It seems like they are getting worse. They haven't learned anything from all they're past mistakes. First of all, putting on 4 or 5 races at once spreads out their limited resources. Long course race for 10 or 12 people. Same race crew travelling around the country making the same mistakes. Cheap race fees if you enter a year in advance, but who wants to enter a race like that a year in advance. By the time you would want to enter their race, the fee is way too expensive for a race like that. Crappy courses, it's like none of them ever raced a triathlon.

At Hits Hudson Valley, they finally got a really good location on their third try. Then they set up transition next to a big building that was just torn down. It was like you were set up in a construction zone

Then it just poured rain all day flooding out the whole place. Some times yo jut have bad luck.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

road surface conditions are not easy to fix.... what perfect race are you comparing to? the palms springs venue is great, there is the desert tri in march which is similar to the olympic race.... but better weather! that is my only irk with hits palms springs... they put it on during monsoon season (dec-feb)

But "You are an Ironma...." oh, wait. :)

I did the only a few years back before point to point and with the flat bike. Checking in Saturday night it struck me people that do HITS have to REALLY want to finish. Little to no support, dark and lonely

Congrats on the finish

December is a good end of season race. It's why I go. Even with 50-50 chance of inclement weather.

Monsoon season in southwest is July to mid September, what you're thinking of from December to February is just called winter.

There is no shortage of wide open nicely paved roads in the area. They don't have to fix road conditions; they just have to use better roads. Preferably ones without dogs chasing you down.

I forgot to mention, there was also absolutely no one - including chp - staffing some of the intersections. One traffic light intersection there was a crash and when we blew through at full speed there was no one controlling the intersection.

You want to support smaller races, sure, but doing this location just seems to have problems every year. I've done their Napa location with no problems. A girl I was talking to said the grand junction race is really well done. Palm Springs though, year after year, is a clusterfuck and they call this their "championship."

As for perfect races, there are lots of well done races. It isn't a question of being perfect. You dont have to be perfect for secure transitions that are staffed to make sure athletes and gear are safe; you don't need to be perfect for staffed intersections - especially when you say at the race meeting there will be a staff at every intersection; you don't have to be perfect for well planned routes. A run course looping and zig-zagging through a horse park and no timing mats is a joke.

You're pretty much by yourself during the half if you are out front. At least there is no drafting, you know, because it's so small of a field.

The year I did it (2012?) all they were talking about was drafting on the full on half as there weee no marshalls on course. People saying "let's work together" etc. but just hearsay and I guess you actually have to see some one to draft

My friend took 2d overall and swam 4900 yds. Not sure if he just sited like shit or course was long

They seem to be getting worse each year. They need their original race director back, he was relatively smart and competent and seemed to care about the athletes... I'm bummed because I really root for these little guys to be successful and supporting these independents is one of the reasons I did this race. Even though I preset my expectations very low, I was still disappointed. Who orders bottles that don't fit in a standard bike bottle cage? I did much of the race without water... thanks. I agree with most of the other sentiments expressed here - the support was inadequate. Box canyon is appartently a major trucking route and with no shoulder and high winds, it is my opinion that it is too dangerous to use as the bike course for a race that has many novice riders participating in it. I hope they straighten themselves out but part of me wonders if they are planning on going out of business... Also, this booty ended up in my wet bag, it is a size 12. anybody missing one? you were likely next to me in T1. i was number 135

I never saw a marshall or staff on course except where the bike crashed at the intersection it looked like someone was there and I saw a grey jeep that had a HITS sign, but looked more it was visiting an aid station rather than being a course marshall. On the run I see people with headphones all the time so I don't think these guys are known for enforcing rules.

My swim was 2400 yards so with sighting and gps difference that seems right about 1.2 miles. Damn that lake is cold though.

I too saw no timing mats on the bike or run. Also saw several people just make a left at the far run turnaround and cut the run course. Friends saw people turn around halfway up the climb on the bike, well before the actual turnaround. Coming down hill with semi trucks was interesting. I had the swim for the half a tad long at 2438 yds, and the run course at 12.5 miles on my 920xt.

 I hadn't looked at that. The run was a bit short.

The semi truck coming down, was that the one who was using his horn? Scared the crap out of me when he honked his horn as he was overtaking me Having cars that close to you when you're riding in the middle of the lane because of wind gusts its pretty interesting. Downhill in that wind with deep wheels was an adventure

 That was actually pretty funny. I just came to a dead stop at the table clipped out and used the bottles of water to refill my own bottles because that's what the guy in front of me was doing. Since there was only one guy holding up traffic, therefore no one to hand out the water bottles, everyone was coming to a dead stop at the table anyway.

 On the run, is that where the turnaround T-bones with the straightway where the aid station was? I saw lots of people come off the straightway, stop at the aid station, and then head down from what was the turnaround instead heading back on the straightaway. It was a really stupid run course.

Had a fairly good experience doing the full back in 2014 and was thinking about returning in 2017. I noticed they raised the prices on the 2-day post race sale from $200 to $300 for the full. After reading these reviews, doesn't look like it's worth it unless someone chimes in and convinces otherwise.

There are usually discount codes available all year long through various Tri Clubs for this race. We used one and signed up in October I think and it was 40-50% off. I'll do the half again next year, it makes the time until Oside seem to go a little quicker.

There was a pretty good wreck on I-10 on race day that seemed to have a lot of traffic trying to go through the canyon to get around the crash. I've rode that canyon before on weekends and the traffic is minimal.

Yeah that was the spot. I could see it being confusing for people.

