Agreed on all of the temps with everyone.
The worst part was waiting to get into the water and then actually having to go in there, being cold. Once warmed up, the water felt great. The difference maker for me was wearing a pair of them Vibram 5 toe kayak shoes (likely the ugliest shoe on the planet), they drain well, seem to have little drag in the water, and most importantly kept my skin off of the freezing asphalt. Many wore them for Alcatraz which is where I got the idea from. Coming out of the water I bypassed the wetsuit peelers to stay warm as long as possible. Ran full steam into T1, bypassing folks on the carpet who kept saying they couldn't feel their feet.
Wet suit off, toweled off completely, put on a cycling fall base layer, arm warmers, crappy old gloves and outta there. Putting on arm warmers over wet clammy skin sucked, overall probably the ugliest transition of my life but got it done in 7 mins. So not entirely terrible.
Felt comfortable on the bike throughout.
Cold temps aside - IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. All of it. The fog over the water as the sun rose, the mountain lakes on the K descent, some early fall colors etc - it was great.
AV8 | Team Wattie Ink Elite 2019
The worst part was waiting to get into the water and then actually having to go in there, being cold. Once warmed up, the water felt great. The difference maker for me was wearing a pair of them Vibram 5 toe kayak shoes (likely the ugliest shoe on the planet), they drain well, seem to have little drag in the water, and most importantly kept my skin off of the freezing asphalt. Many wore them for Alcatraz which is where I got the idea from. Coming out of the water I bypassed the wetsuit peelers to stay warm as long as possible. Ran full steam into T1, bypassing folks on the carpet who kept saying they couldn't feel their feet.
Wet suit off, toweled off completely, put on a cycling fall base layer, arm warmers, crappy old gloves and outta there. Putting on arm warmers over wet clammy skin sucked, overall probably the ugliest transition of my life but got it done in 7 mins. So not entirely terrible.
Felt comfortable on the bike throughout.
Cold temps aside - IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. All of it. The fog over the water as the sun rose, the mountain lakes on the K descent, some early fall colors etc - it was great.
AV8 | Team Wattie Ink Elite 2019