I’m staying in Newport Beach, looking for triathlete friendly pools. Seems all the pools around here have crappy hours, charge $10 for drop-in, or are private (ex. UC Irvine 50m… looks nice…but private).
Would prefer a pool that’s 30mins or less cycling (from NB) and allows me to park my bike on deck (I’m not putting my P3 in a bike rack!)… am I deluded that such a pool exists around here?
Corona Del Mar High School has a nice pool, but they have limited hours. $3 per swim I seem to recall. After school, mornings on the weekends etc. They are off Jamboree in NB overlooking the back bay.
There is a 24hr Fitness in Triangle Square in Costa Mesa with a decent pool.
If you have a wetsuit, or thick skin, go to Big Carona Beach in Carona Del Mar and do an ocean swim. They have bouys set-up and there are always some tri-geeks out there enjoying the 60’ water.
I’ll post more if I think of any more.
Greg,
I would go check out Corona Del Mar high school as I recall that is a great informal masters group that will challenge you and for sure has some triathletes attending. If UC Irvine is an option, go down and talk to Lucy Johnson, the head coach of the masters program. She and I worked out a deal when I had a 6 week temp assignment in Irvine and it worked out great. Last I checked, UC Irvine is not private - the masters program is open to all (you just need to register and pay.) Heritage Park is further South in Irvine but is a nice facility and I’m not sure if they have a masters group but it is a really nice pool complex. If you have your wetsuit, go hop in the ocean in Corona Del Mar, that is a really nice area to swim.
Heritage Park is under re-construction and won’t be open til Sept - Oct 04. They bulldozed it and are rebuilding a top-notch facility. I have heard that as soon as that is done, the Mission Viejo complex will do that also, but they are timing it correctly.
If I remember correctly, Lucy Johnson’s e-mail is lucy@uci.edu. She’s a cool lady. Shoot her an e-mail and she’ll help you out.
PS: I second the recommendation that you check out Big Corona beach. I used to live just a couple blocks from there. Those were the days…