Event / Venue Report - Ironman Vineman, Jul 2016

Newly coined "Ironman" Vineman takes place in Northern California, as it has since it's inception >20 years ago.  It's the longest running iron distance race in the continental United States, and was another in the line of events with dwindling participation numbers that Ironman has purchased in recent time.  (See also Cheasapeake Man, aka Ironman Maryland and Beach to Battleship, aka Ironman North Carolina.)  It is a point-to-point race beginning in Guerneville and ending in Windsor, two towns that outside of this race most folks would have no reason to have heard of.  That's not a dig, it's just a comment that the location doesn't have the same wide spread name recognition that Lake Placid or Lake Tahoe do.  However, through my athlete guide I have come to learn that, "Guerneville is the West Coast's "favorite gay and lesbian playground", which brings to my mind images of Province Town, Massachusettes (at the eastern tip of Cape Cod and very out).  However, the vibe was nothing like that.  Just looked like a nice ol hippy-granola type place though I can also imagine the thought of spandex clad A-types possibly driving away the usual vacationers.  Sonoma County, however - in which these communities are situated - is of course known for its wineries, which tie in nicely with the name of the event.

What follows are some notes on the venue and my experience of racing here, without any specifics of how my race went; that'll be a separate post.

Jones Beach is set up for the race, with swim exit at the far end of this shoot.

View toward swim start, from swim exit.  That nice white beach is comprised of river rocks.

Venue and Course Details:

Weather:  Held at the end of July, I've seen two weather patterns described as normal for this race:

• No Marine Layer:  60-70 deg morning, rising quickly by mid morning, topping out at 85-105 by mid afternoon.  Generally less wind, from the east (if my notes are correct).

• Marine Layer: 50's at start of swim and bike, warming to 70-85 mid-afternoon.  More wind late in the day, perhaps 20 mph and affecting the 2nd loop of the bike, on CA-128.  Temp dropping into the evening.

Published course map looks straight forward to follow.

Google Maps track from Strava shows a notable
bend in the course.

Swim: Jones Beach (in Guerneville) is rocky, not sandy; either toughen up your feet or wear disposable shoes on race day.  The Russian River is narrow, shallow, and without an appreciable current.  The swim is a single loop, out and back, starting near the damn, so the 1^st ½ of the swim is against the very low current.  It is possible to swim the entire thing by occasionally altering your stroke to be up close to your body.  Many people walk and with the # of participants of an Ironman event, these people were annoying as they were difficult to avoid.  (It’s a SWIM, Fools!)  Combo of narrow, shallow, and # participants meant swim was very choppy.  Crowding made it difficult to accomplish full momentum recovery strokes w/o whacking people.  Water was clean and nice, though shallow + # racers made for some opacity.  The river has some sharp bends, making for a very non-linear course that combined with the chop, seemed quite confusing to navigate.  The published swim course map is quite misleading in this respect.

T1: Is a dirt field at Jones Beach; carpets were put down along the running paths from the water's edge to the change tents, and between the tents and the bike racks to bike out, but unfortunately not inside the tents themselves.  Either lose lots of time cleaning your feet, or man up – it’s only dirt, not cow shit.  These were the smallest change tents I’ve ever seen at an IM event (CAC year 2 may have had smaller) and the women’s was very crowded on race day.

First climb, discounting the one leaving T1.

Not actually on the bike course, but a
similar view could be found for much of the ~17
between Windsor and Guerneville.

There’s a somewhat narrow space for the bikes to be lined up, which made the full length of racks seem really long.  The mount line was at the bottom of the hill at Jones Beach and in my opinion, suitably placed for a flying mount assuming you know what you’re doing.  Note this race does not allow your shoes to be clipped to your pedals in transition; only pro’s get to do this.  Maybe it’s for the best that most people walk this small hill, but this means you need to call out for a clear lane to bike it.

Bike course with markings for: T = timing mat, W = aid station, SN = Special Needs.

Bike elevation profile, amounting to 4200 ft gain.

More bike course.

