Athelete 101 - Introduction to Wildflower
Athlete 101
Pre-Event Check List

Wildflower is more than just a race, it’s an EXPERIENCE! To help you have the best Wildflower Experience possible, we have created a few quick checklists to make sure you’re ready for your Wildflower weekend!

Pre-Event Check List:
  ☑️  Race Registration
  ☑️  Camping Registration
       – Or other accommodations with Festival Day Use Registration
  ☑️  Travel and Bike Shipping
  ☑️  Race Registration
  ☑️  Keep your Participant Account updated.
       – Keep your emergency contact up-to-date.
       – Update your other information like your Estimated Finish Time, T-Shirt size and phone number.
       – Contact customer support to make other changes through your Participant Account.
  ☑️  Follow our newsletters and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates and news

Experience Wildflower

Wildflower is not just a race, it's a full weekend festival with live entertainment, wine tasting, celebration beer garden, the latest and greatest in training gear, race clinics presented by top professionals, movie under the stars, campfire antics, and more.

Learn More
May 2 - 4, 2025

The Wildflower Experience offers distances for everyone including a Long Course 70.3 Triathlon, Olympic Distance Triathlon, Sprint Triathlons, 10K Run, 5K Run, Trail Runs, Open-water Swims and Kids Fun Run. Plus, classes and clinics at our weekend Wellness Festival. Follow us on our social media accounts for the latest updates.

Arriving at Wildflower

Now that you’re on your way to start your Wildflower Experience, here are some things you should make sure you do as you begin your weekend:

Starting your Experience:
  ☑️  Print or at least screenshot your Race AND Camping Registration
        – depending on your mobile service provider, you may NOT have access to the internet while at the event.
  ☑️  Bring your USAT Card & Official Photo ID
  ☑️  Checking in at the Front Gate
        – we are dedicated to making sure you get through as quickly as possible, so please have your Camping registration readily available.
  ☑️  Time to setup camp
  ☑️  Shuttles around the park
  ☑️  Packet Pick-up

Course Maps

The Wildflower race courses combine spectacular countryside, acres of wineries, backcountry trails, charming renown communities nearby, and the energetic feel from start and finish.

See Courses
Race Morning

Finally, it’s the day of your race! Here are some things that will help you make the most of your race experience.

Race Morning:
  ☑️  Lynch Hill – Getting down to the Transitions area:
        – you can easily reach speeds exceeding 35 MPH down Lynch Hill (without pedaling)
        – HELMETS MUST BE WORN going down Lynch Hill so you might as well save time and put it on at your campsite
        – make sure nothing is near any of your wheels
           (wetsuits over the handlebars has led to multiple pre-race accidents)
  ☑️  Transitions Hours
  ☑️  Race Bib
        – make sure your race bib is pinned (with provided safety pins) and visible from the front
  ☑️  Bike Bib
        – make sure your bike bib is attached to a vertical post on your bike with the provide ties
  ☑️  Timing Tag
        – Your timing tag must be worn on the left ankle during the entire race to receive a time.
  ☑️  Bar End Plugs
        – You bike MUST have “Bar End Plugs” on the ends of your handle bars
         or you will be disqualified on race morning
  ☑️  Swim Cap / Goggles
        – If your missing these, we have replacement at the Swim Start or at Packet Pickup
  ☑️  I forgot something I need to race!
        – Talk with one of our Transition Team Members and we will work to see if we can resolve the problem.

Course Markings

The courses are marked with paint, blazers, and chalk to show the direction of the course. The run and bike portions have separate ways of being marked and each course uses a different color.

Course Colors:

      • Long Course uses yellow to mark its course. Arrows, blazers, and distance marker signs will all be yellow.
      • Olympic Course uses green to mark its course. Arrows, blazers, and distance marker signs will all be green.
      • Off Road Sprint Course uses blue to mark its course. Arrows and blazers will all be blue.
      • On Road Sprint Course uses red to mark its course. Arrows and blazers will all be red.
      • Trail Run will follow BLUE SOLID arrows and LARGE BLUE blazers.
      • 10k Run will follow signage. There are no color markings specific to this course.
      • 5k Run will follow signage. There are no color markings specific to this course.
      • Hazards on the course such as potholes are marked with orange circles and tails.

 

Direction and Hazard Markings

Throughout the courses, there will be road cones and traffic delineators along with blazers and arrows indicating turns or straights as well, circles indicating hazards, and signs indicating distance.

Hazard Markings for hazards like potholes on the course are marked with circles. On the bike course hazard circles are accompanied by tails that precede the hazard circle so that bikers are able to know ahead of time that a hazard is coming.

Unbroken arrows on the ground are for the bike portions (as if someone painted a wheel and rolled over it)

Dashed arrows are for the run portions (as if someone painted the bottoms of their shoes and walked over it).

Blazers are largely used on unpaved sections of the course where ground markings are not as helpful. They consist of laths (a stick) with small plastic signs attached placed along the side of the road or trail with direction arrows that indicate turns or straights. They also usually accompany chalk direction arrows. The larger signs are for the bike portions while the smaller signs are for the run portions.

Chalk Arrows are used on the trail sections of the run courses. They do not follow the same solid/dash convention as road markings, as our courses do not typically diverge on trails. Simply, arrows are chalked to indicate where to precede.

Solid Chalk Lines are used to show the boundaries of the course.

Cones or delineators are used to used to divert around hazards or separate multiple groups of people (Athletes/Spectators, Runners going different directions or paths, Runners/Bikers, Bikers/Bikers) or vehicles.

The bike portions of the Long and Olympic distance courses also have signs on the ground along the shoulder that indicate how far the participant has made it in either miles (Long Course Yellow) or kilometers (Olympic Course Green). These signs are placed in 5 Mile (Long Course) or 5 Kilometer (Olympic Course) intervals and not every mile or kilometer.