Get a hotel room. My limit is 90min driving after which my own bed is outweighed by the super early start.

60 min is my max.
After that I drive up the night before and camp.

For me it depends on how much of a headache a given race is. There is a late season Oly in the area that allows morning-of packet pickup and onsite parking. That race is easily a 90 minute drive for me but given how simple the other aspects of it are I have driven that and plan to do it again for this year's.

On the other end though, I did the same for IM's 70.3 in Santa Cruz last year - which meant doing the whole thing two days back to back. That was nearly 4 hours (2 hours to/2 hours back) in the car Saturday and another 3.5 hours the next day on the morning of the race. I'm used to crazy traffic with living in the Bay Area (CA) but man, driving to/from Santa Cruz the day before racing sucked all my energy away and I was totally flat by the time I showed up on Sunday. It was still a fun race but part of my choosing to skip this year was mainly because I didn't want to spend half a day driving to deal with packet pickup and racking my bike.

I'm on the fence for next year's Santa Rosa 70.3 for this reason too.... I grabbed a hotel for last year's Vineman 70.3 but man, that was one expensive hotel and it's so hard to justify when I'm like a 90 minute drive away.

I go with a 4:30ish leave my house cut off. If I have to leave earlier I go the night before.

Same unless the race has an unusually late start, then 90 min is my max.

Having to leave prior to 5am is my cutoff time. If before that hotel or skip the race.

I'm driving 90 minutes on Saturday morning to Santa Barbara. Leave at 4:15, arrive at 5:45, wave starts at 7:00. I know the area, know the parking situation, can easily navigate packet pickup, transition set up, getting queued up for the race, and feeling comfortable. I thought about a hotel, but driving down after work on Friday evening for a brief night in a $$$$ Santa Barbara hotel seems like a waste. By the time I leave my house on Friday, I wouldn't get to my hotel until 8. Why bother?

Driving 2 hours and 9 minutes..... that would be too long for me.

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Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

Your trip is short. Make the most of it.
https://www.slogoing.net/

I'm an early riser but have to agree here. If I am needing to leave before 5am then I'd rather get a hotel and sleep in a bit.

I've driven over two hours to a race the morning of. Probably wouldn't do it again as I'd rather get that bit of extra sleep and not be rushed once I get to the race site.

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Member of the Litespeed Factory Team
www.litespeed.com

And this is why I bike race more than triathlon... leisurely 9am+ start times.
Or race in France.

Seriously, triathlon start times are stupid.

I've done IM Louisville 4 times from my bed. 60 minute drive. No issues

:) 70.3 Pula started at 10 AM. That was one of just two times I was able to get up on time, have good coffee and breakfast in the room, and use a real bathroom, before going to race site. I envy cyclists.

Some tris start at 6 AM. That's just.... no. Get up at 4 AM? Just no. Please.

Drove overnight from Iowa to Denver one year for a race. Had a couple people with me so I did get some sleep in the car.

I think the longest was 4 hours or so left late the night before then slept in the car for a few hours.

Anecdote time! I drove 13 hours from Seattle to Calgary before the race. Got there just in time to check-in. Then drove 14 hours back home the day after the race. Slept in a bit that morning so got home at midnight. It's a great story to tell, but I wouldn't want to do it again. Drove an old Jeep wrangler with no AC, in July. Weeee!

I've driven as far as 2:20 to a race, twice. I had two of my best tri's ever doing that. There's something great about getting up really early, and having all that time to visualize and mentally prep on the drive, and then all that time to think about the race on the way home. That said, I wouldn't go much farther than that, for fear of falling asleep on the way home.

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<The Dew Abides>

Thanks for all the great responses! I'll pretty typically drive 60-90 min, so it's not like I don't know what to expect. @dewman - yup, this is something more of a concern than the early wakeup call. My race is olympic distance, and I'm in the south/southeast, so likely pretty hot and out on biking/running for a couple of hours. Other than @HT, how does $ fit into the equation? Easier to justify if you can find a convenient, safe inexpensive hotel. One more thing - driving from home lets you control evening nutrition more carefully/easily than being on the road. Still, I haven't decided, but will look at hotel $...

Yes, hotel $ saved, no restaurant expenses, eat my own food the morning of and (especially) the night before. No need to board dog or kids. I drive there and back solo, but a local buddy doing the race would make it better. Wife doesn't want to get up and travel at 3 a.m. I'm home by about noon or one, in time for lunch -- not much different than a day with a long run or ride.

If the town is a destination, then I'll spend the night, see some stuff, eat out, etc. Make a weekend of it. But if the only thing there is the race, then an overnight stay adds more stress than a long-ish drive. YMMV.

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<The Dew Abides>

Got out of bed at 3:30 on Sunday to drive from home to a sprint tri 2 hrs away. Felt fine during the race and had no issues on the drive home. My main worry driving to the race was getting hit by a drunk driver. I did taper for the race and got 10 hours of sleep Friday night so I was well rested. Slept 3 hours when I got home and 8 hours Sunday night. If the race is longer than an Oly and/or it was one of my key races for the season, I wouldn't drive more than an hour on race morning.

The vast majority of races I've done have been within a 2 hour radius, and I always drive out in the morning, unless a) there is a required packet pickup the day before, or b) the race is at a place that I would want to spend a weekend (Palm Springs, Big Bear, etc).

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

I did 2 races with 2:45 drive time and 1 with a 3 hr drive this summer. They were all sprints and I felt fine doing them and then driving home. I left the house by 3:15am each time. It's doable for short races.

How is it triathlons in Europe can have such rational start times? I understand an iron distance race starting early, but anything less than a 8 hour cutoff could start at 9am+.

Honestly, I can't even eat in the morning of most triathlons because my body doesn't want to take in food at 4am.

Oh... and to the OP, I have driven 3 hours race morning. Sometimes sleeping in your own bed and having your own kitchen amenities is better than driving the day before and staying in an overpriced hotel room with nothing but a coffee maker and fridge.