I was supposed to be writing a race report on the Battle of San Jacinto tri, but after being sick for the first half of last week (and I continue to hack up stuff even today), I decided that yesterday wasn’t the best day for me to do an olympic distance tri. If it had been a sprint, I might’ve gone ahead and raced…and once I got out there and saw everyone on the course, I really wished I was racing. But c’est la vie. I had a great time volunteering, and will now look forward to my next tri — the Silverlake sprint on May 18. The race organizers (the always impressive Tri On The Run folks) were even kind enough to let me transfer my registration to one of their other races, so I’ll be using it for Ironbabe in August!
I arrived at Sylvan Beach at 6 a.m. and immediately was put to work helping Jay put out cones to mark the two mile run that made up the first leg of the duathlon. (The event had a triathlon, duathlon, and aquabike.) Sitting in the back of the truck with the wind blowing on me, it was actually pretty chilly! Good thing I had a sweatshirt. I was back in the transition area in time to chat with some BAM racers and watch the first wave start the swim. After that I hopped in my car and drove to the 1-mile mark of the duathlon run to work the water station. There were only 40 or 50 people doing the duathlon, and since it was so early in the race and such a cool morning, only about 10 or 15 people actually took any water from us. That was over quick, so it was back into the car and over to the San Jacinto monument.
This is the only race that I know of in this area that is point-to-point. The swim is at Sylvan Beach in La Porte, but the bike takes racers 25 miles over-and-back across the Fred Hartman bridge and then through the refineries (I know, not the most scenic of backgrounds, but that’s what Houston has chosen to build in that area next to the ship channel — chemical plants and refineries) to the San Jacinto Monument. From there, racers transition to the run, which is two loops near the monument.
The logistics of the point-to-point race were interesting to watch. I’ve never done this race before and had never seen how it works. There was one transition area at the start, where people racked your bike and bike stuff (helmet, etc). When racers came out of the water, they dropped their wetsuits and swim stuff and hopped on their bikes. But before the race, they had packed a bag with their run stuff — shoes, race belt, etc. Those bags were transported to T2 at the monument and laid out in order.
I was volunteering at T2 by this point. When racers rode in, they hopped off their bike and gave it to us. As they ran ahead, we took their bikes and racked them on another set of racks set up there. There was another volunteer with a megaphone standing at the bike dismount line who would call out the racer’s bib number as we took their bike. The racers had to run a few hundred feet to the transition tents, where another set of volunteers would by this point have their run bag ready to go. Racers dropped their bike stuff, got their run stuff, and headed off for the last portion of the tri. The volunteers would then put all the bike stuff back in the bag and leave it for the racer to pick up after they finished.
Racers also had the option of packing a post-race bag with clothes to change into after the race. After the race, awards were done at the monument and school buses took racers back to the start line, while the bikes were transported back to the start line in a big truck (rather like the MS150). Everything worked like a well oiled machine, and it was cool to watch.
The rest of my weekend was busy and full. Friday night Jose and I went to Star Cinema Grill to have dinner and see Leatherheads. It wasn’t the best experience. There was a guy next to Jose who talked through the entire movie, and the theater smelled really musty and damp. It’s going downhill, which is really a shame because the concept is cool. And the movie itself wasn’t that great. The previews looked funny, but the movie itself is too long and just not that entertaining. I was ready for it to end.
Saturday was filled with errands, including buying and potting a bunch of new vegetables for our ongoing experiment in gardening. We watched the Rockets game that night, but sadly they lost. Hopefully they win tonight.
Yesterday while I was volunteering at the race, Jose and Becca were flying to Angleton and back. They’d originally planned to go all the way to Palacios, but the clouds were descending and the ceiling got too low to go the whole way. Jose took a video of the landing at Pearland on their return leg, when Becca was flying, that is pretty cool.
After not racing in the morning, I did squeeze in a 15 mile ride yesterday afternoon. I made it to Webster Bicycle on Friday afternoon finally to get a new seat for my tri bike and ended up with the Adamo road saddle. It is awesome! The forked front means that the front of the seat is wider, which I found that I liked. (The guy at the store told me that people either love this saddle or hate it.) My ride yesterday was so, so much more pleasant than the last time.
Another busy week ahead. Away I go.
Jon says
Very informative post and a cool video.
Mr. Non-Engineering question here: What is the reason for the speed of the propeller to be different? Sometimes it was spinning so fast you could barely see it and other times it was going so slow you thought it was going to stop!
Jessica, a Austin Runner AND Triathlete says
hope you are doing well girl. I have been sick too. miss you, you should come to austin and do a tri with me! you are welcome to stay at my place!