across four lanes of traffic to the far left; it was like one side of my body just wasn't working. In my head I was swearing very loudly and it may have been out loud, too. Nobody, not one motorist, moved. (Not even to help, oh well, and that's also why I think maybe there weren't police or volunteers there, or maybe they were busy holding up traffic. Or maybe it really wasn't an intersection.) I began to limp up the road with my bike. It was wheeling, and I was moving and not visibly bleeding, so I just kept going. But that's when the pain hit. My whole side, head, neck, all the way down to my foot, was in abject, utter pain, hitting a sharp peak with each step. So I got back on the bike (it didn't occur to me to stop. I was in shock but also angry and full of adrenaline, so I blasted it on the bike, trying to stomp away the pain and frustration, and screaming at any vehicle on the course (not other bikes) the whole way back. The road off the Bypass and back to transition was totally jammed with vehicles on the left, so I booked it down the wrong side (others cyclists and motorbikes were doing the same) to move forward. As I approached the entrance to the Intercontinental resort (where transition is), Brennan is screaming at me to SLOW DOWN! (whaddaya MEAN, I just got started again, dammit!) but of course I should and I do. OH LOOK, I GOT A BIKE PR ON THIS COURSE! (rolls eyeballs) Apparently, completely untrained + out of shape + crashes >>> somewhat trained + dengue fever. What would you do differently?: On the one hand, I should have ridden my AWESOME SISTER SHERPA's mountain bike, treated it like a scenic (scenes of the jammed highway?) Sunday ride, and 100% just lollygagged and pedalled along. Preferably in flip-flops. On the other hand, that may have created just as much havoc, since no Sunday morning beach cruiser in their right mind would go out on the Bypass with it looking like that. I'm glad I didn't train and essentially had no stake in this race. 'Cause then I would be REALLY pissed. Transition 2
Comments: If you look at my legs in this picture, you can see that I am RUNNING that bike in across the lawn to transition. Still mad, still moving, still on momentum.  I think my AWESOME SISTER SHERPA caught the exact moment when I am taking off on the run and as the pain really hit again.  What would you do differently?: Not much. I might try Yankz or an instant shoelace system for short runs and short races, though.  Run
Comments: SUPER. SUCK. EVERY. STEP. Ever done a race where it felt like you were being hit with a baseball bat every step? StepSUCK stepSUCK stepSUCK stepSUCK motherfu ... well, you get the idea. Pictures are worth a thousand words and since you've already suffered the thousand words ... here they are. My AWESOME SHERPA SISTER ran with me out of transition, repeating over OMIGODAREYOUOKAYAREYOUSUREYOUAREOKAYBECAREFULTAKEITEASY ... I just kept mumbling and ignoring her until she finally said, "Can you PLEASE just look at me and smile so I know you're OKAY!!!" ===>  See, I'm not (merely) crazy. First pic, you clearly see a motorcycle cutting up the side of the road and coming up behind me. Not fun. Second pic, the line of runners has been diverted to running in the middle of the road up the wrong side (because it's actually clear there and therefore theoretically safer) ... and there are still motorcycles cutting out of the line of traffic to go up the wrong side of the road ... where the runners happen to be running.   Look, if I wanted to suck diesel during the run, I'd just hang out in Jakarta and run behind a Metro Mini. My face pretty much says it all, right here.  My AWESOME SHERPA SISTER followed me on the bike much of the way to make sure I was, and stayed, okay (or at least upright). Hence all the run pics. She also kept ringing the cowbell (we ALWAYS need more cowbell!) and yelling encouragement. I may not have had the heart to finish this race if it weren't for her. <3 <3 <3 Although I walked a bit and had to stop and lean against a tree a few times, I was in so much pain that walking vs running didn't make much of a difference, so I'm proud to have run most of this course anyway. (How you do that and still have a 47 min 5K, I don't know).  SO MANY awesome piglets really suffering and pushing it in their own runs made the effort to cheer me on. THANK YOU. I think I managed a few "hang loose" hand gestures, wish it were more! You all really kept me going. I would love to highlight every athlete who made this race for me, but you can just go to the Results list and read that. :) As I made the turn into Four Seasons road--500m or less to go, I think? my AWESOME SHERPA SISTER screaming and cowbelling all the way--I saw someone running maybe 10-20m ahead. I don't know what came over me, but at the end of a shitty race for me, I needed to step on the gas. So I focused on her, kicked it in, and a few seconds later I zoomed past. On the one hand, Lydia, I'm sorry. :) On the other hand, you inspired me to go for it, and it made you pursue and go faster, too. Running down the finishing chute with Lydia hot on my heels, and my finisher's pic:   What would you do differently?: More than 30min run training in the last year would be a good idea. Post race
