Just heading back home now. Some comments from this peanut gallery:

- Overall, I think the race is a winner (this was IM no. 49, so there is some perspective) - I would say about 75% to 80% of the race is good, but there are changes required.

- Nice to have a one loop swim course. Would like to have a practice swim that doesn't cost $20 (or at least put it in the entry fee, so I don't feel like there's constantly a hand reaching in my pocket. Swim entry/exit good, good to not have any leg directly into the sun.

- Bike course was more challenging than I gave it credit for; a couple of slightly more epic climbs thrown in would work well. Saw several motos the first 30 miles, none afterwards, though everything was spreadout by then (did a 1:03 swim/5:03 bike).

- The T2 bike hand off needs serious help (you had to see it to believe it) . At the very least, there should be bike catchers near the dismount line. Running in bare feet for a quarter mile on hot concrete and running track needs to go away.

- Railroad crossings need serious help. If I hadn't slowed down a bunch, I most likely would have flatted.

- Run course was good. I expected it to be more crowded, given the width of the path, but only had to dance around a few people on the second lap.

- Having dry clothes bags closer to finish line would be a plus. Add colder/wetter weather and this turns into a medical tent nightmare.

Again, overall a positive experience, and would do it again.

Thanks for your points on the race, but we want to know where IM number 50 will be. Are you stuffing Tahoe in before Kona, or are you saving it for Kona?

After doing Whistler, Tahoe crossed my mind....but Steffan there or not changes nothing. Usually there are 10 guys in between Steffan and I in line for that KQ slot. Perhaps at a race like Tahoe that number changes to 6-8 but still there are too many fast guys in between. Doing Tahoe would be about the challenge. I am in SFO area in that general time frame for work, so it would be a matter of coordinating logistics and getting the body lined up which might be hard since I am supposed to do Tremblant 140.6 in 11 days.

Thanks for your points on the race, but we want to know where IM number 50 will be. Are you stuffing Tahoe in before Kona, or are you saving it for Kona?

My notes;

- 75 degrees is just stupid warm for allowing wetsuits. Would do lava pants if it was that warm again.
- Setup at the rez was really bad for spectators to watch/see the swim.
- Swim was most certainly long.
- $20 to pre-swim a 750m course is crazy.
- Local restaurant only partially honored the food voucher. Said something about WTC only paying them $10 back for the $25 voucher. Lame.
- The swim warm up was not very practical from a logistics standpoint.
- Buses on race morning worked really well.
- Split location transitions are a major hassle. Especially since parking in and around the high school was a major pain in the ass.
- Rolling swim start was awesome. Very sane and low pressure swim and this led to a very spread out start of the bike. This might have also been partly because of the weird pace signs used. There was a sub hour sign with a bunch of people in front of it, a bunch of people behind it, then a big gap, then another sign that read 1-1:15 with a bunch of people behind it. So not sure, what the no man's land was supposed to be but that seemed to work out.
- Rolling swim start, long swim, lack of wind, early false flats, and the bike course in general led to a very fair bike leg. Saw very little drafting. Saw refs only early mostly, but they were not needed when I didn't see them.
- The out and back off of 36 was dumb, but maybe a necessary evil to break up the bike ride. Plenty of heros trying to win the bike on the descent in close proximity.
- The bike course was great except for everything on the east side of I25. That section was long, hot, and boring.
- The entire field seemed to really slow down as the heat cranked up late in the bike.
- The back half of the bike could have used more aid stations. I like a one loop course, but would trade that in any day for more aid stations. Spectators might get a chance to check things out on the bike then too. By the time they got back on the bus and in to town they were like f'it we are going to lunch.
- The hills on the way back in to town were way over hyped. The climb on the out and back on 36 seemed steeper.
- Traffic control on the bike course was really good for a first year race.
- The T2 transition was poorly setup with the really long run with your bike and a portion on a black track surface. Nothing like running a quarter mile with your bike and a boiling hot rubber transition surface.
- The run course was chaotic with locals wandering all over the place. People riding bikes, schlepping inner tubes, staggering, and smoking reefer on the path.
- I much prefer roads than bike paths. If you can't really take over an area it probably isn't a good idea to have 2500 people running there.
- Ironman in the first week of August in Boulder... yeah I'll pass on that next time. If the race was on the preceding Wednesday or the following Monday completely different days.
- Most people blew out of transition too fast with the gradual downhill, only to explode in a couple of miles.