Dave knows what he's talking about, but I urge you all to plan accordingly race morning. Nobody is going to stagger getting to T1 in the morning especially with all the changes. The last two years has been a total cluster getting to the race start. I had to jump out of the car and ride my bike in two years ago because traffic was not moving at all.

Just FYI Dave, your instructions were clear, but just before your 5 pm meeting Friday the registrations tables had notes laid out about the two transition exit times, but the "last minute" sheets being handled out at the exit had the 6:15 info. Or at least the sheet I received.

At T2 there was an IM Official, not volunteer, that said they were moving the bike mount line to the top of the hill for everyone. That is new. I figured it will be easy to confirm tomorrow when we hit T2.

I like this year's T2 layout. Seems like it should work well!

I raced this past weekend at Vineman 70.3 and had major bike issues the day before the race. I first went to a big bike shop in the area (it was the closest shop to me when I googled search from the highway) to do a simple chain swap and they weren't willing to take the time to help.

I then went to Echelon Cycle & Multisport in Santa Rosa. Not only did they service my bike immediately, but were very helpful when I came back an hour later (extremely stressed) after realizing my big ring was completely worn and my chain was slipping anytime I put in a hard effort. Under a tight deadline to get my bike racked at T1, they did a great job of not only swapping new rings/cassette but Kevin also did a quick tune-up and wire swap since he wasn't satisfied with how my bike was shifting (I didn't even have to ask). The level of attention to my bike was exquisite to a customer that has never walked through their doors. He eased my mind and allowed me to have a successful day yesterday.

I just want to give kudos to Kevin and his team. If you are up in Santa Rosa and need anything bike related or triathlon specific they will probably have it in stock or can help you find the way. I can't say enough, on what a great shop it is and if you are coming up for IM Vineman and need something last minute don't waste your time going any where else.

Dave or any other racers -

Checked in this morning but couldn't do the briefing. I saw the company who is doing 3rd party gps athlete tracking and they said the race has been changed last minute back to a 3 loop run.

Any truth to this or is this guy out in left field? This impacts my family watching the race but I didn't get a great vibe that he knew what he was talking about.

He was correct. The was a thread about sometime in the last week or so.