First, a picture of the transition areas in Tempe Beach Park
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| Overhead view of Tempe Beach Park, from Google Maps |
Layout of the area
The Bleachers, Upper
left corner, is where the swim starts and exits Tempe Town Lake. It will be a rolling start, and we will line
up in the area noted as "Swim Lineup Area". More on that in another post.
In the upper right, you see "Special
Needs Dropoff", this is where you will drop off your bags for Bike Special
Needs and Run Special Needs before the race begins.
In the middle is the
Bike Racks. There is a central Pathway
through the bike area, noted by the thin lines.
At the middle right,
you will see The Women's Tent, and the Mens Tent, Change tents for both
transitions. In the open area to the
right of the tents, there will be chairs set up outside.
In the bottom right
corner is where the T1 and T2 bags will be setup, in several long rows running
in the direction indicated.
How I did it in 2016
Now for a picture of how the transition actually worked during IMAZ 2016, green arrow to start, red box to finish.
I note that the satelite view is different, ignore all the tents in both pictures.
Swim Exit
After exiting from the Swim via the bleachers, there will be Wetsuit strippers. You get to them quickly, so get started on getting upzipped, and getting your arms out of the wetsuit as soon as you get off the bleachers, The green arrow is approximately at the end of the strippers. From there, you proceed around back through the Swim Start area, going behind the change tents, and heading to the T1 bags.
T1 Bags
The T1 Bags will be laid out in rows, with signs at the end and through the row with the range of bags in that row. You will get stickers to place on your bags. It is also a good idea to write your bib number on the bag with a Sharpie, in order to catch it better. You will need to memorize the row and approximate location of your bag, so that you don't spend too much time looking for it. You will likely also be a bit punchy after coming out of the water, so the less thinking, the better. In the picture above, you might note that I go back and forth in the T1 bag area. In my rush, I grabbed the wrong bag, and had to go back and exchange.
Change Tent (or not)
After collecting your bag, you head to the change area. Remember that there is no public nudity allowed, so if you are going to do a full outfit change, you must do that inside the change tent. If you wear Tri-shorts, and top under your wetsuit, you can stay outside the tents, which gives some advantage.
First, you will be coming out of the water in the middle of the pack, and with the majority of the competitors. Seats inside the tent are at a premium, and you may have to wait. Always ask a volunteer for help in finding a seat. The ground will be muddy by this time, as everyone will be putting away their wetsuit and getting water everywhere. And it never smells good in the tent.
So if you can avoid it, do your transition outside the tents in the open area.
Dump the contents of your T1 bag on the ground, and put your wetsuit, cap, goggle, earplugs in the bag. If you get lucky, you can get a volunteer to do this for you, and they will take care of your bag after you have filled it. Note that you are going to want to have a towel to clean your feet before putting socks on, and perhaps to dry off a bit.
You have to go through the tent to get to your bike.
There will be porta potties close to the exit of the change tents, so this is your last change to pit stop before starting the bike leg.
Bike Storage
Now you will head into the bike storage area. It is important to memorize the row and location of your bike. You are not allowed to hang flags, fly balloons, or any other such trick. We typically count the rows (from the right hand side of the picture). Once you have your bike, you can then head out the far side of the bike storage area, enter the mount zone, and get started on the bike leg.
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