13:10 Did anybody catch last week's episode of NBC's The Office...the one where Michael produces a 5K Fun Run to with proceeds going to the "Rabies Awareness Fund"?  OMG, hilarious.  If you haven't, you can still watch it on NBC's Video Rewind's free on-demand service at NBC.com.

Yesterday's flight home was expedited by some serious tailwinds, and I arrived at 3:00pm--nearly 90 min. early! No complaints. I did my trademark "stay up the whole flight"--tactic (well...almost...slept about 90 min. towards the end of the flight)--in order to adjust back to the PST timezone as fast as possible.

By the time I went to sleep last night at 9:00pm PST, I had been basically "up" (with the exception of the 90-min nap on the flight) since 4:00pm Sunday PST (7am Mon HKG).

This week's gonna be a bit crazy as my brother Vic is getting married on Saturday here in SF! Friday night, Rehearsal Dinner. Sat. wedding. Then, Sunday, a combined 5th Birthday (for my daughter Cami) with 3rd Birthday for Griffin (my nephew)--Veggie Tales theme too, whoopee!

Hong Kong (HKG) > San Francisco (SFO)

16:30 At the airport on Lantau, in the United Airlines lounge awaiting my 18:30 flight to San Francisco.  This is the quietiest I've seen the airport.

I suppose its attributable to today being October 1, which is after all the new (est. as public holiday in 1997) "National Day" here in the PRC--China's version of the 4th of July.  So, I suppose the Departures terminals are less busy, than say the Arrivals which are receiving returning folks from 3-day weekends.

But, National Day, like 4th of July, doesn't put a damper on capitalism.  All the stores and restaurants are open--the only thing closed it seems are the factories, corporate offices and government offices. 

No time for the gym this morning, too many things to wrap up in at the office.  

Tai Po - Tsim Sha Tsui

18:12 Back at the hotel after a visit to the gym, and a quick bite from Ebeneezer's (my favorite kebab joint) on Ashley Rd. here in Tsim Sha Tsui. Got in a good swim, and short spin (just wanted to see if my right hip was "acting up" at all--which it wasn't).

I'm currently watching Women's World Cup soccer, the US vs. Norway. They (the US) just went up 3-nil against a good lookin' Norwegian team. Gotta start packing at some point tonight--but I'm beat from lack of sleep last night, and my workout. Umm....the US just went up 4-0 in a matter of another 2 minutes.

BTW, I posted my race report in the Sonic team's forum here in Hong Kong, and got a reply that road bikes are more prevalent in Hong Kong because of the hilly nature of all the roads--making climbing bikes the triathlete's choice here.

13:00 My Spectator Report in a kind of Race Report format for the OSIM ITU Asian Cup (Hong Kong).

I spent the night at a co-workers home in Tai Po, in Hong Kong's New Territories. Because my hotel is in Tsim Sha Tsui, I didn't want to have to wake at probably around 3:00am to take a taxi (no public transport at that hour) all the way to the Central side, to then catch a chartered-bus (known as "coaches" here) to the race site. (Note: Kent Wong, proprietor of TriSports HK had been unbelievably accommodating in offering me seat on his chartered-bus to the race site!).

The other option to the race would've been a cab ride, but that would've run close to HK$ 300.00-400.00 (US$ 38.00-50.00) in my estimation--which would've been worth it if I didn't have a crash pad in Tai Po, or coach ride to the race site.

So, around 6:15am, my buddy is kind enough to drop me off at Pat Sin Leng County Park where the race was being held. The Park itself is nestled, as shown above, where the mountains meet the sea--like much of Hong Kong.

I'm told its a popular recreation area for fishermen, campers, and for family picnics and barbecues. Here's an example of the Public Notice with regards to the Race Site posted around the park by Hong Kong's Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

This is a pic of the race expo area. Just like any race at home.

Another shot of the race expo area (from the far side), and that blue kind of billboard in the middle is the podium backdrop.

One conspicuously absent necessity here was that of porta-potties. Not a single one. The only bathroom facilities for the hundreds of racers and families was the park's bathroom facilities--which only included 4-toilet stalls and 2-urinals in the men's room. The facilities were quickly rendered into the realm of biohazard. The RD's would've done well to have at least 10-15 porta-potties onsite.