Bike: Very fun, very pretty bike course nestled around several vineyards.  Route is something like a popsicle, with ~8 mi between T1 and the start of the loop.  The 55 mi loop is completed once (clockwise), then 89% of it is repeated (49 mi) to close out 111 miles.  It’s mostly rolling hills with a couple of notable climbs, amounting to ~4200 ft elevation gain.  Pavement quality was overall pretty good due to some recent repaving, except for a short segment on Fought Rd.  The southwest portion of the course is shaded but much of the rest is unshaded and I hear afternoon winds are common (mainly affecting the 2^nd lap).  The course is generally open to traffic in both directions, but my experience involved few cars; left turns and busy intersections were manned by police.  I think there were 5 different aid stations, for a possibility of 9 aid opportunities.  The approach to bike in was through a neighborhood, and was well set up for flying dismounts; all participants were allowed to leave shoes on the bike, if desired.  Distance between dismount line and where bikes were handed off was very short.

These are the Strava segments I found fun:

           Westside DH Bomber, 0.3 mi and -5% descent, at miles 8.3 and 63.9.

           Canyon Rd, 1.7 mi and 2% climb, at miles 25.9 and 81.0.

           Canyon Rd Descent, 0.5 mi and -5%, at miles 27.5 and 82.6.

           Chalk Hill Climb, 0.5 mi and 7%, at miles 43.9 and 99.0.

           Chalk Hill the Inbound Rush, 2.5 mi and -2% descent, at miles 44.5 and 99.7.

That white fencing was the back drop for one of the bike course photographers.

T2: Is 14 miles from T1, on a grass field at Windsor High School.  The women’s tent seemed larger than at T1.  Overall transition set-up wasn’t terribly long (contrast, Ironman Boulder which has a hugely long T2).  Note, bike in and T2 are probably not interesting places for spectators, as there's not much to see, nowhere to sit, and no entertainment.  Spectators want to be in the park, just beyond run out.

Run: The course led out to and through Keiser Community Park and was then 3 loops of largely unshaded out-and-back.  Combined with the ~0.4 long hill on Windsor River Road with an uncomfortably pronounced camber, this made for a really tough course with ~850 ft elevation gain.  The run course is still pretty, passing along a couple of viney farms (believe I saw a sign for black berries).  The park is a great place for family to hang out, given the music, bathrooms, and playground area for the kiddos, though I did not notice whether there was vending in the area for spectators.  There was an energy station sponsored by Base Salt positioned roughly ½ way along Eastside Road, which combined with the 3 loop nature made for a really un-lonely run.  After 3 loops the course turns off for ~0.3 mi to the finish line, which is inside Windsor High School.

Run elevation profile.  Amounts to ~850 ft gain.

Finish Area: Matches many other IM’s, with grandstands and upbeat music.  But unfortunately, under the Ironman brand, there is no massage at this event which has historically offered it.  I was told Ironman does not pay masseurs, therefore requiring they be volunteers.  With this knowledge I think it’s miraculous any IM has them (who wants to massage a bunch of gross athletes for free?).

Morning clothes bags were transported from T1 and stored with T2 bags near our bikes, which made pick up really easy – presuming you have some kind of family/friend serving as chauffeur for the day.  Otherwise, athletes needed to take a shuttle back to Jones Beach to get their cars, then drive back to Windsor HS to collect their things (since bikes were not allowed on the bus).  What a pain in the ass and combined with the cluster of morning traffic near T1, this setup should be changed for future years.

Overall Logistics: This leads to my only overall dig for this event, and my coach said it was true also for another California race he did.  This race is impossible to do without having a car.  The site is >60 mi from the area’s major airports (Sacramento, San Fransisco, San Jose), though the Sonoma County airport is quite close to Windsor HS.  Where there was a highway there was lots of traffic; where there wasn’t, the country roads were slow going, very bumpy, and required many turns.  Usually I get a pretty good lay of the land when I travel for events, but here the GPS took us a different path every time.  Sure there are complexities with any split transition race, but this one had seemingly very little housing options near either T1 or T2, or even anywhere nearby.  We stayed 30 miles away, in Sebastopal, which made all tasks arduous – driving to the expo (check in was required Wed or Thur), dropping gear off at multiple locations (required on Friday), athlete dinner at still another location (Thursday in Santa Rosa).  I personally like to have more down time in the days leading up to a race and if you include scouting the bike course, this venue just didn’t allow for it.  I probably would have something different to say had we secured housing near either T1 or T2 (or maybe if I didn't spend time unpacking and building my bike).