Warm down: Chilled towel, icewater sponge, Hydro, and water at the finish line is AWESOME. Thank you.  I also got in the water and paddled and floated. That felt a LOT better than being on land. I don't really remember the whole sequence of events, but Mountain Bike Piglet Matthew (here we are) took me to the med tent (treatment and handling was excellent. Kudos to Bali Inter Medical Center). That's a pained smile if I ever saw one, though.  Speaking of piglets again ... :) Reza Puspo, fearless leader of Indo Runners, gets half the country running.  I had a bunch of odd wounds that only started bleeding after the race-- here, back of neck, shoulder, side, elbow ...  I kept telling everyone I was fine--I really felt much better without all that biking and running--even though the medics had told me to go directly to the hospital, NOW, do not pass go, do not collect your transition gear, and only let me leave because I insisted my sister would take me directly there. I lied, on both counts. On the other hand, it's not like I got to cheer all my friends in like I wanted to or was able to hang out for the after-race beach party. I did get to see the awards (YAY! I made it in before the awards) mainly because I just could not get going back to the transition area. Couldn't move. My AWESOME SHERPA SISTER had already gone there and packed all my stuff up and put it in my car. I finally got going and made it a couple hundred meters down the beach when I just couldn't go anymore, not an ounce of adrenaline left, not one joule of energy, the pain was so bad I was getting dizzy (or the concussion, or both), and I just sat down on the beach and cried. I don't ever cry from pain. And it just made it worse. All of a sudden there was someone sitting next to me, talking to me and asking if I were okay and what happened and what could she do. And that someone happens to be a race piglet, and a doctor (what are the chances?!), and bearing gifts of ... morphine. :) :) :) You are absolutely my race angel and were it not for you, I would have had an inconceivably miserable rest of my race day instead of just an utterly miserable one. And I was able to make it off that beach, and meet my sister at my car, and who should have shown up but my brother too!!! How awesome!  Dirty melons!  (Of course this race report has pace booty and melon shots in it. When doesn't it?) My awesome sherpa siblings made sure the two bikes and all my other crap got shoved in the car.  And they took me out to lunch! Yum! (For comparison, later that evening at the post-race party ... wait ... I look exactly the same whether beaten and drenched from a race and drugged up, or gussied up for an evening out. WTF?)   So I even made it to the post-race sunset and evening cocktail party at the Ayana resort (we're talking like six-star diamond resort here). The place is like Jurassic Park trying to get to.  While this event cost $25, that gets you free-flow beer, wine, soft drinks and all-you-can-eat delicious little canapes for hours. Mostly, I just sat around. Morphine helps, but it doesn't wipe out three bruised ribs, a head knock, and a long, painful day. But I wasn't going to pass up free entry to the Rock Bar, the island's ritziest and most stunning bar (on an island where ritzy and stunning bars abound and viciously compete). It's built into a cliff face with the surf crashing up on giant offshore rocks.  The only way to get to it is using their Skybox (like a big open lift or cable car on rails) or walking down 141 rock-hewn steps. Needless to say, I passed on the steps. We also got a free cocktail (since they run $15 there, that's considerable). Unfortunately, they seemed incapable of producing a mocktail (I don't drink alcohol), and there were some problems with service (when we were actually paying for further drinks/snacks. Two separate groups I hung out with encountered that, so it wasn't just a one-off, but in any case not so cool for a paradise island's supposedly supermax destination and a major first-time race sponsor). My part of this race report always ends with a dog and my tri stuff drying out, but since I've also become a crazy cat lady in the the meantime ... here are Biscuits and DogBait crunching on lunch while my bike shoes dry on the mountain bike handles. :)  What limited your ability to perform faster: 1. A year of dengue, chikungunya (like dengue, but worse), typhoid fever, and pneumonia = almost no training, low energy, seriously out of shape. 2. An excess of overzealous motorists coupled with lack of course control on the bike. Event comments: It was the best of times and the worst of times. As for the parties, people, perks, setting, group training to get to know the course, (all included in ridiculously reasonable race fees!), all the things I've focused on in this report--the incomparably and inimitably BEST of times. As for registration, packet pickup, and course management and safety--the WORST of times, and I'm lucky to be alive. You average those two out and unfortunately, this race rates as 3/5 this year. If I'd actually trained and had a dog in this fight, and RACE itself really mattered to me--which IS the triathlon, after all--we'd be looking at a 2/5. Sigh. On the other hand ... I know each of you, I absolutely adore you, and I know how much blood, sweat, and tears you put into this race. Brennan even offers his wife Michelle as a sacrifice to work (for free) at this race. I know you did the best you can, and I know you understand how crazy it was out there. I know that much was beyond your control, but as the race organizers and directors, control or not, it's still your responsibility. The bottom line is that if you want to be an international standard triathlon and keep attracting international competitors as a destination tri, you have got to make some changes. And I know you know that far better than I. Brennan and Andreas, the RDs ... THANK YOU so much for checking up on me personally after the race and in the days after, multiple times, and making sure I was getting along all right. It means a lot to me. Last updated: 2011-06-23 12:00 AM
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Indonesia
Bali International Triathlon LLC
85F / 29C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 96/110
Age Group = F 30-39
Age Group Rank = 16/19
WARNING/AWAS! THERE HAS BEEN REPEATED SERIOUS DISREGARD FOR ATHLETE SAFETY AND NEEDS ON THIS COURSE IN PRIOR YEARS WHICH HAS NOT BEEN ADDRESSED AND RESULTED IN NUMEROUS ATHLETES INJURED OR UNABLE TO FINISH THE RACE. TAKE CAUTION IN SIGNING UP FOR THIS RACE UNTIL ORGANISERS HAVE PUBLISHED SPECIFIC AND DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT CORRECTING THESE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS.