Long Race Registration lines. Has a very familiar feel to it! I was able to chat with a number of racers, and the enthusiasm for triathlon and competition was palpable--any BT'er would've felt right at home here. All levels of folks were here--from the novice to the podium-AG'er.

What I didn't get to see were any of the Elites. Seems, they raced this same course the previousmarked uniforms.
Sunday. But, there were some local Elites that raced again today--complete in their ITU-style name-and-country-

I really got the sense though that the majority of competitors were in it for the "fun and challenge of it".

Most bikes were of the road-bike variety with clip-ons. I don't know if that's a part of ITU-type racing (where drafting is legal and you want to be "on your brakes" at all times during a draft)--or if tri-bikes haven't made their way into the mainstream. I was a bit confused about the drafting legality--it was legal for some waves, and not others--depending on the division if I got it right.

An interesting feature of this race locale was the "linear racking" of all the bikes. Due to the layout of the race site, and this bottlenecked area, there was literally there was one-row of bikes stretching a 1/4-1/3 of a mile for all the competitors (see course map picture below)--as opposed to the standard grid-like racking I'm accustomed to.

But, one cool thing was the reserved rack space--assigned by bib number as you can see here.

The swim portion was in a protected cove (called Plover Cove) in approximately 20C water. According to Kent Wong, wetsuits were not legal at this event (even though the 20C translates to 68F). That explains why I did not see a single wetsuit on any of the competitors. Above is the concrete jetty that lead to the water entrance/exit.

Spectators lined the shore-end of the jetty watching the Wave 1 racers in the water. The royal blue-clad racers (with the "citi" sponsorship) are from the Sonic Sports Association--Kent Wong's race team. As this race had multiple waves, and multiple distance competitors, the entire race area (much like Hong Kong itself) was very congested with racers and spectators alike.

Swim course was 2 laps around a rectangular course. Here the second wave makes its way around for a second lap. The lifeguards on their kayaks did a great job of monitoring all the swimmers.

Some racers exiting the water and running down the jetty en route to T1.

Now, here was a harbinger of the congestion to come. You can see the "T1 PATH" I've photoshopped in above. The path leads to the "linear bike racks" described above. And, you can see the number of folks--both competitors and later-wave racers alike just milling about in the path. What this photo doesn't capture was how much more congested it got later (mentally quadruple the number of folks in this still shot and you get the idea!). Eventually arriving racers and families arrived for the Sprint and Fun distance races collided with swimmers from Wave 2 making their way to T1! At times it got a bit ugly--lots of yelling, pushing, and shoving.

Due to the narrow confines of this area, I understand why it was laid out the way it was, but the RD's had woefully undermanned this area--with only about 4 staffers attempting to police the traffic at this crucial nexus. They needed 10-15 staffers for T1 alone.

Here two early-Wave racers exit after T1 and approach the timing mat. Those concrete pillars proved to be problematic to the flow of racers as the race progressed. Viewed from this angle it was okay, but when approaching from an oblique angle, many racers got confused and ran down the right-side path towards registration on the return leg.

Eventually, some volunteers "tied off" the right hand side path with cordoning tape.

Oh, btw, here in Hong Kong--you "Stay to the Left" in all matters of traffic movement (be it auto, bike, or pedestrian traffice). A legacy of the British Crown's rule over this area.

Now, here was where things got really hairy. This narrow pathway at the bike-mount line served as both the Bike-In and Bike-Out path. So, imagine riders coming in at speed (see "inbound rider") directly towards outbound riders. Imagine the above picture with triple the number of inbound riders and 10-15x's the number of outbound riders--and you get the idea that injuries are inevitable.

Here's an idea of the number of outbound riders clogging up both inbound and outbound lanes. Note to RD: there should've been painted lines or smaller cones dividing up the two lanes in this area.

Compounding the congestion problem was the idiotic blasting of music from the PA which made the traffic-director's megaphones nearly impossible to hear until you nearly right on top of them. Additionally, cars--you read that right--CARS were attempting to drive (in the above picture) from left-to-right through the area marked with cones to get to another area of the park. So, again, the overworked volunteers in the bike mount/dismount area (which was woefully undermanned also!) had to do double-duty directing auto traffic. Crazy!

And this was the inevitable result. Another injured rider. This particular rider ended up with a DNF after taking this fall and getting patched up by the EMT's (wearing khaki). I felt really bad for him because it didn't have to be this way.

