Malibu Tri registration is closed and I am looking for a Sprint/Oly to do on 25 Sept that is drivable from San Diego. Considering the Long Beach Sprint. Anyone done this race? It looks flat and fast.
Mark
Never done Long Beach. Las Vegas International is that same weekend. There’s a sprint, Oly and 1/2.
Did it last year. Flat water swim, 2 loop bike on closed roads that still gets backed up, and a completely flat run. No where near the short course lung buster that Lake Arrowhead is but it is well organized and fun.
Ron Johnson
I’ve done the LB Tri 2 years in a row. The first year I raced it there were 3 loops on the bike and by the time I was on the 3rd lap (after I fixed my flat)people on beach cruisers had made it to the bike course and were all over the road. The ocean had also just had a red tide. Last years race however was much better(maybe it’s cuz I got 10th but), 2 loops on the bike fairly flat with the only real hill being a bridge going to and from the Queen Mary (which you do twice). The run is also pancake flat. It is really fun and a couple of my friends are racing it again for the 4th time. If I still lived in CA I would definitely race it.
Thanks, I just reserved a room for Sat nite on the Queen Mary, got the discounted race price and convinced the wife that going to the Sunday Brunch on the Queen Mary after the race was a good post race feed. Looks like it will be a good event.
Thanks again for the input
Mark
It’s a pretty good event, but not on my schedule this year. The only problem I had was the bottleneck exiting T1. I lost about 40 seconds trying to get through the gate. My friend figured it right; he picked his bike up over his head and slid his way through the crowd.
People I told about the race said, “Ewww, you swam in the harbor? Yuk!” Well, I’m still alive. I also missed the T2 entrance and rode up to the turn-around screaming how do I get back to the rack! Lost maybe thirty seconds, there, backtracking to the proper exit.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Near the finish, I was in an all-out sprint duel for what I thought was third place - turned out to be fourth - and some lady holding her little dog was standing almost in the middle of the chute entrance. Found out later it was Wendy Ingraham. At that moment, I felt her nickname, ‘Wingnut’, was well deserved.
Hey Mark, I’ve done the race the last two years. Last year was a big improvement, with a longer bike loop that had us do only two laps instead of three and no road construction so we had alot more room to move around. I didn’t think the course was any more crowded than any other race I’ve done. Very fun course, as the others have said.
By the way, go to the information session put on by the race director when you go for the packet pick up. He takes plenty of time to explain all about the course and answer any questions.
Neil