Subject: RE: Pelican Fest Triathlon I'm returning to triathlon at this race after a 16-year hiatus. I'm badly undertrained, but it will be a learning experience....
Scouted the bike and run course last weekend. Bike has a pretty significant hillclimb very soon after the transition area, up to about the 1-mile mark, then it's pretty flat and exposed (winds might be a problem if they're blowing hard ). Since it's out and back, we'll be coming back down that hill right before returning to the vicinity of the transition area, so you might not be able to take advantage of the descent as much as you might like. (I hit 35mph on this descent without pedaling! )
The whole area around the lake is a construction zone, so hopefully they'll have the pavement swept before the race.
First mile (roughly ) of the run looks pretty hilly as well. I really hope they're running us on the cement golf cart paths, because the grass is really spongy and is like running in soft, dry sand - very taxing.
Water temp seems milder than I expected. They're reporting 64 F. Highs on race day are forecast at around 90F, though my sense is that it's around 70ish to 80ish during the time we'll be on the course.
The web site for this race is pretty rough, but there's packet pickup on Friday 10am - 6pm at the Austin's Homestead restaurant at the golf course there, and then again on race day between 6 and 7 am at the registration desk. I assume chip rental will happen there, too, but I don't know for sure.
--Rich |