Now, don't get the impression that it was all one cluster you-know-what. But, the worst of the congestion happened at the worst possible time--when the Sprint/Fun racers were on the outbound, and the fast racers from Wave 2 were on the inbound. Lots of near misses.

An early finisher from a relay team finds his way down the finishing chute.

The trophies table.

I stuck around to watch the first individual finishers from Wave 1. By this time, the sun was coming out and it was getting hot. So, I called my buddy to pick me up.

All in all, it was great fun. And, I realize that my write-up above highlights a number of the shortcomings of the race--but that's what I saw. I know what my write-up can't show is how much fun I'm sure 99% of the racers, and the sheer joy of their participating in this crazy sport called Triathlon in Hong Kong.

Another thing is: this is Hong Kong. Congestion here is the norm. And what appears like chaos to this American gwai lo (even though I'm ethnically Chinese), is perfectly normal and functional here. So one has to take that into account when reading my critiques above.

But I suppose the most pertinent endorsement is the fact that I'm going to try to plan my next year's business trip to coincide with this race! I'll bring my helmet and cleat and rent/borrow/steal a bike to get in on the fun!

Tsim Sha Tsui - Wan Chai - Hung Hom - Tai Po

10:30 Okay, busy all day today. This is the last day our convention here at the HKCEC, and that means packing up and transporting everything back to our offices in Hung Hom. A lot of work would be putting it mildly.

Tonight, I'm planning on staying overnight at my office manager's home in Tai Po--which happens to be the location of the OSIM Asian Cup ITU race tomorrow! What a coincidence and windfall. He'll even drop me off at the race-site at 6:30 tomorrow morning for me to see the first wave of Pros go off. Then, come back and pick me up at 10:00am and drop me off at the KCR Rail Station, so I can hitch a train ride home. Can't be that.

This will be my first triathlon attendance as a spectator. And, definitely my first spectating--and perhaps only for quite a while--of an ITU-style (i.e. draft-legal) race. I will be sure take lots of pics and post'em up here later in the afternoon.

17:00 Okay, so today things at the HKCEC are slow. The crowds and clients have dwindled a bit, at least in my location. What does this mean? Means I have time to read-up on funny threads like this at ST: "New IM products". I mean, Ironman recovery mattresses? Ironman coffee? Ironman elliptical machines? So, of course, the thread takes a turn for the comedic...with mock-ups of Ironman toilet-paper and Ironman toilets.

So, having some free time, I naturally had to get in on the ribbing with this mock-up of my own:

We'll all know that the WTC has hit rock-bottom when they license these out....

Tsim Sha Tsui - Wan Chai

08:13 Okay, I'm a bit "tight" this morning...won't admit to being sore. All in all, integrating strength training into my early off-season (technically, its not off-season yet, as I've got one more Sprint Race to complete on Nov. 11) has been a nice change of pace from strictly SBR all the time. Off to the HKCEC in about an hour or so.

Tsim Sha Tsui - Wan Chai

20:15 Finished the day at the HKCEC around 7pm, and took the MTR home.  Was back at the hotel by 7:30pm, changed and headed out towards the gym.  Grabbed a bite to eat at the CitySuper Cooked Deli food court--Vietnamese pork chops over rice, with Vietnamese chicken-spring rolls.  Mmmm.... Time for sleep!  I'm wiped out!

12:30 I'm a bit obsessing about the fact that my Weekly Hours graph has "dropped" down to the range scale of 0-500min. I like having the 0-700min range, and am now obsessed with putting in a 10-hour week this week so that: a) I get that 0-700min range scale back and b) because I can (put in a 10-hours week this week). Am I totally whacked?

10:45 Okay, new strategy for the commute to the HKCEC today. No way was I going to wear my dress shirt again, only to soak it with sweat on the ferry ride & walk over the the HKCEC (yesterday, you recall, I made that mistake--exacerbated by a hot Starbuck's Grande Cappuchino--.and my shirt looked like I had just ran a 5K in it. Mildly uncomfortable and embarrassing to say the least.)

So, today, my Starbuck's order was for a Frappuchino, and I wore a t-shirt on the ride over and carried my dress shirt in my backpack. Much better. I stayed cooler, didn't ruin my dress shirt. I'll have to remember this trick for my next visit.