I have always believed the swim at the Vineman events is one of the most uniuqe and easiest to navigate anywhere on the circuit. It was (and is) one of the things I love most about the race. BUT, before we talk swim we should talk sorting out your T1.
T1 is located in the parking lot at Johnson.s Beach on very hard pack dirt, which is a massive upgrade to the way it was up until about 3 or 4 years ago. You will have carpet up from the swim and on either side of the bike racks (entrance from swim & exit to bike). For some finer points:
1) Since this is a split transition you'll only be bringing your swim and bike gear. It's advisable that if you are coming solo to the race to bring as little as possible to T1 with you as all your gear (including wetsuit) has to go in a plastic gear transfer bag that the staff brings back to T2 for you. If you have family / friends with you I'd strongly advise passing off all your gear to them so that all you have to do is put your wetsuit, cap, and goggles into the plastic bag. Remember rack your bike by your saddle!
2) Be sure you are aware of time in the morning. Vineman always starts on time and you'll want to be lined up and and ready to process trough the swim corral with the rest of your swim wave.
3) Warm up ... if you want more than 3-4 minutes of warm up time you would need to do so BELOW the dam at the Johnson's Beach. Please don't warm up up behind the start line unless your swim wave is in the water
NOTE: T1 is set up appropriately so that late starting waves can arrive late AND still get into the area for set up without disrupting early starting athletes.
- For the start you can line up anywhere behind the flagging across the river but you must keep the buoys on your left after swimming as you are not allowed to swim in the small neutral channel, It is a deep water start unless you choose to start way off to the side
- River depth varies from start to finish and yes there are spots where you can stand. That said the entire course is 100% swim-able despite what some may say. It is very shallow at the turn and its tempting to walk for some. (After the turn if you get too far off to the right you will have to walk) The shallowest area is no more than 50 meters, it is legal to dolphin dive and for those skilled at it, it can be advantageous.
NOTE: If you do feel the need to stand please move off to the right side as far as possible as to not disrupt those behind you trying to swim. In the end swimming is faster than walking ;-)
- Because of the drought, water temperatures are trending slightly higher and water clarity less than usual. At the time of writing this race week air temperatures appear to be very cool so we are looking at race morning water temperatures in the low 70's
- Overall the course is very easy to site because of the large redwoods on either side of the river AND the multitude of buoys Vineman Inc. uses for their set up.
- One final note ... you are able to mount your bike once crossing the timing mat and hitting the pavement BUT you will encounter a short, sharp hill to start. Therefore you'll need to be properly geared, and skilled at clipping in to your pedals smoothly.
Part 3, the bike, is next ...
No comments:
Post a Comment