The best parts about this race (better than any triathlon in the world and for the price, incomparably so) are the events surrounding it--a four-day funfest with old and new best friends from around the world ... TWENTY-SEVEN countries represented this time!
The worst parts are also in this report, but I've tucked them all over so you'll just have to suffer through the usual overenthusiastic but well-photographed epic.
P.S. It is ALL ABOUT the PIGLETS. If you do not know what a piglet is, read on. Or just keep enjoying the pretty pictures.
Thursday
I drive down my little hill to Jimbaran Bay (tri site) to put some swim mileage in--I've got the Bali Ocean Swim 10K coming up in a couple of weeks! I don't own a watch, so when I exit the water, what should I spy with my little eye but a TRI PIGLET ... I ask him what the time is. We begin to talk, and thus launches another inimitable Bali Triathlon weekend. His name is MATTHEW and he's a KIWI. (Don't forget this, like I did ...)
Friday
MORNING
I had every intention to come and ride the bike course (as part of the organized activities for the tri) ... except my bike wouldn't get out of the big ring! Sigh ... as Robb, one of the ROs said, "Yanti! You had a year to get your bike in order ..." (hey, you guys also had a year to figure out onsite registration, packet pickup, and the swim, bike, and run courses). But in any case, the famous and perhaps best part of the Bali Tri is the annual BIKE and ATHLETE BLESSING, and I wouldn't miss that even if I were missing a whole bike.
As I drive up to the race venue, what should I spy with my little eye but PIGLET PACE BOOTY!!!!! Two! They were finishing up the group course ride.
Entering Coconut Grove, there's Andreas, the RD, all gussied up for the blessing and snapping away. Security is tight, and that's one of the many things this race does very well.
May the blessings begin.
Time to get wrapped in the sacred sarong and sash!
Piglets on mats!
When I see piglets, I zoom in. So I plop myself down next to a particularly juicy specimen and introduce myself ... I get a rather wry smile and "You don't remember me?" OH DRAT! It's MATTHEW the KIWI! I told you not to forget that! He wound up being an integral part of the weekend, the whole way through to the very end when I was meeting my sister at transition well after the race. See you next year, Matthew, if I'm there. :)
Robb circles the good offerings to make sure the gods will be pleased. (Or is this The Gods Must Be Crazy deal?)
Holy people (note: not me) prepare the offerings.
Ommmmm shanti shanti ommmmm yanti yanti, wait, no, shanti--oh look! Unbelievable cuteness! Brennan, the RD from LA, taking a picture of his kid who I think is pretending to take a picture of him while I take a picture of them. Got that?
And this day is also Brennan's "Tri-Geezer" 40th birthday! Happy Over-the-Hill Hump Birthday--it's all downhill from here! (Hey, if you're a triathlete, that's good, right?)
Each of us gets our own little woven-leaf basket offering. Mmmm, Kiwi piglet arms ...
The blessings, Yanti, the blessings! A priest sprinkles us with holy water while others go around to all the bikes, tying offerings to them.
One of the blessed ladies gave me a sacred offering banana afterward. Holy yummies! Usefulness #37 of a helmet: lunch holder :). You can see the woven-leaf offerings tied to my bike in this pic, too.
