Great post...I regret never doing it!

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"I would definitely smell her seat after a century ride"

 
Favourite memory is the one thing I don't seem to have a photo of.....Cherry Pie from that old wooden log store about 5 km out of the park..They were heavenly...best cherry pie I ever ate.

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http://www.sweat7.com
Facebook Page: Sweat7
Twitter: @sweat7coaching

The young women on the race course. :)

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Great post...I regret never doing it!

Same. Living in the east, it was never something that fit into my schedule, but I regret not having ever done it.

It's truly unfortunate that not only that Wildflower is gone but the whole of the race/event production company, Tri California with it!

Terry Davis and the team were real pioneers in big triathlon race production and management. Before IM became what it was, Wildflower, was one of the go-to, and biggest triathlon races in North America. It's where the top pros went to test early season fitness. It's where vendors/suppliers in the business went to promote their new products to a key core audience and get feedback.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I did the Wildflower HIM in 02, 03, 05 & 06. One year it was raining on race morning. I put on my wetsuit in the tent and rode the bike down to transition in the wetsuit. It was the first time that I've ever done that. I traveled to the race in 02 with some friends from Ohio. Our flight didn't leave until Monday so we remained in the campground after nearly everyone else had left. I'll never forget how quiet that campground was on Sunday night. I felt a combination of sadness, loneliness, love and peace that was unique. That same year we drove from Lake San Antonio over the mountains to the Pacific. Quite memorable for a Midwestern boy who had never seen that part of the Cali coast.

The race course was so tough and fair. As I wrote in another thread, triathlon doesn't (didn't?) get any better than Wildflower.

I was setting my bike up in transition on race morning (1/2 IM) and this overweight guy {50-54 AG) starts setting up next to me. He asked me if I had done WF previously, I replied that it was my 2nd time, how about you? He said that it was his 1st triathlon ever! I responded, in amazement, that it was a very tough course and distance for a first timer, but good luck! I checked the results and he, needless to say, was a DNF.

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Dean Wilson
http://www.anaerobiczone.com
Bicycle Protection Indoors & Out

This is your favorite memory? if the struggle of another athlete is what you most treasure from WF, please do not go back

I second that. Not cool to laugh at someone trying new things.

WF was my first, and I hope it comes back soon.

The best memory my wife and I have, and I have this on video, is us walking over the hill and seeing transition. It had thousand of bikes all racked. We had never seen anything like that before, and always talk about it.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

I have so many I need time to sort them all out. I was hoping this was not going to happen, but too many events conspired to cause the perfect storm in Wildflower's demise. I will hold out hope that the rains will come, and then all parties(RD's and athletes) will renew it with a sustainable future. Until that time I will wait and hope. This story here has several great memories for me in it, from the first race I did til the last one where I got to bring my then little boy..

http://www.slowtwitch.com/...s_addition_2735.html

I believe I saw you name on the winners stairs when I raced their for the 30th?

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Wildflower was my first 70.3, and an amazing weekend of camping and racing. My time...6:00:42. I will never forget those damn 42 seconds.
I did the 70.3 in 2012 and 2013 and was planning to go back this year.

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TEAM F3 Undurance

This would have been my 23rd WF! Started when we lived in Ca, continued coming when we lived in Colorado and for most of the last 15 years living in NJ we flew out for this most iconic EVENT. There are just tooooo many great memories, like living in one of the tiny trailers right on the festival site. Or the crazy ass Cal Poly coeds at the 3rd and 9th aid stations on the run, or the annual Saturday streaking at dusk by the Cal Poly folks.
Some of the long talks with RD Terry and of course the many many friendships started there over the years.
I actually liked the revised format as it created a nice challenge to run 2.2 miles after the swim. Let's all pray for Terry and his crew as I know this has been very tough on him....

Great thread!

