LA is a point-to-point race, so you will not be coming back to the T1 area after your bike. In fact, T1 will probably be gone by the time you finish and get yourself back to Venice.

Competitors got tags with their race numbers at the expo for tagging their T1 gear. You need to put EVERYTHING you want transported downtown into a tagged bag. Volunteers pick up all of the bags, load them into vehicles (school busses this year) and they get transported down to the finish area where you can claim them.

A couple of tips regarding these bags:

1. Realize that your bags are going to be picked up, humped around, tossed, etc. by volunteers. Each bag is probably handled 8-10 times before you see it again, by people who have already been running around since 5 AM and getting your bags loaded up is the only thing between them and the rest of their Sunday.

2. Tags: your bags get handled a lot, and the tags they give you do not stay on as well as airline luggage tags. I saw several of these tags lying on the ground, and I don't think anyone had any idea what bag they went with. Try to avoid putting the tag on a handle or strap that the bag is likely to be handled by. If you want to make yourself a more durable tag, feel free. As an extra backup, I'd recommend putting a regular luggage tag with your name, address, etc. on it, so if your race number tag does come off it will still be possible to figure out whose bag it is.

3. Packing: Make sure your bags are securely closed. With all the handling, anything that can fall out will, and again the volunteers are likely to lose track of what bag it came out of. Saw a lot of unclosed drawstring bags, unzipped zippers, broken zippers, stuff falling out of external pockets, etc. See below for my recommendations.

4. Wetsuits--some of the bags were pretty soaking. Volunteers would prefer that you put your wetsuit in something waterproof.

5. I don't know what all was in them, but some of those bags were freakin' HEAVY. Not so bad if you're just carrying your own, but keep in mind the volunteers have to hump a gajillion of these things. You'd be doing us a favor if you left the kitchen sink at home or in the car ;)

My recommendations for point-to-point races, having seen what happens to the bags after you leave T1:

1. BEFORE you head down to the swim start (while you've got time to do it neatly), repack anything you don't need for T1 or the bike leg into your transition bag or duffel. Make sure everything is inside the bag, zipped up and fastened securely.

2. If you plan to have nutrition or hydration during T1 that you don't plan to take on the bike, put it in throwaway containers. Again, anything you want to keep should already be securely packed in your bag.

3. Bring a big trash bag, tagged with your number and with your number written on it in permanent marker. Shake it out before the start, so it's easy to put stuff in during transition (but make sure it's weighted so it doesn't blow away). Dump your swim gear into that, make sure it's completely closed (use the drawstring kind, or tie a knot into the top). DO NOT open your neatly packed duffel bag while you're racing.

4. Don't forget to throw the towel you set all your stuff on into the trash bag. There must have been 100 towels left on the ground in T1, and I suspect they just got tossed in the trash (or else Pacific Sports is running a sale on used towels).

Since it was such a pretty day and I was already up there, got in a 45 min. run along the beach, & lunch from Jodie Maroni's.

Long Beach in two weeks!