Yep, WFLC was my first tri, and here's my two cents...
1) I was one of the (few) attendees at the long course pre-race meeting. They described the various bike positioning fouls (albeit differently than USAT rule book). Anyway, what they said more adamantly than anything else was to be cautious in the rain, and to hydrate. If that is the caliber of a typical race meeting I'm not surprised at the meager attendance. Enough races are put on each year, and enough races are put on by Tri-California, that a reasonable "syllabus" for the meeting should have been developed by now.
2) We were told that the transition area would be CLOSED at 7:30 so the pros had an unobstructed transition. In the pre-race meeting we were advised not to put on our wetsuits too early, lest we overheat. Okay, what was I supposed to do for the 1:40 between transition closing and my wave starting, in the rain, not wearing my wetsuit and unable to be in the transition area?
3) Cowering in my tent, in the downpour, Friday night I was left with little more to entertain me than my Official Program. Rules and race etiquette could easily be added to the document. The campers were certainly a captive audience... and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. [In general, I think the program is a gross embarassment with typos, formatting woes, poor editing, and nearly illegible maps.]
3.5) In my race registration packet I got two helmet numbers and a bike number... nowhere was I told where to affix these numbers. [Hmm.. maybe they could have mentioned this at the pre-race meeting]. What is the consensus, do the two helmet numbers go on front and back or left and right? Does the bike number go on the seat tube or the top tube?
4) As a slowbie, I was finishing the bike and doing my two loops of the run as the masses were removing their gear from the transition area. I think common courtesy demands that you stay off the race course, or at least out of the (read, *my*) way, while the race is still in progress. Too bad I couldn't have been handing out blocking penalties then, or disqualifying the helmetless. Similarly, I think if the transition area was supposed to close at 7:30 it should have remained closed until after 5:30.
5) I want women-specific Slowtwitch garb. Also, I think there are some guys up in Valyermo who could put on a pretty sweet triathlon, and that there's a large group of us waiting [and training in the hills] for that day to come!
Meg.
1) I was one of the (few) attendees at the long course pre-race meeting. They described the various bike positioning fouls (albeit differently than USAT rule book). Anyway, what they said more adamantly than anything else was to be cautious in the rain, and to hydrate. If that is the caliber of a typical race meeting I'm not surprised at the meager attendance. Enough races are put on each year, and enough races are put on by Tri-California, that a reasonable "syllabus" for the meeting should have been developed by now.
2) We were told that the transition area would be CLOSED at 7:30 so the pros had an unobstructed transition. In the pre-race meeting we were advised not to put on our wetsuits too early, lest we overheat. Okay, what was I supposed to do for the 1:40 between transition closing and my wave starting, in the rain, not wearing my wetsuit and unable to be in the transition area?
3) Cowering in my tent, in the downpour, Friday night I was left with little more to entertain me than my Official Program. Rules and race etiquette could easily be added to the document. The campers were certainly a captive audience... and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. [In general, I think the program is a gross embarassment with typos, formatting woes, poor editing, and nearly illegible maps.]
3.5) In my race registration packet I got two helmet numbers and a bike number... nowhere was I told where to affix these numbers. [Hmm.. maybe they could have mentioned this at the pre-race meeting]. What is the consensus, do the two helmet numbers go on front and back or left and right? Does the bike number go on the seat tube or the top tube?
4) As a slowbie, I was finishing the bike and doing my two loops of the run as the masses were removing their gear from the transition area. I think common courtesy demands that you stay off the race course, or at least out of the (read, *my*) way, while the race is still in progress. Too bad I couldn't have been handing out blocking penalties then, or disqualifying the helmetless. Similarly, I think if the transition area was supposed to close at 7:30 it should have remained closed until after 5:30.
5) I want women-specific Slowtwitch garb. Also, I think there are some guys up in Valyermo who could put on a pretty sweet triathlon, and that there's a large group of us waiting [and training in the hills] for that day to come!
Meg.