Kring and Chung Tri in Newport Beach

I am contemplating this as a quick tuneup after my IMCal recovery. (The timing is perfect)

One of my training partners was the overall female winner last year and had lots of good things to say about this race.

Great race.  I did it last year.  Suggest VIP pick-up.

I think it didn't go one year because of conflicts with Newport Beach city council.

Did it last year and signed up again.

The race was cancelled in 06 because of a conflict with the city--the course ran around Fashion Island and they didn't like all the traffic closures.  New course last year, 2 laps up Back Bay Drive and back.  Mostly uphill going out (but only one short somewhat steep part) and downhill coming back.  Fairly narrow, so with that many people going both directions it's kind of hard not to draft at least a bit.  It's a 16 mile bike course, which may be the reason for the increase in times from 05 to 07.

The run is an out-and-back mostly along paths & not on the road.  There's a bit of a hill coming up to the turnaround point.

The swim is way flat, a rectangle around Back Bay.  But be careful getting out of the water, there's a lot of mud in the shallows, and some sharp stuff (mostly shells, I'm hoping) in it--lots of people came out of the water with scrapes or cuts on their feet & ankles.  Better off swimming until your hand touches.

It's the same RD as previous years, Pacific Sports which also runs Long Beach and LA Tri's, among other events.

One week to go! Who's in? Octrojan? Waterdog? Tjh? I think mixie said she was out. Looks like fun! Time to taper!

Yep, I'm in. 

Did my first OWS of the year this afternoon (I know, shame on me, and I haven't been doing all that much pool swimming either).  Hoping that Back Bay will be just a bit warmer than Alamitos Bay.

I'm traveling all week, but think I'm going to go down and pre-ride the bike course on Saturday either before or after packet pickup.

tjh, Alamitos Bay is in the mid 50's right now. I believe the Back Bay is closer to 60. The race website says low to mid 60's. I hope they're right!

Hope to see you at the race! Enjoy your taper!

I don't think the hills are too bad. I used the map thingy on BT to see the climbs and they didn't look bad at all. I plan to drive them after packet pick up on Saturday.

Good luck!