Tritonman Draft Legal Race by Megan Kou

As race day got closer and closer I became increasingly more excited and nervous about racing and tried to convince myself that I hadn’t made an epic mistake signing up for my first draft legal race. Little did I know that I would have the best race of my life that Saturday.

Friday: Day Before Draft Legal

6:30 AM- I dragged myself out of bed to meet Dori at the rec center pool to do a quick shakeout swim before we would embark on our long drive down to San Diego. 

7:30 AM- Speed biked home to pack for the race, which I saved for the last minute of course, because of my excellent time management skills. The Presidents (Thea and Paxton) had told all of us doing DL that we needed to be at the rec center parking lot at 8:30.

8:50ish-  Made it to the parking lot and wasn’t even the last one there. Very swag.

Once everyone had made it to the parking lot, we began debating who would be the lucky individuals that got to sit in the back row of the van. Connor insisted that his legs were longer than Dori’s (which they weren’t) and we spent a very productive segment of time comparing their leg sizes and telling Connor he was delusional.  We finally got on the road, picked up Coach Matt, and started the drive down to SD only about 30 minutes later than we planned. Paxton was driving and Coach Matt was in the passenger seat. Daniel, Dori, and Thea sat in the middle row, and Connor, Donovan, and I sat in the back row. 

When lunchtime rolled around, all of us knew that we had to suppress our hunger until we got to Senor Grubby’s in Carlsbad. Before we had even left SB it was already pre-determined that Senor Grubby’s was going to be the place we would stop at for lunch in order to continue the tradition from the previous year. It did indeed live up to the hype.

3:30PM- We finally arrived at Mission Bay and decided to do a short shakeout spin around Fiesta Island (where we would be biking in the race). Everyone went to get their bikes out of the trailer, and I remembered that I had made the unlucky decision to put my bike in a separate car. Welp. It looked like I was going to have to borrow a teammate’s bike, but the real issue was trying to find a bike that would fit me (I am….very short). After some searching, I spotted another team member’s TT bike that looked like it might fit. I tried riding it around the parking lot and although it wasn’t comfortable, I decided it would do the job. That was a poor decision.

The second we started biking towards the island, I got dropped. One mile into the four-mile loop, I really started to regret choosing to ride the ill-fitting bike and prayed to sweet baby Jesus for the chaffing to end. As I inched my way around the island and watched my teammates get further and further away, I laughed at how ridiculous I felt and hoped for a much better ride during the race.

5:30PM- We made it to Gigi’s house and Paxton very smoothly parked the trailer while the rest of us tried to give somewhat helpful directions. Off to packet pickup and the DL meeting. Our packets came with two! pairs! of! socks! We were all very psyched about that. 

7:15PM- The DL meeting felt like it would go on forever and I could feel the hangry-ness starting to creep in after we had been sitting there for an hour listening to the race officials listing all the rules and penalties of DL racing. Across the aisle, 30-year-old Olympic steeplechase runner, Colleen Quigsley, sat looking ready to destroy the rest of the amateur collegiate field.

When the meeting finally ended, all of us hustled back to the van and Gigi took executive control by telling us where we were going to stop for dinner, no questions asked. Half of the van (Paxton, Daniel, Dori, Donovan, and I) split off to stay at Jim and Sue’s (a friend of Gigi’s) house, where we inhaled our dinner and got ready to race the next morning.

Saturday: Draft Legal Race Day

4:15AM- The alarm went off and Dori and I groggily began getting prepared. Hair was braided, bagels were eaten, and race kits were put on. We picked up the trailer and the rest of the DL crew from Gigi’s house and started making our way to the race site. While the rest of us sat in sleepy silence, Gigi asked, “can we play music? It’s VERY IMPORTANT to me.” Shortly after, Vroom Vroom by Charlie XCX started playing from the back row. 

