Bike checkin

Remember those 5 bags in my race packet? Well, today was the day to fill them. My support crew left me alone to agonize on which items to go in the red bag vs the blue bag vs the yellow bag. There’s added pressure when you consider these bags go to different places. I can’t imagine what might happen if you put, say, your bike shoes in your run bag. Unlike other triathlons where you lay out your run & bike gear next to your bike, here in Kona cheerful volunteers hand you various colored bags at different stages of the event.

After the bags were packed it was time to check in my bike along with two of the five bags (the remaining yellow, green, and grey bags are dealt with tomorrow). What an amazing experience. I felt like triathlon royalty. Upon entering the transition area, I was assigned a personal volunteer who walked me to my bike station and helped get my bike situated. Then she helped me to double check the items in my various bags. Then she pointed out landmarks so I can easily find my bike tomorrow. Then, we took a tour of the transition area where she showed me how I would enter and exit for both the swim/bike and bike/run transition. Along the way we hung up my bags (see photos below), saw the shower area and the women’s changing rooms where we get fresh towels – yes, she said fresh towels! This is really going to be a great experience!

Bike racks with carpet throught transition!

Shower area

Red bag area (was that the bike bag or the run bag??)

My personal volunteer in front of blue bag area