There were some waves getting out and back but the course itself wasn't too bad. I didn't get much contact except around the turns, as you'd expect nowadays with the rolling starts. You had to body surf back in. Some folks were standing up too soon and getting pulled back in the undertow.

Start one group faster. I think people self-seed higher than their ability so I was passing a lot of folks, even though I'm not that fast.

Yes it's flat and fast. Yes it's a draft-fest. Riders start to string out, but then there are occasional traffic circles that tend to re-compress folks. I rode this course clean, but with LOTS of legal drafting and passing. More than once I was in the process of passing, only to see someone else get carded. But if you want a low VI, this is your race.



I'm pretty low CdA on my bike which didn't matter at first. In the 2nd loop though, I got into no-man's land a couple times where I wasn't finding folks to pass. I pushed to bridge those gaps and start passing people again.

The section leaving / entering town had a lot of speed bumps so it was slow for a few km.

Nutrition: I went to 2-20oz bottles @ 540cal each. Drank 1 over 2 hours, then a perform from an aid station for the next hour, then worked on the last bottle till my ride was done. My stomach was fine and I didn't feel like I was behind on fuel like other races. I'll probably continue something like this in cooler weather races.

Last note: KQ at this race is a dice roll. If you want it, you draft, period. I don't think anyone gets particularly upset about it over there, but rather the randomness of who gets tagged up with cards. Draft marshals need a better way to enforce against packs of 30+ riders.

T2 exit mat was *before* the changing tent, so this time was just me racking my bike. The time changing was maybe another min or 2, which I assume was added to my run time.

This was flat, about half with tree cover. Lots of hard packed dirt and a few sections over a boardwalk, but mostly pretty tame. Towards the far turnaround, we went through a tunnel into town for a bit; that was the only pavement. Most was like this:




My quads were not great after the bike, but I was setting about a 9:30 pace. Then I stepped in a muddy pothole and banged up my ankle. It was a mixed walk/run after that.

Get stronger on the bike.

The only small thing I didn't like about this race is that transition (T1 and T2) are at one end of the swim rectangle. The finish is at the other end. So maybe 1.5km apart. Which kind of sucks when you finish and have to go pick up your bike.


The venue is really cool for spectators. Better than CdA by a long shot, which I already consider a good spectator race. The thing is, in Calella the beach access is so easy. It's all like this:



That road and railroad you see... have tunnels going underneath. So everyone can walk to the beach while the race is going on without waiting for crossings.

The beach itself is wide and has restaurants along its length.





This is just a great place for a race and I'm glad I got a chance to participate. I had also signed up for CdA this year and decided at the last minute not to start, due to the heat wave. So I was really keeping my fingers crossed for a good race here. The weather was perfect and it was a big PR for me, on my 8th IM finish.