It was my second triathlon of my life in 1993 (my first was 1992 SLO Tri Sprint in a pool). I was 16 and had no clue what I was doing, had never seen so many bikes in my life, and didn't have any friends or mentors in the sport so I just fumbled through it. I was born a swimmer so I was the first out of the water (my very first open water swim of my life, which was terrifying) and spent 12 minutes in transition trying to find my bike. Then I did a deck change (like swimmers do) and got on my bike and rolled out 15 minutes after I got in there. Haha. I was clueless. But my mom was cheering for me the entire 15 minutes. I didn't make it up Lynch hill. I pushed my bike the last 1/4 of the hill. I didn't know that doing so was very uncool. How embarrassing now. I finished the race just fine and actually had a blast and was hooked ever since.

I did it again in 1994. In 1995 I was pregnant so I volunteered and was out on a kayak in the water for 2 days. Baby life had me out of the Tri world until 2002 when I was back every couple of years. My last Wildflower was 2016 and I loved it, even with so little water and a modified course. But it was sad to see so few bikes.

...my family lives in Lockwood (I'm down in SLO) so all the kids volunteer at the aid stations so it is part of our lives (They all go to San Antonio Elementary). The Lockwood Store, Bee Rock, and Pleyto Store count on the revenue from Wildflower weekend (and LIB) to stay afloat - all three of which are closed or mostly closed now. The lake was built on top of the town of Pleyto, which displaced the family and they moved to Lockwood, the damn was built and New Pleyto was sort of created. My bestie's ex-husband was a park ranger there until the lake closed (in the picture of rangers on horses above he is the one on the far left - the shorter guy). Actually, it was his dad who lived on the bottom of the lake in Pleyto before they got moved out. We had a big fire out here this last summer that got quite close to San Antonio - Interlake Rd was closed for about a week.

The Wildflower loop is my training ride, and will continue to be so. Some of the fam have a lease (to graze cattle) on the land near the damn so I'm looking forward to getting out there and seeing it again soon.

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Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

Your trip is short. Make the most of it.
https://www.slogoing.net/

I used to do the MTB and the Oly with my college team.

I don't think I could pick a favorite memory but two things that stuck with me forever were:

Bombing wide open on a section of pavement downhill on my mtn bike and that the reason the volunteers were yelling "SLOW DOWN!" was that the pavement to dirt transition in front of me was much more a curb with a tiny bit of dirt on it and not a ramp up like I had thought from far away (bad eyes). Only had a microsecond to start to lean back before whomping into the curb at probably 35 mph.

My mtn bike skills are pretty terrible, and to this day I still have no idea how I landed wheels down, but I did, probably 20 or 25 feet down course. All I had on was a helmet and swimsuit so the road rash would have been awful. Most of that race is hazy, but I can crystal clear picture the faces of a couple people on both sides of the course as I was flying through the air, and they had the same expression of "oh no, this dude's gonna die". Somehow landed clean and kept going. To this day I look back and tell myself that I must know how to mtn bike, no matter how bad I seem to be now.

Second memory was grabbing a beer at an "unofficial aid station" about a mile from the finish, chugging it only to stop and puke it up 100 yards later. While enjoying that, getting passed and dropping from 1st to 2nd in my AG.

Fun times!

Wildflower was my first tri ever back in 2002. And WF long course '13 was my last tri.

Too many good memories to count. Awesome racing, campground streaking, campfire stories, naked aid station, partying with WF champions, all so much fun.

One year I was cheering for runners just up from the transition area for the mountain bike tri. A familiar looking figure runs by and I ask the guy next to me "Was that Scott Tinley?". He told me he sure was. After a short chat the guy next to me takes off back toward transition and as he turns to leave I catch the name on his Tri-Cal badge, Dave Scott.

Here's to hoping for the return of Wildflower along with my hopeful return to the sport.

Living out in the Midwest and reading about WF in all the triathlon mags for years, it was a must-do when I moved out here. Coming up to the "toll both" on the way in I saw the huge plywood cutouts of Tinley and PNF that really remind you that this race is a huge piece of triathlon's formative history.

