After my Ironman back in 2002, I decided to retire from that kind of rubbish.
Then……. one night, after a scotch or 6, I was giving someone a hard time about crossfit or tuff mudder events and saying how much they are pussies. Then I realised that it has been 12 years….. .Time to shake the sand out of my lady parts…. I remembered hearing about a triathlon called the Escape from Alcatraz.
The distance isn’t unmanageable, swim 1.5 miles from Alcatraz, ride 20 miles through the city to Golden Gate Park then an 8 Mile run around the coast line.
So I entered. There are 2,000 race spots, I’m told about half go to sponsors and legacy entrants. Then there are maybe 20,000 entries into the lottery for the remaining 1,000 spots. I entered on each of my 3 drivers licences and I got a spot on my Aussie licence.
The event is all about the swim. A guy died on it last year and it accounts for the majority of the 414 (20%) people who didn’t finish the event.
An old paddle steamer takes you out in the early fog. Goes around Alcatraz and then you jump in. Lots of nervous energy before being told to jump off and it was a mix between a rubber fetish convention, with everyone in wetsuit gear, and the sinking of the Titanic as 2,000 people left the boat in about 7 minutes (5 people disembarking per second )
During the race briefing, the head guy really emphasised being ready to jump off the boat. He was right, one minute I was part of a huge mass of people inside the boat….. next minute it was cold, loud and chaotic, just like every race start. I do remember settling down, getting a little rhythm and when I looked under my right arm to breathe, Alcatraz was right there, looming above me.
That was cool.
Everything went pretty well in the race, I finished 880th in the swim, although I was more interested in just FINISHING the swim. Riding a racing line past the Cliff House restaurant, on closed roads, that was special. Cole and I have played a lot of chess and eaten many an oysters there.
My race results put me at the rear end of the field but I was pleasantly surprised at my times. Training at 9,000 feet above sea level definitely helped.
Click here for the official results.
Being a non-city person these days, I had an absolute blast hanging out in the city with Cole and Gabriella.
We went to a ‘Cure’ concert up in Napa for Cole’s birthday…..
I had a chance to do some work. This is from Cole and Gabriella’s roof which I’m a huge fan of.
This pic is 3 blocks from their place.
Because of the triathlon I had to go down to the marina a couple of times. I rented a wetsuit and I had a chance to go for a swim with the Golden Gate Triathlon Club and they really looked after me.
I rented a bike as well and I took it for a spin the day before the race….. I rode more the day before the race than i did on race day. A beautiful bike, in a beautiful city.
After the race I was a little beat up but rather excited not to have been eaten by sharks. Cole and Gabriella, in usual form, lined up a great afternoon of social activities to take my mind of being tired and sore.
This pic is of me with 3 of the beautiful women of California…. funny part is, Cole told them all that HE had just finished the Escape from Alcatraz – hahahaha.
The story behind this last pic is that the night before the race I gave Cole and Gabriella a blank cheque. I figured if I got eaten by sharks, no reason those guys shouldn’t toast to me actually jumping off the boat (it wasn’t really in doubt but I couldn’t rule it out).
This pic is the ceremonial tearing up of that cheque. 
Then it was off to San Diego to hang out with Haley on the beach for a week.
Haley’s place is closer to the beach, than Chez Grindlay is to the chairlifts. And since the weather was perfect every day…. I did some work outside.
Haley isn’t socially challenged when she is away from home…. but being in her home town there were people everywhere.
Haley called me her illegal immigrant…. here are some more that swam over the border and joined us for a beach bon-fire. (JOKE: Everyone in this photo is 100% legal – including me.)
Pretty beach girls taking selfies with my camera while I was out getting them more booze.
I’d tell you what happened after I came back with more booze…. but I’ve been caught out by that before.
I have pics, but one thing I don’t have any pics of is the day Haley took me swimming in La Joya. We jumped in the water, wetsuits and goggles and went through some amazing sea caves. Got as close to sea lions as courage allowed and had seals playing with us like nervous kangaroos. I think we spent about 3hrs in the water and it was the most awesome thing I’ve done in ages.
This trip, and the 9 months of training leading up to it, was based around the swim from Alcatraz. I was scared of it and it was horrible. To tick it off and then to finish my trip at a real world Sea World exhibit was wonderful.
I think I’m going to spend some more time down in San Diego. Cheers to Cole, Gabriella and Haley for looking after me.
