Party Tour

Sometimes you own the course. Sometimes the course owns you. Worlds Toughest Half owns me. But I'll keep going back.

I don't recall for certain, but I seem not to remember DNFing for about a decade or more. I don't do so often. But I did this past weekend, about halfway through the run. It just wasn't my day. I guess I could complain and ask, "How could a Loving God allow anyone's legs to feel like that?" Maybe that's why I don't go to church regularly. That, and most races are on Sunday.

The fact is, however, it's just the way my physiology is wired, I guess. I'm a speedster, not a lot of strength, just a fair amount of muscle memory and sleight of foot once I get on a straight, level stretch of road.

I prefer the mountains while training, however, and frankly while racing too. I'm just not much good at it. That shouldn't dissuade any readers from this race, however. It's hands-down the most scenic race you'll do this or any other year and if you succumb to the call of the wild, like I do, Worlds Toughest Half is your race.

You have to descend a couple of steep miles on a one-lane road on your bike to reach the swim venue. You actually hear it before you see it, because the roar of the spillway is audible before you get a glimpse of the lake through the trees above. The water was very cold this year, 52°F because of melting snows in the Sierras and the race's early date (it'll get pushed back 5 weeks next year, and each week ought to be worth a degree of warmth—last year the race was 7 weeks later than this year, and the water 7 degrees warmer).

This race has split transition areas. T-1 is cozy. Only a certain number of bikes can fit here, and as this race more than doubled in size from its inaugural one year ago, it's starting to actually look like a mature race looks.

The first thing you do once on the bike is ascend the descent required to get here. After that, it's clear sailing for 54 more miles. Well, if you don't count the other 4500' of climbing on the bike course.

There is a middle section of the bike course called Mosquito Ridge. You ride 10 or 12 miles down, then U-turn and retrace the route. The descent is the one part of this course in which you'll feel no pain, and will glory in descending a twisty downhill into a mist-filled American River basin.

The bike is cumulatively hard, but never very steep. The real difficulty doesn't really start until you get onto the run course. Last year's route covered 2000' in ascents, and construction in the American River gorge caused the course to be "flattened" to between 1200' and 1500' of vertical. The problem for me isn't this run course's total elevation gain, but in the steep pitches. Good for some, hard for others.

It's an arduous race, but there was enough aid and volunteers, the course is sufficiently marked and the intersections safely controlled. When it's all over there are things to eat and places to relax. It's a true party atmosphere, and when finished you can hang in Auburn's Old Town, a great spot for apres-tri. Lots of cool people do this race, like pro triathlete equine surgeon Doctor Dianna Hassel.

We were right to include this stop on the Party Tour. Former top pro turned RD Brad Kearns (center) puts on a great show, and his buddy Andrew MacNaughton (left) and last year's race winner Gordo Byrn, his Epic Camp partner Scott Molina, all three Swedish Doodes, the DeBooms, all were there as well. Likewise a gaggle of Slowtwitchers.

Worlds Toughest Half isn't a race for everybody. It's a pleasure for those who remember the very early days of triathlon, when nudity in the transition area was not a penalty and bike racks were a luxury. As such, you'll see few marshalls (the course takes care of most drafting problems) and the atmosphere is homespun. Maybe that's why the old timers crawl out from their holes to do this race.