Alcatraz: icy water, killer currents, sharks…and the swim is the easy part. Really, who wouldn’t want to do this race? The distances, for those counting, are a unique 1.5 mile swim, 18 mile bike, and 8 mile run.

Getting In

There are 2 ways to get a spot on the boat: qualify by placing very high in your AG at one of the “Escape” satellite events, which have about 300 spots, or enter a random drawing for one of about 1200 or so lottery spots. Because I live pretty far from any of the qualifying events, I went the lottery route. (OK, OK, the fact that I have never placed at or near the top of my AG when the field is any larger than, say, 3 people might have had something to do with my decision :) ). Mrs. PJT and I both won spots last December and made a vacation out of the race.

Pre-Race

We shipped our bikes via TriBike Transport and flew to SF on Thursday. Friday morning, Mrs. PJT and I headed to Aquatic Park for a short dip in the Bay. We parked on a hill overlooking the swimming area, and noticed a few people out in the distance doing laps around the buoy line. “Is that guy not wearing a wetsuit?” I asked my wife as I squinted at what appeared to be some bare arms churning the water. “No, he must have some red wetsuit or something.” We walked down to the beach. I put on the wetsuit, neoprene hat, and goggles and charged into the water.

This is probably not a news flash to many of you, but that water they’ve got in SF Bay is cold. Really, really cold. I would guess it was around 55F. I had an ice cream headache for the first few minutes of the swim, and my hands and feet throbbed and went intermittently numb. The passage of time while swimming did not help all that much, either. I began to understand why the Alcatraz prisoners were so unsuccessful in their escape attempts. We did solve the mystery of the red wetsuit guy. He really was just wearing a swimsuit, and his arms, legs and torso were a shade of bright shade of pink from the water. On the plus side, the sea lion who earlier this year forced the closure of Aquatic Park after biting a number of swimmers did not put in an appearance.

Saturday was a tour of Alcatraz in the morning, which was very cool. That afternoon was registration and the course talk. The course talk for this race is one of the more critical ones to attend for one reason: there are test swimmers on the course that week who evaluate the currents and give advice for the best route. The swim exit is roughly 1.5 miles southwest from the starting point, but anyone who tries to swim to it in a straight line is in for trouble, as there is an ebb tide that pulls you straight west towards the Golden Gate bridge and into the Pacific. This year, the directions were pretty simple: swim south until the ebb tide pulls you west of a certain landmark, then turn southwest and aim for the finish. Kayakers would form a wide boundary around the swimmers to give the pack a rough border, but we were cautioned not to rely too much on them for sighting, as they could turn to assist swimmers, etc.

Swim

Sunday morning, up at 3:30, in transition by about 4:15, and then onto the bus to the dock. We sat outside for an hour or so, pulling on the wetsuits halfway to stay warm, then boarded the massive ferry around 6:00. At 6:15 sharp, the ferry cast off and we started chugging towards Alcatraz. The water had warmed up and was now 57F. The boat stopped about 50 yards from Alcatraz, and we waited until 7:00. The swim start was controlled chaos. The organizers boasted that they would have all 1500+ swimmers off the boat in 6 minutes. They must have come pretty close. Word to the wise: if you are in an earlier wave, head to the far side of the boat when boarding. Like many others, I was stuck in the crowd by the doors for a good couple of minutes after my wave officially started before I made it outside.

On the edge of the ferry, the gates were open and volunteers were standing by each one screaming “GO GO GO.” I got into line, saw the person in front of me jump, waited for him to clear, put one hand on my goggles and stepped off the ledge. Splashdown—and the cold hit again. Not as bad this time. The swim course wasn’t too crowded. There was some contact, but by and large I found myself in clear space. The water had some decent chop, and visibility was maybe 3 feet. I didn’t really get any good prolonged drafting in, which was a pity. I also swallowed a mouthful of seawater in the first minute. Still, the current was really ripping us to the west, and I finished the swim in 40:48 (unofficially a little faster, as I had a late start). I have to say, hitting the beach was an awesome feeling.

Bike

At the swim exit, we ran a little over a half mile to T1. We had scouted the course the day before by car, and I knew I was in for some real climbing. The course heads away from the Marina, winds through the Presidio, descends to the Pacific, turns into Golden Gate Park, and then reverses itself. There are 4 substantial climbs along with 4 high speed descents, with some very tight corners.

Early on, it became apparent that the bike course was hopelessly crowded and not many people were following the “ride right, pass left” rule. There was a ton of blocking and right side passing, especially on the climbs but also, ominously, on the downhills. This was my first race of the year, and I knew the upcoming run would be a bear, so I opted to take the bike course slower than my normal race pace and not sweat the crowding. I passed Mrs. PJT (who is a better swimmer than me) around Mile 4 of the bike and finished in a moderately-paced 1:10:20.

There was at least one bad crash during the day. Around mile 14, on a downhill, I rode by a group of emergency vehicles and 2 riders being strapped onto backboards. Lots of blood. Reportedly, everyone involved is OK but 1 rider is still hospitalized.

Run

The run starts with a flat 2 miles out of T2 towards the Presidio, a mile of climbing on stairs and some narrow trails, a descent, a run on some very soft sand, and then the infamous “sand ladder.” This is a stairway pretty much running right up the face of a steep hill near the Presidio for 400 steps followed by a short bit of more climbing. After that, it’s downhill on the same narrow paths, 2 miles of flat stuff and you’re done. The course was definitely tough, but the views along the trail were spectacular. I didn’t find my legs for quite a while, struggled on the beach portion, toughed out the sand ladder, sped up for the final 3 miles, and finished in 1:16:13. Add in transition times and my total was 3:20:08. Slowish, but I was OK with that.

Wrap-up

Alcatraz has a reputation as a “must-do” event and I now understand why. I thought the race organization was very well done, the only thing I would change would be to have some very defined AG corrals on the ferry and a better emphasis on bike positioning rules. The course itself was very challenging for being a relatively “short” event and the scenery was just awesome. Between the race fee, bike shipping, and stay in SF, it was not a cheap weekend, but definitely worth it. I hope to get out there again someday.