Bump! Yeah this race has been pretty quiet. No opinions? It's got so many options, 70.3, oly, sprint, duathlon, aquabike, relay, etc. wonder about the course, organization, and competition.

Great race for those not looking to shell out as much for an iron branded race.

The swim is very fast and calm. Water is warm but not illegal for wetsuits.

The bike while looped does go by quick. This is a PR type course the first 3 miles and last 3 miles have a little technical aspect with a few very tight turns but once out on the loop it is fast wide and flat. there is a roller on course but nothing difficult.

Run is shaded for about half of it. You are on a nice bike path and along the waterfront for the entirety.

The race owner is fantastic as well as many of the sponsors. I always recommend this race for a first timer at the half distance. Way more support than a HITS branded race and the competition level is quite high I believe it took about 4:25 to take the overall win on an 85+ degree day

i would say the bike is not a PR course, too many narrow no pass zones, and then course gets flooded with newbies flooding the course with mountain bikes, things slow down. so be fast! the swim and run are perfect. you cant beat the price of this race.

Koz does a pretty good job of putting on events. They are well organized and they tend to have good volunteers. They do a better job than HITS- although I love the HITS transition areas.

Just looking at the start times of the different races and it looks like the bike course is going to be pretty busy for laps 2, 3, and 4 as the shorter races get underway. The roads are fairly nice with a few rough sections. One of my friends who runs GP4KS2's flats fairly often on a portion of this course. I've never had a problem. The course isn't very scenic.

The bike is NOT a PR type course. Basically 4 loops going up and down the same big hill (so 8 total times). Lots of super narrow riding where passing is nearly impossible because all of the sprint and oly athletes sharing the course. Tons of flat tires too. I went 15 minutes slower at sea level than I had at 8000 feet elevation a month earlier.

That being said, KOZ does a great job with every other aspect of the course, transistion, and party after. Fast swim (23:×× for me, so Im guessing it was a hair short), pretty run course, but again, loops.

Plenty of support throughout, and timing mats at the turnarounds to keep everyone honest.

Worth doing, but dont expect a PR.

Yeah, had some pretty fast friends do it last year and they said the bike was a total cluster fuck. Way too many people of varying speeds on a narrow 4 loop course. They talked me out of doing it until the bike course if changed or they start sending the sprint and olympic early so they're off course when the half is going on.

It sucks because I'm pretty desperate for a half within driving distance of LA this summer that isn't at 7k feet or a crowded bike path and I can't find any.

doesnt hurt to email koz to tell them these problems and why you wont participate.

Thanks for all the good information. Still a definite maybe for me, if I can swing a family vacation to legoland with it. Prob do the oly duathlon to keep it simple and tune up for Santa Cruz 70.3.

definitely do the swim. it will probably be warm enough for no wetsuit

I did this race last year and enjoyed it. As others have said, the course is full of loops. The bike course has some tight sections but nothing that I found to be too bad. The run course gets a bit lonely on the one out/back section and was a bit warm. That said the race is well organized and a good value. I for one am anti Ironman brand after they ruined some of my favorite races (superfrog, vineman, etc.) by jacking the prices (2-3x!!) and changing the courses. This race is also great because you do not need to check in two days early and drop your bike the day before. You can just show up and race which is a huge plus.

If anyone is down to do the bike, im in for the relay. My swim sucks but i would like to work on it, and a race is great motivation. I can also do the run

Swim: Fast. PR swim course for sure.

Bike: Terrible roads. Terrible terrible roads. Just nasty really. 4 loops. Laps 3/4 are very crowded with many first timers. Saw lots of flats, dropped chains, and lots of ejected bike gear due to crazy rough roads (it was a lot like the under-construction roads at Camp Pendleton). I was lucky and made it through ok with my GP4000's.

Run: Flat. Some of it along the water is real nice. 3 loops. The one out and back portion for 70.3'ers is a bit warm and desolate along the train tracks, but not a terrible run course. I do think they need a timing chip at the furthest turnaround.

Raced it this past weekend and in middle of lap 2 or 3, some truck pulled out into the bike lane and started gunning down traffic cones coming right at me about 50M ahead of me. It was a few seconds of panic. Luckily I was able to veer into the car traffic lane (since there were no cars thank G) and the cops were on it pretty quick, but it was nutty and frankly the bike course felt a bit forced. Super narrow in parts too. That + the crap roads means I won't be doing it again. I don't hold the idiot driving the truck against KOZ since the cop was right there and just didn't do his job effectively, but they really need to address the bike course and re-route it.