Great question. I am doing the half IM and have similar questions. It'll be my first HITS. Let's see who chimes in.

I did the race last year. the organization was ok, and it was not too hot during that time of the year but the water was somewhat cold. in terms of the swim, some parts are shallow but overall still mostly swimming. the swim course for the olympic was the same distance as the HIM race so way too long and therefore your hopes of having an olympic PR probably wont come true since the long swim adds like 7 minutes.

the bike is mostly flat, the most annoying thing was the exit from la quinta rec area because the road was super bumpy and you can lose your bottle. The rest of the course is mixed between bumpy and smooth.

the run course was flat and uneventful the good part is that they have all kinds of stuff at the aid stations.

overall not a bad race and not too packed with people but not a particularly exciting race either

I'll be riding the new bike course in a couple weeks and will report back. I can confirm the T1 exit is a bit bumpy although I've never come close to losing a bottle. Bike course is different from last year, although this is the first time I'll be doing this race (half-distance).

i did the half last year. here are my play by plays:
first, the good news:

- swim: water was cold, but your basic one-loop swim. nothing really to add there.

- T1: they had these excellent individual racks for each bike. kind of like at the olympics, they had bins to put your stuff in, a place to sit, very nice.

- bike: 2 loops, road exiting T1 was bumpy, i lost a bottle, had to stop to get it. course was flat, a few bumps here and there, nothing to get into a twist over. shared traffic with motorists, so had to navigate with slower moving vehicles at a couple of points.

T2: separate location., and was somewhat disorganized and mildly chaotic. handed off bike to a volunteer, picked up my T2 bag (odd for a half-IM....), . got on my way.

run: 2 loops. flat, not a bad route. aid stations were good, as i recollect.

now for that bad news: the had flat bed trailers to return bikes from T2 to T1 (about 1/2 mile away, maybe less...). minimum care loading / unloading bikes. no padding, nothing, they were just stuffed against each other. lots of opportunity for scratches, etc. me, i had to wait a good while, maybe 45 minutes, for mine to show up AFTER i finished. none too pleased about that.

overall, i gave the event a C. it was billed at the HITS Championship event, so did not live up to that billing. otherwise, a good time, reasonably well-run event. i'd do it again.

great course, poor time of year... it has a good chance for bad weather. rain, cold wind. the water is 55* race time. would be better if this race was between march-oct

adablduya1 is pretty much spot on. I have done this race since the first year. Different distances but last year I did the half.

When they say the water is cold, it's cold. They claimed 60 but my guess is they said that to make people feel better. It was under 60. It is basically a man-made reservoir - water is pretty dark, you can't see anything. The sun will probably be in your eyes on the way out and at your back on the way in. They purposely set it up parallel with the shore so you can swim close to shore so you can stand up if you want. 2 laps for the half, 4 laps for the full (get out run on the beach through the timing mat). I mentioned the water is cold right?

Bike: They have changed the bike for this year so I can't comment too much on it. Yes the road leading out the park is crap but I've never had an issue and it's not very long (.5 mi?). Once out of the park the roads are pretty good. As mentioned they are open to traffic but it's a quiet area so not really many cars. All intersections are controlled by police. It can and has been VERY windy as the day progresses. Last year the water bottles at the aid stations were too small and didn't properly fit in my BTA cage, I had to put in my back jersey pocket. T2 was chaotic. Someone took my bike but it took a minute for them to give me my run bag. Then there was no one to take my bag when I was ready to start the run so one of my friends who was watching just took it for me.

Run: It's dead flat. One thing that bothered me was the lack of timing mat at the turnaround. There were not enough volunteers so they couldn't get the water cups filled fast enough and get them to the runners. Run course is also changed for the half this year - looks to be totally contained in the "airport" where T2 is located.

Overall: It's in the middle of nowhere. It could be cold in the morning and probably 70's maybe 80's midday. As mentioned, the transition is the best part - assigned spaces with your own area to put stuff, a stool to sit on, very nice. Temps will be nice but wind may be an issue. It used to be totally possible to PR at this race but the new half course looks like it has a big hill up to the turnaround. Maybe still PR since it will be downhill back to T2 and the run is still dead flat. I keep coming back so it's a good local race for me (S Cal). This year I'm doing the Olympic on Sunday.

Weather can be an issue, could be a cold swim and cold ride!

It moves to October next year