The best part of this race (okay, well, all the good parts are the best) are its participants. My new best friends Matthew and Milana I met at the blessings, and what marvellous blessings we would become to each other ...
Matthew rented a bike, but it had a broken derailleur. So I lent him my MTB with slicks for the race. He and Milana were grateful for this, and a couple little things like making local calls for them, but in triathlon, it all flows around. What people have done for me in this sport is uncountable, and in this case, it would come directly back to me from them ...
Here's a Rodalink (LBS) piglet preparing my bike for Matthew. By the way--the bike piglets ROCK and what you pay for service is ludicrously low, like what you'd spend for beer or pizza in the U.S. to tip them.
I had my road bike serviced (couldn't get it out of the big ring, remember?), and as a finishing touch, TWO piglets worked hard to attach my Lucky Dory horn (from Finding Nemo). Success!
Bali Tri has always strongly pulled for local involvement (instead of simply resting on its laurels as a Best Destination tri). And especially this year, while the Australians dominated as usual (those silly Aussies and their triathlon pre-eminence at all levels! ha! ;) ), there was excellent Indonesian representation in the awards. Here are several members of the Indonesian Marine Corps' triathlon team. They are very serious and running around and doing calisthenics all the time or staring very intently at the ocean. I think I got a hint of a smile out of one of them here. :)
And EAST JAVA has a triathlon club! Who knew??? Bali Tri Club, we WILL get the ball rolling this year ... no really, never mind last year and the year before ... 2012 is Year of the Bali Tri Club! Here I am with some of the East Java tri piglets. (Remember that "piglet" is a gender and age neutral term. Anyone can be a piglet, provided they have pigletude. And that is in the heart. These ones don't hurt on camera, either.)
AFTERNOON
I love this part! The group swim! This year they had two, one on Friday and one on Saturday, which is splendidly wise since most triathletes fear the swim the most, and many were swimming in a race in the ocean for the first time.
Here is Brennan explaining the course and the conditions to the athletes. I really miss his lime-green with hot-pink skulls Speedo.
We also practiced exiting the water and did the long-ass soft-sand beach run up to transition to see what it was like. I should say "they"; I walked it. A late piglet ran by me and asked, "Saving your legs for the race?" I answered, "I've been saving my legs for years, why stop now?"
They actually put the buoys out for the swims, which I think is mighty big of them. That means they also have to put them away. Pretty pictures... pretty piglets. The one dragging the kayak is Brennan; the other is ... Matthew the Kiwi Piglet! (Not to be confused with Matthew the Mountain Bike Piglet).
Scouting the swim course once again to see just how long it can really be made. ;)
But enough about this sporting stuff--we must party party party! On to the sunset cocktail party at the Four Seasons race headquarters villa complex!
EVENING
Late registration is available. It was a touch worrisome that the two people behind the desk for late reg seemed to have absolutely no clue how to register for the race, much less how to register someone else for the race. Good thing a clued-in person was available to step in and that there weren't very many people registering late.
Brennan looking very official. Roman too. Both these handsome young--well, Roman is still young--piglets head up some seriously high-powered sports events companies, and they absolutely look the part here, don't they? Roman took 2nd OA in the Sprint.
What a beautiful and elegant setting. And juicy piglets bearing booze, bubblies, and five-star canapes ... WHAT RACE GIVES YOU THIS???
Speaking of piglets ... this race has the HOTTEST ANNOUNCERS ever. Here I am with Rebecca, one announcer, and the other is Conrad, the right of the two lovely boys, whom I knew in LA from the Tri Club and also our annual Holiday Speedo Charity Run. Jingle jingle ;). (The left is Bryan, also from LA, and wickedly speedy.) Look, we just have and host the hottest of everything here in Bali. It's not called Island of the Bods for nothing. Oh wait ... Island of the Gods. Same thing, maybe!
Enormous carved stone dragon (one of several, and just a tiny part of the stunning grounds) at the Intercontinental Resort (one of the race sponsors). I am a dragon. I have this type of dragon tattooed on my thigh, too. And the dragon is Indonesia's national beast.
Am I ever gonna get to the damned starting line and race, already?!? To be honest, the race itself was a real low point, so I'd like to focus more on the good. But it's kinda important, ultimately, for a triathlon to put on a good race, not just the best parties in the world with lots of free everything.