5:00AM- We arrived at Mission Bay and started unloading the bikes. Everyone got to work putting on the wheels and stickers in all the correct places….and then Conner said that he had forgotten his race packet, with all the stickers and the timing chip, at Gigi’s house. BRUH. Since the boy’s race was before the girl’s race, Gigi very generously offered to drive the truck/trailer home to get Connor’s packet for him while he tried to figure something else out. 

5:40AM- Thea got a call from Gigi. Bad news: the trailer had UNHITCHED from the van while Gigi was driving. The girls needed to bike to where Gigi was and lift the trailer back onto the hitch. We headed over and I remember starting to feel slightly panicked at how unfortunate our morning had already been so far. 

6:20AM -Luckily, five of us were able to lift the trailer back onto the hitch, and directly after doing so, we got a call from Connor saying that the race official was able to get him an extra timing chip so Gigi didn’t need to go get his packet. We made our way back to transition and quickly set up our bikes before it was closed.

6:45AM- The boys were lined up for their in-water start and Dori, Ava, Thea, Gigi, and I watched from the shore. The horn went off and all we saw was a flurry of arms and legs. From the shore, we could see the fastest swimmers already starting their ride on Fiesta Island. We cheered for the boys as they finished the swim and soon, it was time for the girls to warm up before our race. 

8:00AM- The boys’ race had finished by now, and the girls swam out to the start line. I tried to stay close to Dori and Ava but lost them among the sea of red caps around me. I put my finger on the start button on my watch and treaded water, waiting for the horn to go off. 

When the horn went off, I immediately started swimming and kicking as hard as I could, trying to get away from the swimmers behind me whose arms I could feel grabbing at my legs. This was the most aggressive swim I had ever experienced, and for most of the 750 meters, I was constantly fighting to get distance from the girls around me, and trying to stay calm when I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Finally, when I saw the last buoy I picked up the pace, just trying to get to shore. I started running toward transition, feeling like my heart rate was going through the roof. 

I made sure to put all of my gear in the bucket and put my helmet on first. Then I ran towards the mount line and got ready to try a flying mount for the first time at a race. I heard Coach Matt yelling at me, “You can calm down! This is your pack!!” while pointing at the girls in front of me. Once I got my shoes on, I saw one girl ahead of me and pushed hard to catch her. Together, we drafted off of each other, catching another two girls in front of us and forming a single pack. 

Holy cow, I was actually in a pack. I still had no clue where the rest of my teammates were and just kept trying to push the pace of my pack. Halfway through lap 1, a huge pack of girls blew by us, and I pushed to make it onto the end of their pack. I was now in a draft pack with 11 other girls. At times, it was really confusing when girls didn’t know when to drop back or which way to go, but one girl tried to keep us all accountable by yelling at us when to drop back or pull through. My legs were burning so much, but I knew that I COULD NOT get dropped. I felt so happy that I was actually getting to draft.

At the end of lap 3, my pack made our way off Fiesta Island and back towards transition. My feet were completely numb when I slipped my shoes on and started the run. As I started lap 1 of the run, I saw Connor yelling at me “You gotta go!!!” The first lap went by quickly and seeing all the coaches and teammates cheering for me boosted my morale. As I was turning a corner on the second lap, I saw Ava chasing me down the path a quarter of a lap behind me. Ava is a beast, so I knew I needed to pick it up. By the third lap, I was really hurting but I was close to the end.

I sprinted towards and crossed the finish line, feeling like I had nothing left in the tank. The guys were all cheering for us at the finish line and they congratulated me on having such a great race. A minute after I crossed the line, Ava came close behind me, and then Thea, Dori, and Gigi. Gigi had crashed on the bike but powered through like a champion

I was so proud of myself and my teammates for racing so well. For my first draft legal race, I was pretty darn happy with how it went. After getting all our stuff together, we piled into the van and headed off to brunch. In less than 24 hours, all of us would race again at the Tritonman Classic Race, but until then, it was time to feast and sleep.