The Pre-race was standard for a triathlon. Having two transition areas, swim to bike and bike to run was different but worked well.
Course: Absolutely gorgeous. The central coast is breath taking.
Swim: Cold! It was a simple out and back swim with bright yellow buoys as markers. Calm bay swim with very little waves.
Bike: Once again, absolutely gorgeous….. The bike course was an open course, so traffic lights and vehicles played a big roll. They marked the course with white arrows on the ground. Going 20 plus miles an hour it was very difficult to see them. Ten miles into the course I didn’t see anyone in front or behind me and I thought I was lost. Knowing I was only 6-7 minutes behind the leader, I pressed on and found them coming back at towards me. I hit two stop lights on the way back and lost 3-4 minutes. I missed an arrow and a CHP officer flagged me down and redirected me. The route it self was nice and easy. User friendly and fast. The wind was blowing in from the side the whole ride so it play a very little role. I should of had a 1:12 ended up with a 1:17 due to the lights and a missed turn.
Run: Once again, absolutely gorgeous…. A difficult run course, but fun. We began on a nice dirt path and headed out to soft dirt for a short period of time. Coming off the sand we hit a residential area then back to a dirt path running along a cliff over looking the ocean. The aid station at mile 3 was unmanned, but well stocked. 🙁 The path went down the side of a cliff as we hit the beach. Climbing over rocks and trying to stay out of the waves the last 3 miles was an adventure. The finish line was at Morrow Rock. The whole run back you knew exactly how far you had left with a 2000 foot high mile marker. I finished the run in 44 minutes.
Post-race: Standard. Not much to write about. I was concerned that nobody checked my number when I was picking up my bike.
Overall: It was fun and a great experience. This is not a PR course, but totally worth doing.