Saturday
I slept through the morning group run. Whoops. Made my way over in plenty of time for the second group swim, though. As I'm waiting for that, staring vacantly, one of the Darwinites asks me, "Too many beers last night?" (Do I really look that bad?) I shake my head and answer, "Nah, I'm just standing around looking stupid like I always do." The Darwinites group laughed and "Zoom Zoom" superhot redhead Michelle Mitchell replied, "Well then you'll fit right in with us!" Her husband's name is Mitch (Mitch and Michelle Mitchell, say that real fast five times) and he is a super sherpa. Not only did she three-peat her championship title this year, she was first OVERALL. ZOOM ZOOM!
As for the second group swim--thank you for putting the buoys out again--I got a wicked last-long-swim-before-10K in doing laps between them. Dash home, shower and change to come to packet pickup, race briefing and the athletes' banquet!
This year, theoretically, race packets (chip, numbers, program, banquet bracelet) were made up and arranged by division and alphabet so that athletes could just go to the appropriate line, where their large envelope was waiting in a box, grab it, supposedly be told to test their chip at the swipe (apparently this wasn't communicated so well), and then get their goodie bag/shirt at another tent. 5K registration was still open.
Although the self-packet pickup was an excellent improvement over previous years, unfortunately, theory didn't quite jibe with practice. I don't have time to tell everyone else's story (but I heard a lot of them, and I shouldn't have). There are always the inevitable handling snafus in every race, with athletes' fault vs. race organizers' fault balancing out, but they shouldn't constitute a significant portion of the entrants.
As for me ... no packet in the box. I waited for about 20min while they tried to figure out what might have happened to it. Anyone competent was getting ready to present at the race briefing, so those left behind at registration/pickup told me to come back after that was over.
I came back. (Remember that for the banquet, you need a bracelet, which is in the packet ... ) an hour's worth of waiting and snafu later (sent back and forth, had to re-register, etc. and more etc.), I DO have a race packet (whose chip shows me as an Olympic relay team, but I was assured that would be fixed by race time, and indeed it was). I do NOT have a bracelet (asked several more people and finally got one), a goodie bag, a race program (course maps and rules are helpful), or a T-shirt in a size that fits.
I'm really glad that other people's registration, packets and pickup got screwed up, too, otherwise I would have had to enjoy the truly outstanding banquet experience on my own. So let's get to the good parts again.
The athletes' banquet and race briefing--again, what a five-star setup. Linens for the tables and chairs. Glassware and silverware. Long, sumptuous buffets with plenty of fresh five-star food. :) Serving piglets :). This ain't no school-table spaghetti dinner.
Race briefing.
NOM NOM NOM. The food, and the ...
And these two, Jem and Nick, new and true friends--maybe the current edition of the Bali Tri has it right, and really it's about all the free-flow booze and not so much the race. ;)
And this is dearest Simone, my sister's bestie since and for ever--she did an awesome PR 10K as part of a relay! We both made it!!! Me a little worse for the wear ...
Sunset on Jimbaran Bay ... kids playing soccer, horsing around in the water ... this is the life, and triathlon, and this triathlon, is much of what makes it come alive. (Or take it away ... but we're getting to the bike course).
I actually went straight home. No partying, no piglets--just race prep and in bed by midnight.
Getting home was a mess. This is a Bali Taxi Battle (there's always a bloody taxi involved!), or a situation where vehicles have all jammed into one small location in different directions in such a manner that nobody can move in any direction. Ominous.
Merciful God, I can't believe we're actually getting to the race now ... had my usual pre-race PB and jelly on toast, coffee with a little bit of milk and a lot of sugar several hours before the race.
Just for the ponytail fans ...
Smooth sailing to transition and setup. When a race has gotten this big, first-come, first-served and only one person seemingly directing and securing the area itself (several people mistakenly set up in the relay-only rack and had to move) doesn't work so well. Worked great for me because I got there early, but not a lot of space for latecomers and I saw plenty of transition hogs. (Also, transition is not a lounge area for relay athletes done with their part, or other athletes taking their time, and definitely NOT for any non-athletes at any time!!!) However, this is still a large, beautiful, grassy, roomy transition and a tiny bit more planning/management would make it still more than adequate for this race.
The shuttles were nonexistent, so I walked the 800m sloping coral-studded soft-sand stretch down to the race start. I would have liked more time in the water to warm up, but that's fine. Paddled around for 15 minutes.
Both events started late, contingent on the arrival of an important official who would be sounding the starting gongs. I see the conflict and probably would have done the same in the directors' position, but ... it's just not good to keep athletes waiting around. Especially because in the tropics, the heat sets on, and the traffic gets really, really bad on Sunday mid-mornings to mid-day.
However, Oly starting first with Sprint following 20-30 min thereafter was perfect in terms of spreading athletes out and making athlete flow manageable on all parts of the course, including the finish.