Race Report: Honu 70.3, Part I

Traveling for triathlon races is no easy task because of the amount of equipment involved. TomCat, my bike, is not yet packed. His pedals wouldn't come off so needed a visit to the LBS (local bike shop). He just got a new hydration system so needed to test out the positioning - yes, totally broke the rule on not using anything new during a race but it's going to be hot in Hawaii plus better to test it at this race than at Ironman Canada.
 
Another new gear I bought was the half wetsuit - just the bottom - since a full wetsuit would be too warm for this water but the bottom will still have the buoyancy for the legs. As I'm trying it on for fit, a text from United Airline came in to notified passengers that tomorrow morning's flight has been delayed by 2 hours. Funny enough all week long I've been telling our Hawaii crew that if my flight is delayed by 2 hours, I would miss the registration/packet pick-up and would be forced to sit on the beach under the sun with a Mai Tai or Piña Colada instead of racing. Oh no, how dreadful! ;)

With the wetsuit bottom pulled up halfway, I waddled over to my computer to check the new flight arrival time and race logistics in Athlete's Guide. Now with the wetsuit bottom still halfway done up, I'm flipping through the Athlete's Guide and noticed that the wetsuit rule has been updated to no wetsuit allowed - full stop (versus previously wetsuit was allowed but racers wearing wetsuit would not be eligible for podium nor prizes). Well, no more need for this wetsuit bottom that I'm trying on. Got it off faster than I could ever put it on!

Next task is packing TomCat into his travel bag. Pedals off - check! Seat off, derailleur off, wheels off - easy! Affix frame to the bottom of the travel case and wheels to the side of the travel case - took a bit of time but not too bad. Oh oh, I don't have any foam paddings, what shall I do? Oh yes, I knew all the cotton race t-shirts collected over the years would come into good use one day. The next part, the wrapping of bike parts to bike frame so nothing is loose, took forever. Two hours later, TomCat is ready for Hawaii. Three hours later, I was packed for Hawaii. But then I realized that I will have less than an hour between touching down in Kona, picking up luggage, renting a car and driving to race site, so I would have zero time to sort out T1 and T2 transition bags there, so unpack and repack everything in the fourth hour.

Five hours later, I am ready to start the destination race journey. For a fast pro, he could've finished a half ironman in this time.

Endurance Sport, Part II to be continued...