Jaded Toad BBQ and Grill in Windsor.  Didn't get to go, but it looks intriguing.

Additional Race Day and Experience Notes:

• Morning venue approach – leave much earlier than you think you need to.  Traffic to Jones Beach is terrible - we aimed for 5 am arrival (when transition opened) but got 5:30.  Participants either need to park or get dropped off here, as there is no morning shuttle service.  This is a real shame given it’s a point-to-point course, meaning cars are all parked 14 mi from the finish line.
• Special Needs was easy to pass by from all directions of approach.  Drop that off then walk down hill to Transition.
• Transition was quite dark – suggest a headlamp.
• Morning clothes drop was conveniently located just out of transition, near the beach, and also near the porta potties, the line-up for which created some congestion.
• Swim corral set up (fencing) meant walking a good distance on rocks (beach) to get into the cue - I suggest disposable shoes.

• Time trial swim start was very civilized.  No contact w/ other swimmers.
• Swim exit lined w/ carpet (too bad they didn’t do this for swim start!)
• They had wetsuit strippers.  I didn’t notice anyone picking T1 bags up for us but was too driven to wait on help anyway.

• T1 tent was very crowded.  I ran through it so can’t comment on the helpfulness of the volunteers, other than to say hand off of my bag was easy.   Sunscreen volunteers were positioned between tent exit and the bike corral; I passed through w/o grabbing any.

At the bike aid station on 128, looking east.

• I used the same 3 bike aid stations on both laps.  Two of them were great about taking the caps off the water so I could quickly fill my bottle; one aid station just didn’t get it and this resulted in my needing to stop to get the hand-off.  There was quite a bit of crowding as I hit the 2^nd lap, making this seem briefly like a gran fondo rather than a no-draft race.  There were several motorcycle / ref passes, more than I’ve seen at any prior race, but I didn’t see any penalties given.  Everyone seemed very friendly, even the blatant drafters that I called out as they passed by me.

• T2 had folks to pick up our bags from where they were lined up on the ground.  Without carpeting mapping the way and with race brain in effect, I had to ask which way to go after getting my bag; I could see the tents but not the break in the fencing to get there.   The in-tent volunteers were dying to be helpful, offering lots of things (empty bag, fill bag, remove helmet for me…) but relying on others was not part of my game plan.  Here too, I ran past the sunscreen volunteers, so I can’t comment on how quick/thorough they were.

Part of the bike course that reminds me of the run course.

• The run used no designation of what lap runners are on.  I was hoping for elastic bracelets like Ironman Kalmar has, so you can tell who is ahead of you.  Despite being in wine country, there were zero grapes at aid stations (or watermelon; I'd have given my first born for some watermelon).  Some sections of the run course near the park were narrow and could be tough to navigate given the increased course density created by the 3-loops, however the people were great and stayed out of the way – contrast Ironman Boulder where there are a crazy amount of locals all over the run course, not giving a shit there is a race going on.

Other Notes: Check-in was easy, expo was fine, on-site bike support though, had no torque wrench; in other words if you use Vector pedals, best to travel with your own wrench.  Athlete dinner was outdoors in Santa Rosa.  Live music was nice, food was tasty (lightly barbecued chicken, red potatoes, quinoa salad, some other yummy salad, sourdough bread, ice cream).  The presentation gave a history of the event and had the usual inspirational videos, including footage of my friend Kristy.  Athlete breakfast was outside at the high school and here I thought the food tried too hard: instead of having enough coffee, and sausage, they had foo foo food: quinoa souffle quiche, cold oatmeal in mason jars.   The post-race video focused on the volunteers (instead of the racers), which was different (and actually kind of classy).

Would I do this race again – yes, if I got closer housing.  But the logistics of flying to an event are hassle enough without the added complexities presented by staying at neither T1 or T2.