St. Anthony's Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 5)

Hi St A's Group!

Hubby and I are in for St. A's.  We are new and this is our first Oly dist.  I still have not booked a room anywhere but I figure I can book a condo and make a mini vacation out of coming down from GA for the race.  I have a few questions.  Can we run from trans area to mount line barefoot and then put on shoes at the line?  I am not good enough to do the flying mount.  What is the swim water like? Is it ocean with waves on a beach or is it a bay where you just wade in?  I can handle choppy waves but big surf with a rip current is a totally different matter.  All the Sprint Tri's we have done were in lakes.  How packed do the turns get on the bike course?  I will be late in the bike course due to being in the 40 year old lady beginner swim group.  I have a new cervelo and I am a little nervous about my bike handling skills.  Thanks in advance for answering my questions...

Holy questions!  I'll see what I can do.

I DO NOT recommend waiting until the mount line to put on  your shoes.  The mount line tends to get VERY crowded  and you will totally be in the way there.  Also, I personally end up needing both hands while running through transition to steer the bike and fix things on my helmet/clothes.  I can't imagine trying to run with shoes in my hand.  I think you could run in your shoes through all of transition...really.  But the other option might be to run to the end of transition and put your shoes on before leaving transition...you could find an out of the way corner.  Once you are OUT of transition though there isn't a lot of room!

Swim water...can range from flat and calm to very choppy....choppy tends to hit the later waves.  But no big surf/waves/rip currents.  I would expect the chop to be the worst of it.  You can practice swim the day before.

The bike course IS fairly crowded...but I can't remember having too big a crowd around any corners.  You can almost always get the corner to yourself.  You just might have to slow down once in awhile to make it happen.  I would be more concerned about the evil speed bumps in the neighborhood.  Watch out for those!  By the end waves though the course has cleared out decently...

And I'd get on renting that condo.  I imagine the cheap stuff is filling fast....if not full already.

What else?  I'm on a roll.

That  is because you are already in good shape to smoke this race Dave!

You should be able to adjust the clipless pedals to make them easier to get out of...usually some kind of set screw on the pedal.

The mount line is on some cobblestones.  Use caution on them.  Sometimes what I do is get on the bike and pedal on top of the shoes until it clears out a bit and I have the time/space to get into the shoes.

1-get some elastics
2-Put your shoes on the bike and use teh elastics to hold teh shoes in place at the 3 and 9 o clock positions
3-Open the velcro up ALL THE WAY
4-Practice getting into the shoes.....2 methods A-ride with your feet on top then slip your feet in as you ride or B-slip your feet in as you get on the bike then tighten the shoes as you ride.  THe elastics break as you pedal..
5-PRactice taking feet out of shoes as you finish your ride and riding on top of shoes

Practice some more

X2 with the elastics!! These help in keeping the shoes level. I have speedplay and inevitably, they spin around and the shoe drags if I do not put bands on them. As for as the mud in the cleat goes, i raced StA's last year, ran through the transition with bike shoes on and didnt have any issues with mud BUT, be careful exitng and entering on the bike near transition; those cobblestone streets are slicker than owl sh**!!!!

There are some video "how to's" on youtube to show you how to do the rubberbands

Anyone need a hotel room? I needed to get a car too.  i'll be there LATE friday night and Saturday...staying at La Quinta in St. Pete, probably about 15 min or so away...

Hi guys. Sad to say that I have deferred my registration to 2010. I'm just not ready to race. Too many factors - I got sick twice this month, work has been hectic, I'm busy planning our move to Boston in a few months - looking for new jobs, new apartments, etc. I just can't find the time to consistently train, and moreover, don't really have the $$ to get a flight down there, hotel, and all the stuff that goes along with that.

Sorry I will miss out on the party....sometimes life gets in the way.

Anyway, if anyone needs a GREAT hotel room, PM Jen (jldicarlo) - I was going to be sharing a room with her at La Veranda B&B, right across from transition....

I was able (this week) to get a room at the Hilton.  I then cancelled it for a room ast the Radisson.  I then cancelled that for a 2 bedroom condo I got off Travel site.  I ended ip paying less than $200 for a 2bd room condo.  We will have kids and mother-in-law in tow so I decided a Treasure Island condo would be more fun for them. From that map it appears about 20 min away from the race..I hope that is correct....

More or less.  It's a straight shot across the county.

Okay, gang.  I'm ROOMMATELESS!

I have a room at La Veranda B&B.  You can walk to transition and the start and the expo and all that good stuff.

I am also DRIVING to the race so I will have a car.

I would REALLY like to split my room with someone.  The room has two twin beds and I'm not all prudish that I have to share with a chick.  Though I will admit that it would feel weird to share a room with a dude I've never met.  But I would take that over paying for the room all myself.  I need to check on the rate, but I believe the room is about $150/night and I have it Fri/Sat/Sun nights.  I will also take a roomie who only wants to stay a couple of the days if need be.

Any takers?

No posts in this thread for a while.. 3 weeks people!... everyone getting ready?

I just found out today my Dad signed up back in December (he did not tell me as he wanted to be sure he was going to be ready.)  My 8 year old is racing in the Meek & Mighty as well.

So we're going to have 3 generations all racing that weekend.  Pretty cool I think.

Thats awesome!..

My wife and I do kinda the same thing but only 2 gens.  My wife does the whole race as an elite and my father in law, my brother in law, and my self do a relay.  It is a blast to get everyone together for something like this.

Eric

since we have so many doing the race, are there any plans for a get together the night before?

I'm in - driving down early Saturday from Tallahassee - is there a list of hotels w/in walking distance ? would prefer to get to one spot and park the car for the weekend - Any suggestions ? Thanks !!

I'm in - driving down early Saturday from Tallahassee - is there a list of hotels w/in walking distance ? would prefer to get to one spot and park the car for the weekend - Any suggestions ? Thanks !!

Have you not booked a hotel yet? you may have some difficultlies doing so this late.

When Q gets done with Umstead we can ask him if he wants to head up organizing the pre-race dinner again.  He did such a good job before!