Big Kahuna Triathlon

It is a great course.  My issues with the course were self inflicted.  I went out too fast on the bike and did not get enough calories on the bike.   My run sufferred. 

Nice course with rolling hills.  Be careful of biking across the rail road tracks (you will go over two sets twice).  I saw lots of flats.  The second set of tracks is angled-so make sure that you hit the tracks at a 90 degree angle.

One of the bike water stations ran out of water--I had just tossed both water bottles--which made me sad.   I did have water in my aero bottle--so I was ok.

Fun course--rolling hills biking, flat run with roads, trails and sand. 

HA!  About time you started this thread.

DW and I drove back from Monterey on PCH yesterday after BSIM and had lunch in Santa Cruz.  Drove back on PCH, which is the bulk of the bike course (out almost to the lighthouse or the part that sticks way out into the water).  Rollers for sure and they're not all that small.  No huge sustained climbs, but enough to take some spring out of your legs for the run.

You've seen the swim.  More interesting than Oceanside because you get to go around the pier.

You'll love running in the sand, esp. at the very end when you're trying to sprint to the finish and look good for the cameras, but you're in loose sand so it takes twice as much effort.

You'll have a blast!

Congrats on signing up!  I am thinking about coming up for it, I've always wanted to do it and it fits well with this year's plans

This is a great race. I did it as my first HIM last year--and believe I picked a winner.

Be prepared for a cold swim (51F water for the morning of the race last year). Be sure to get in the water, get over the initial shock of cold, and let water seep in and warm-up in your suit 10-15 min. before your wave. Also, foggy goggles will result from this warm-up process, so be sure to bring defog and clean water to rinse (ocean water will have fine sand particles that'll scratch up your lenses--ask me how I know!)

Stash sandals at the water exit (by the hotel). It'll make the 1/4-mile job up to the TA much more pleasant on your numb feet. There's also an outdoor shower right there, a 10-second rinse off of the saltwater will make your bike ride a little more pleasant.

Beautiful bike ride. As previously mentioned, make sure to cross the railroad tracks at a 90-degree angle. Best described as some big rollers--you can get up to 40mph on some of the downhills.

The run is a good portion off-road to the Tiki-turnaround and can be hot--prepare accordingly.

A good ocean soak in the cold water is just the ticket after crossing the finish line--kinda like a giant ice bath.

I'm pretty sure you can register this race up the morning of (some dudes last year racked next to me had raced Pacific Grove the day before and had decided the previous night to race Big Kahuna, and registered morning of)--though I wouldn't push it that far.

I'm thinking of doing this one this year as well. I did it in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Anyone have any idea why the times were so much faster last year? Short swim? No headwind on the outbound leg? Looking at the times, something was a lot different.

I'm thinking about it.

All depends on how Vineman goes in July.

Did a practice run on the course last weekend (swim and run).

Water temp was a bit chilly, but no big deal. One we got going the water felt fine. Clear skies and very sunny weather.

Also had a great run, but started getting very hot towards the end of it.

Personally, I'll be takikng in more fluids than I normally do and supplementing with endoruolytes often.

 Have a great race, everyone!

-ak-