The Club hosted our own PTC Triathlon. Swim, Bike, Run. with options: Full Triathlon, Duathlon (run-bike-run), Aquathon (swim-run), Aquabike (swim-bike). Long Beach, CA. Super dense foggy morning.

PTC Triathlon Duathlon

Tri Plus 1000 meter swim 40 bike 8 mi run

Tri Sprint500 meter swim 15 mi bike 4 mi run

Duathlon 2 mi run 40 mi bike 4 mile run

Aquabike 2000 meter swim 40 mi bike

I did the Aquabike: 2000 yd swim + 40 mile bike.

We stage the transition area in Long Beach, at the parking lot at the end of the bike path and across the street from the Belmont Shore Swim area. Lynda parked her Big Black Sprinter Van with awning. She and Yuri has a big spread with water, Gatorade, Coke, and beer. There was salty chips, Cliff bars, gels, muffins, everything. She set up bike racks for the transition area. Joanne and Christa were the cheer team for the day.

Swim: We walked to the Belmont Shore Swim area for the Swim. We started at the Checkered Buoy at the end of the Docks and swam up to 2nd street (500 yds) and back along the buoys, for a full 1000 yds. Gregg and I were doing the Aquabike, so we continued the swim out to Buoy A and a little beyond to hit 1500yds, then flipped it back to the start checkered buoy at the docks, to finish 2000 yds.

Transition was not on the clocks. I rinsed off in the outdoor showers and walked back to the transition area at Lynda’s Sprinter Van. I saw Gregg in transition. Since most other racers swam shorter, they had already taken off to the bike course. Mark was waiting to go out with Dave and Michel, who was taking a really long transition. I felt on the bike, as Dave was coming into transition.

Bike: The bike split time started when we got onto the official San Gabriel River, so the ride from the beach to the trail did not turn into bombing through traffic. The bike trail was pretty busy with all kinds of folks out for a ride on Saturday morning. It took a while to get through the slower riders and runners, and groups of dog walkers. The San Gabriel River Bike Trail follows the flood control wash. It’s a giant concrete channel. All along the bike trail there are all kinds of different uses: playgrounds, dog parks, baseball park, junk yards, horse jumping centers. At mile 20, we flipped it at the Tunnel of Doom at Whittier Blvd. Since I was the last rider, I saw all the other racers flipping it at the tunnel. It was a warm and muggy ride back down.

Run: Back at the transition area in Long Beach, Joanne and Christa welcomed us back. We saw the runners go out and come back. Wahoo!

Erick, Yuri, Dave, Sarah, Gregg, Sue, Joe, Lynda, John and wife, Mark, Bob, Ryan, Michel, James, Ana, Mike.

i’ll update with race results when all the participants upload their up data.