Thursday was a busy travel day of missed flights and delays. But I finally arrived at the Waikoloa Hilton just North of Kona. There were about 20 teammates including my coach on my flights, so the swim preview was cancelled due to the late arrival. We met at 7:00pm in a ballroom to assemble our bikes that were shipped here last week. This was a chore! There were 60 teammates all assembling at the same time. Every part had to be greased before it was added to the bike. It was pretty mechanical - especially for those of us who are mechanically challenged. After about 3 hours, my bike passed the safety inspection. Yippee! Time for bed!
This morning was the course preview. I met my team at 9:00am and we rode the short distance to the swim course. I had been warned about the coral in the bay several times. Don't stand on the coral or you will get cut. I did a fabulous job of avoiding the coral. Unfortunately I was not warned about the attack sea urchins and ended up with a big toe full of black sea urchin spines that not only hurt like heck, but leave a lovely purple dye under your skin where the poison is residing. I have now found my local Kona market and purchased peroxide and neosporine to doctor my injury. After the swim, we rode our bikes about 10 miles along the Queen K highway. I know I tend to exaggerate at times. But this is no exaggeration - the wind here was unbelievable! I was leaning to the side on my bike to keep straight because the wind was blowing me over. And heading into the wind, I'm pretty sure there were 3-4 times when my bike stood still, even thought I was pedaling. I have never experienced wind like this, other than maybe the typhoon in Japan in the early 1990s and I was inside the whole time then.
So the plan for tomorrow is to swim again in the morning, avoiding all sea creatures. Then we pick up our race info at noon and have a mandatory team meeting for dinner. Then the race is on Sunday. I'll post again when I get a chance. Thanks for all of your support!
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