This is my first triathlon, any tips?

It helps to train a little, but it is certainly not essential.  It is a little beyond our scope to discuss training techniques, but a basic program should include all three disciplines under somewhat similar conditions.  Pool swimmers should find some open water to wean themselves from the black line and learn to navigate.  The two keys to open water swimming are to open up your stroke to recover your arms over, not through, waves and to look up from time to time to navigate.  Preferences vary, but folks go anywhere from one to ten strokes between looks, with four being about right.  Waves and tides are usually not factors in the Tiburon Triathlon, which takes place in sheltered waters.  

What kind of bike should I use?

Any type of bike can be used in our Triathlon.  If you ride a mountain bike, it would make sense to spend some time on pavement, especially our course, to work on cornering technique and to become more comfortable with cars.  We do not inspect bikes, so you must ensure yours is safe working condition.  Our favorite local bike shops are Pacific Bicycle San Francisco, Bicycle Odyssey in Sausalito, Sunshine in Fairfax, and City Cycle in San Francisco and Corte Madera.

What should I wear?

Clothes are a tough call.  As you may have seen from the last Olympics, the individualists of triathlon have become strikingly conformist on matters of personal fashion.  Women wear two piece workout swimsuits.  Men wear triathlon-cut, Speedo-type suits, adding a running singlet after the swim. 

In our short event, the simplest combination is a Speedo-type suit for the swim, with running shorts and a singlet or T-shirt added for the bike and run.  If you do not have cleated cycling shoes, you may want to wear your running shoes down to the swim area to wear running back to the bike transition area.  You can leave shoes on the lawn where the swim ends.

Do I need a wet suit?

Do you need a wetsuit?  Not necessarily.  We have not surveyed with any precision, but about ninety percent of our participants wear wetsuits.  Given the very short swim, only a person with an extreme aversion to cold water or a very thin person needs to be concerned about a wetsuit.  Beyond the question of coldness, wetsuits provide added buoyancy to make swimmers swim faster.  However, any such advantage may be negated by the extra time required to extricate yourself from the wetsuit.  We do not check either the water temperature or the tide.  We have been told that the water has been as cool as 58 degrees.  There is negligible tidal flow in Belvedere Cove.

A word of caution about cold water swimming:  If you intend to swim without a wetsuit, you will have an unpleasant shock if you have not prepared suitably.  That would be equally true for other non-wetsuit events such as the Olympic Club’s Trans-Tahoe Relay race or the open division in the RCPTiburonMile race from Angel Island to Tiburon (http://www.rcptiburonmile.com).  To swim comfortably in cold water, you need to train in cold water.  Good local open water practice venues are Paradise Park in Tiburon, China Camp in San Rafael, Stinson Beach, Crown Beach in Alameda, and Aquatic Park in San Francisco.