My race report:
The Rivi Tri is a throwback to the old days of triathlon…not that I would know since I’ve only been in this sport for a bit over 2 years, but that’s what they tell me. Basically, a couple of guys who didn’t have time to make all the local races because of family obligations decided to run their own tri from their driveway. Each year, a couple more buddies found out about it and so it grew. 10 years on, it’s still run from that guy’s driveway, but his entire street has now become the “transition area” with well over 50 people showing up to race on all manner of two-wheeled human-powered vehicles.
The 2005 edition of the race was my second-ever triathlon and it’s only 5 miles from my house, and the race roster is made up mostly of local surfers, high school swim team, and a few serious triathletes. The majority of the racers do not train for triathlon at all, but are reasonably fit anyway, and the unusual distances in this race strongly favor strong swimmers.
So, since this was my last weekend before Eagleman, I decided a nice short, intense race like this would be perfect training, but I wanted to get in a bit of pre-race training, so I threw on my backpack at home loaded with all my race gear and headed out on the bike. I hit the local hill routes I like and slogged up them with the extra weight on my back, and then rode up to Dana Point and turned around and headed for the race site.
I arrived with a good 15 miles on the odometer and layed all my stuff out on the grass along the culdesac. My two friends from my neighborhood, Mike J. and Mike S… showed up and set up next to me, and we all went over and “registered”. That consists of writing your name on a legal pad next to whatever race number you want, and then signing your name on a makeshift “release” form. They write your number on your shoulder and sell you a race t-shirt if you want. Given that the entry fee for the race was whatever snacks/food you wanted to donate to the post-race party, a t-shirt purchase was well worth it!
So, I ran into some of my surfer friends and we milled about using the bathroom at this guy’s house, and drinking the water he had supplied, and everyone was stoked to be doing the 10th Annual Rivi Tri, while the guy running it confided to me that this “could” be the last year because the event was just getting too big and too much of a liability given the lack of permits and “official” status.
So, down to the beach we went for the swim out to Seal Rock and back…about a mile.
Me on the left with Mike J. and Mike S. respectively
The view out to Seal Rock (the small black dots in the distance)
I was in the middle of a sentence with Mike S. when suddenly everyone was running into the water, so I started my watch and headed out, diving through the 2-3 foot surf and making it into open water. The swim was nice and smooth and very spread out. The rule is, swim out to Seal Rock, get as close as you can and turn around. So, I could vaguely make out the little swim team rats ahead of me, but not many others and I keep a beeline toward the Rock. When I was about 15 feet away, about 10 seals plunged off the Rock into the water, and I figured I was close enough and turned back. I had to dodge some out-going swimmers, but continued on. I was into a groove at this point pulling my way along and bodysurfed one into the beach and headed for “transition” as I pulled my wetsuit off.
Swim time was about 27:30 on my watch.
Exiting the water, trying not to trip while pulling off my top
http://i14.tinypic.com/5ylnw9e.jpg
Mike S. was sitting on the grass getting his bike shoes on and we were both off around the same time and I powered up the hill, which was right out of the culdesac and started mowing people down one by one. I was going to pass these damn fast swimmers and unload all I had on the 11-mile bike. I guess I passed quite a few people on the bike, but can’t recall just how many, but I sure felt guilty blowing all those stop signs along the way. I figured I had a shot at a top 5 spot in this race as I was something like 10th last year and had improved, particularly my swim and run since then.
So, on the out part of the bike, I saw 4 riders ahead of me, and thought maybe one of them was a relay rider, so I guessed I had 3 people standing between me and my first triathlon win, but they were pretty far ahead…like nearly 5 minutes ahead, so it was going to take 3 well-placed thumbtacks, one for each of their bikes, to hand me the win!
Bike time just over 33 minutes on my computer.
So, I plow back into “T2” and drop my bike and manage a sub-1 minute transition and I’m off on the run, which is different from prior years where we had to skip along the rocks adjacent to the train tracks. This year, we ran north along the new beach trail to North Beach and back. Much easier to run on, except for the assorted flotsam and jetsam (pedestrians, dogs, kids on bikes, grandmas enjoying the scenery, etc.) we had to navigate around. My wife and neighbors were there at the start and I quickly asked how many people were in front of me, and they thought 4 or 5. So, off I went, at a good clip, probably about 7:50-8 min/miles and tried to run someone, anyone down! First up was a young guy, maybe 16 years old, and he was maintaining his distance ahead of me, but then I saw a crack in his armor. He put his hands on his head and kept running, and that told me he had a side stitch and it was only a matter of time before I ran him down. We were just 1/2 mile into the run when I caught and passed him. Who else could I catch?
The answer was “no one”. I didn’t see another racer until I was starting mile 2 and he was on his way back, a good 12 minutes ahead of me. Okay, no win, but what about top three? I passed the other two guys a bit before the turnaround, but the 3rd place guy was still a good 2-3 minutes ahead of me, so my goal was to maintain my 4th place spot. On the way back, I saw a small pack of swimteam rats about 2 minutes behind me and stepped it up a bit hell-bent on fending off the little grommets, and despite the pain of the last mile, kept my pace and emptied the tank finishing 2 minutes ahead of last year (though the run was different) and placing, I think, in 4th.
Run time about 30 minutes by my estimate.
Bringing it home…
Vicki, my wife wishing she could race, but being 14 weeks pregnant is keeping her at bay
What a blast! The 2 Mikes had a blast as well, and after the world-class feast at the race organizer’s house, I strapped on my backpack and rode 6 miles back home feeling great about the day! Now I’m ready for Eagleman!
Thanks to Hannah Johnson for the pics!
Nice job on the continual improvement! Way to keep the grommets at bay! Us older guys gotta have something to live for 
This race sounds like a blast, I think we need to do one out here.
Aloha,
Matt
Thanks Matt. Just added a few pics to the report. A great time was had by all!
Looks like tons of fun! Great report…
Jim
Thanks Jim. A nice change from the normal craziness at many big SoCal triathlons.