On the run was the infamous mile-4 aid station (manned by SLO coeds in various states of undress). At that point in the race the only thing interesting about them was who had water and who had gatorade, I was hurting so bad. About a mile later as I'm slogging up that endless climb that starts just after the aid station it suddenly dawns on me that none of the women had tan lines.....welcome to California!

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Classic! Welcome to California indeed!
The first time I witnessed the topless-ness I was so delirious from the heat I didn't really process it until I'd already run through.

Best memories are of making friends there, hanging out on inflatable camp furniture and cheering people on. Also, getting a vodka & gatorade from a bike course aid station, it cracked me up and reminds me that the important part of all this is to have fun.

Huge thanks to Terry and the TriC crew for all the awesomeness. As others have said, I sure hope it comes back once the reservoir fills!

So many good ones, went 06, 07, 08, 09 and 13. I went in my first year racing as a newbie and did the swim leg of a long course relay. In following years I did the sprint, the Oly, and the half twice), and all of them kicked my ass.

Also the site of my wife's one and only sprint tri, so proud of her for finishing that as she is not all that athletic, and that's a tough sprint!

Remember the nights around the campfire, the co-ed (mostly uni ed... guys LOL) Saturday streak, the naked aid station, the Pit with religious signs as you climbed out of it, the long trek up the dirt path after the race, getting an ice cream at that little pop up stand in the upper lot, hearing TnT's revival meetings in the big white tent Saturday night, the drive thru the HWY 46 oil fields, legs cramping like crazy after running down Lynch.....

Last time I went was 2013 for the Oly, and felt a little guilty for not having been back.....

I remember running in the heat towards the end and I saw these two gals by the side of the trail. I said I will show you mine if you show me yours.
One pulled her top up. The other said I have nothing to show. I was so out of it from the heat I do not remember anything else.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Taken this year at Redondo Vista. That's 74-year young Jack on the left; we started camping next to him in 2007 and have hung out ever since. White shirt and red shirt did it for the first time in 1990. Guy on the far right used to go to CalPoly and would watch us race; he then started in 1992 and has done it every year since. Green shirt did his first tri 2 years ago - WF Oly; this was his second time and he's hooked. Blue shirt in between white and red moved to the East Coast. He's come back each year since 2007 to camp and race; this is the only event all year where we all get together.
The only years we didn't camp were '90 and '91. The camping experience makes it extra memorable.

I'm a tri noob so I'll keep it short, 2016 is my third 'season' if you will, and wildflower 2016 my first long course (and first wildflower attendance)
My sister went to SLO and volunteered there way back and so I obviously knew about it. I didn't think I was ready but signed up anyways this year and I'm so glad I did.

My biggest memories were reconnecting with an old HS friend , our HS wasn't too far away in SoCal , and she finished like 30s after me what a coincidence. Hadn't seen her in 20 yrs but recognized her immediately.

Also attended with a buddy from up here in NorCal that I swim with, camping was awesome.

I remember being flashed by some glorious co-Ed boobs when running through camp on the final stretches of the run.
I remember my new best friend that I found myself chatting with like we were old friends during these last couple miles. Said topless co-eds parted our passage through camp and it was awesome. I /we had long since given up racing the event as our under preparedness had as just jogging it out at that point trying not to cramp out.
I since connected with him over LinkedIn of all things and we chat monthly. My new race-best friend that I slogged the last couple miles of wildflower out with is actually one of my close friends now.

I remember a glorious swim, and a bright and sunny morning. I remember the panic of a bike mechanical issue that I finally got resolved at like midnight the night before the race as I was contemplating begging a backup bike from somebody.

I remember being absolutely humbled on the course and surprised myself to find that after the abuse of the bike leg that I still had something to offer on the run even though my brain was certain I did not.

I remember not wanting to sign up this next year as it was so tough for me this year but in reality I was going to do it anyways, I was hooked.

I remember that my most amazing triathlon experience to date was the one time as a noob I decided on a whim to try wildflower even though the course was altered and drought conditions made it iffy.

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//Noob triathlete//bike commuter//ex-swimmer//slower than you