I was the guy that nailed the car in the intersection at Harrison. At 27.5 mph. With the cop looking on. And no HITS personnel/volunteers anywhere in sight. Thank you Jesus I'm not dead or really broken up badly. Hit the front of the car and flew over the hood at least 50 feet. Picked myself up, and 2 nice racers checked me out on the corner who obviously had some ER training and pronounced me "ok to continue" if I felt up to it. BUT, the cop was now there and told me I wasn't going anywhere, until he completed his report and I was checked out by the paramedics who were now on their way. He actually said to me while wagging his finger in my face, "what the hell were you thinking?!" Thankfully I'm a pretty cool customer under stress and quickly realized arguing with him was going to waste more time than I wanted to spend at this point. I told him I was racing to win my AG and he informed me "THIS IS NOT A RACE" which immediately confirmed my suspicion he was not going to be reasonable. Once he said that, several on lookers came to my rescue and got on him pretty agressively. I resigned myself I wasn't going to win my AG as everybody that I had been passing the first 7.5 miles were now riding away from me while I waited. Amazingly my bike wasn't wrecked and the Zipps weren't taco'd. The poor driver that had moved into the intersection on a green light for him was horrified I'd hit him. After 20 minutes (by my bike computer) I was on my way again. I rode a 2:36, good for 5th place OA on the bike (though you wouldn't know that because apparently they don't post DNF's info). I tapped out to start the run as more body parts where starting to talk to me in a bad way. I found the owner after the race and told him my experiences to which he seemed mortified and "I owe you one". Problem is, 3 years ago in the same race, my face hit a submerged 2" diameter pipe in the swim. Got a nice shiner outta that one but it could have easily knocked out teeth, etc. Sorry to say it won't be doing any more HITS races. Bummer is, I feel like they're really nice people and I like many want to see options other than only IM branded events. But safety and quality organization are non-negotiatible for me.
All the other stuff above is accurate: no security to look over my $7500 race bike plus gear (unless they were stealthily hiding in the rocks above the venue!), had to navigate the stupid dog on both ways, too much traffic and big rigs on the climb causing me to literally have to stop (again) at the 32 mile turnaround (with no timing mat) to get around a semi truck/trailer and fill my water with the ill fitting bottles, riders at the finish of the bike riding their bike directly to their rack, crazy stuff. Nice people and good prices, but you get what you pay for. Oh, and the flies :)

Well if I was ever considering doing it again your post has convinced me otherwise

But how the heck do you hit a car going 27+ and no damage to the bike?? I would not think that physically possible. Glad you were ok.

Holy shit. What an experience. I guess I am lucky to come out of this race with my health and all my gear. A race that isn't safe and secure by even minimum standards simply isn't worth doing. Someone needs to see if these guys are living up to their permit requirements.

well thank God I didn't have to start this thread. Now that it's going I'll just add:

-Fenix3 had swim at 2357 yds
-Run measured at 12.5 something, but who cares with that horrible run course
-Ditto on the traffic control, at least at the 3rd intersection where the cop was doing everything but actually CONTROLLING TRAFFIC.
-Ditto the security situation at T2
-Also, negative 1 star for leaving half my stuff at T1 and taking the other half to T2, after they specifically told me anything not in the swim bag will be left at T1 for pickup. There goes an hour of my life driving back and forth b/w T1 and T2 with family in tow.
-Don't forget about the porta-potty and aid station maps - they just put them wherever they wanted. I can't be the only one that shooting for a bio break at the top of the hill - oh wait, what's this, they're 8 miles down the road? Oh ok, I'll just pull over at 30mph to use the loo - no problem!
-Flies in the horse park were just gross.

Anyway that was my first half, and last race of any length at that venue - that was just weak. And I wasn't even expecting much.

Wow you really dodged a bullet on that one! I did the full so I came by after all that happened. But I was very surprised when I saw two racers in front of me stopped at a red light. It turned green as I got there and as I rode across the intersection I noticed a cop just sitting in his car. I yelled to him that he needed to be monitoring the intersection and he immediately yelled back "no I don't". I didn't stop, I just kept on riding. Now I know why he was so quick with a reply... he was already on the defensive because of that incident. That is much worse than simply arrogant/lazy -- to still not control the intersection after an accident already happened is seriously negligent. Wow! I hope you filed a complaint about that officer. I'll happily add my statement to it if you like. Even if the race organization didn't properly inform the officers of their needs and expectations, the police are still ethically obligated to protect the lives of the humans that pay the taxes that pay their salary and they should have had the common sense to recognize the danger and take active steps to mitigate it -- Police stupidity/arrogance is a huge pet peev of mine -- As a side note, by the time I came back from the 1st lap, they were out of their cars -- so I guess someone finally got through to them...

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John

Ah the porta-potty; forgot about that snafu. Race director Tom specifically said at the "mandatory" meeting (1) porta potty at every aid station, and (2) porta potty at the turnaround on the bike. But no, the porta potty was on the downhill nowhere close to the turnaround. I forgot I had to come to a stop coming down that hill just to pee, because being old sucks and you have to actually plan out the porta-potty situation.

Other than the one intersection where I saw the accident, and the 3 or 4 intersections with no one there whatsoever, every other intersection seemed like it had CHP and where there was CHP they were out in the road doing their job. I don't know what happened at the intersection with all the traffic and CHP doing nothing, but everywhere else I saw them doing a good job and I always thank them as I go by.

agreed most of them were great, it was the one about three lights in from the start where they were doing nothing.

seriously, trying to pee downwind, in the cold, 32 miles into a bike ride, and not expose myself to the poor souls coming up that last stretch was impossible. I tried but it was a no-go!