Last year there were outdoor showers (by the baseball diamonds if I remember right). I had my gym bag in the car, and the shampoo and soap was appreciated by a number of people trying to clean up a bit.

I might come up and cheer this year -- trying to make that the weekend I'm around that area, but not sure at all yet what will happen.

There were showers last year. Also, just incase you have not thought about T2. Freeze a 2 1/2 gallon jug to leave and it will be cool when you get there! Best of luck to everyone! I will be there Sat at the expo and 1:00 pm meeting. The group headed up Thursday, but I think we are in Guernville on the way to the start! (I'm along for the ride and didn't have to plan the room) My phone number you can see on the pro file if you want to say hi!

make that 'calling' - doh. Too excited.

I'll be there! The race organizers held a practice swim on Saturday. NOTE: There is a strong likelihood that this will be a no wetsuit swim. It was like a bathtub out there. Also, the water was pretty shallow, especially at the turnaround. I have pretty long arms and I definitely hit bottom on several strokes.

The water is shallow and you can stand. You do the shorter swim stroke. Watch for the trees too. The key is to swim toward the middle. Do not stand under bridges lots of glass under them! Swim starts in the early am and wetsuits more then likely will be optional. Remember the wet suits get you through the water quicker. Sleeves help the stroke. sleeveless does nothing for your swim. It can be warm. When you come out of the water there is the trail to the transition area, if you have family make sure they are at the exit to take your stuff, if not it goes in a bag (more time) and loaded on a van and taken to the school. It would be wise to have an extra bottle to squirt on the feet in transition. When you head out on the bike there is a hill. You need to make the decision to run the bike up or have the bike in an easier gear to get up the hill. It is a steep hill. You can then get on the bike at the stop sign on level ground. In the meeting they will talk about a sharp turn down a hill. (Know where it is! It is very sharp). When you get to chalk hill be careful the road will be littered with sunglasses, bottles and gu wraps you don't want to fall. Are you wearing sunglasses? Be careful you could loose them or not be able to see the ruts in the ground. Shade trees cover them up. If you need sungalsses, you will have an oppurtunity to pick if you stop on the hill. The run will have two consecutive hills (not to big) then into the winery for a figure 8 an out. Last year there was no ice or water from the winery back to mile 9 or 10, I think it was. It reached the 90's on the run.

Nice finish with showers and pools of ice. i am so excited....

Tina- FANtastic tips and advice!

It all makes a lot of sense and is obviously not the kind of things you can pick up unless you have done the race before.

Cheers,

Kevin

I forgot one imortant one. In T2 you should have a 2 1/2 gallon jug that was frozen in your transition area. Why? You pour it over head and in the bottle you take on the run. You will be the one with cold water!

Why? If you leave your runnning bottle frozen over night, it may have already melted by the time you reach T2. So, when you come in water, hat shoes & bottle and go. It was hot last year..

You drop it of in T2 on Sat. Hence, the reson it is frozen. You have access to T1 till they close it race morning. T1 in the am is where you and your bike will be with a bottle of extra water for when you get out of the water.

By the way, the bald man that will be in tranistion is Coach Gurujan and his (soon to be) wife, Ali has long brown hair. They usually check people into T1. Ask them any questions if you get stuck race morning?(and don't see me) They are race officals. I'm in transition pretty much first @ dark. Though I am relying on teammates to get there and not my husband. I think they will do what I do, becuase we all have had the same coach!

Believe me he loves the races! His story goes on forever..... Give him beer and it goes forever!!
Very serious about rules of triathlon.

Off to spin.

Tina

You guys are great. I hope to meet you Saturday!

Thanks,

Kevin

T2 doesn't have a change area that I saw or remember. But I was in a bit of a haze for that and had definite tunnel vision so I could be wrong...

Hey vanjames, good news for you (and others who like to change):

"Yes. there are change tents at both T1 and T2 for both the 70.3 race and the Full Vineman/Barb's Race."

http://community.active.com/thread/47483?tstart=0

I do wear a sleeved wetsuit. My favorite with Team In Training. The other suit is two piece, but always with sleeves.

Also, my buddie wrote a course preview at this site:
http://www.amateurendurance.com/2008/07/vineman-ironman-703-course-previ...

The race director does great at the meetings and has pictures of everything important on Saturday.

Just got an e-mial that the water temp dropped. 80 to 77!

Good news to those of you that like paddling your wetsuit up and down
river... the water temperature on the river dropped from 80 to 77
this week... with any luck it will stay under the 78 cutoff and
wetsuits will be welcomed..

No kidding TriOnLife - we should have suggested a meeting place beforehand or pm'd cell numbers around. I would have liked to have met you guys. Hopefully at another race!

I hope you all had a great time with no injuries. Things went fine for me and I thought it was a gorgeous course. Could have done w/o the hills on the return leg of the run, but all-in-all it was lots of fun.

Haven't done a 140.6 race yet and I am thinking this might be a good one to target for my first iron distance tri. If anyone else is considering it, pm me and maybe we can take advantage of the "buy 2 get 1 free" entries that they have been offering for the full Vineman the last few years.
http://www.vineman.com/latestnews/news-id30.htm

All the best!
KevDaddy

congrats on your great race vanjames. I also had a great race but with some knee issues.

Race report is here if anyone is interested

http://www.breakingthetape.com/21stcenturymom/2008/07/monday_monday_rock...

Sorry we missed you. I have decided that I need to drive and that 10 people with different agendas don't mix well. Race was good and the weather was great!

Just got back and will check out the link to race report tonight. Bolcked here at work.

Thanks KevDaddy! I was really amazed by the run - I actually felt good until the last 3 miles. Of course that means I need to go harder on the bike but for this race I was happy.

Tina, I'm guessing we were all standing near each other at the meeting. I was inside the door but not in the bleachers. There were a couple of yellow hats around but I'm not the type to tap on someone's shoulder and say "Are you KevDaddy" or are you "VanJames" but I'll bet one of you was the guy standing near me.

Oh well. Cell phones make us think it will be easy to connect but without a plan before hand it hardly ever works out.

Next time, right?

There used to be a shop section. There still might be, but I can't find it. I have some trifuel socks, but that's it. They also had shirts and hats I think. Also bottles and stickers.

here's the trifuel hat, shirt, socks

I have some trifuel stuff and have seen people with it in a couple of races.
Congrats to all of you!!