Just got in to the Oly this week. Man that water is gonna be a shock to this AZ guy with 90 degree pools.....

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

Tribe is my local shop too. Are you doing Arizona 70.3?

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“Bloom wherever you are planted"

Yes doing Lifetime Tempe, AZ 70.3, and IMAZ. I head up the Tribe Tri Team.

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

I'll be there for the Oly. Excited to race the new course!

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I'll be there from Florida with a couple training partners doing the Triple Challenge. Should be a fun weekend and that water is gonna suck for these Florida boys ;-)

Good luck to everyone!

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"It's too dangerous and expensive to ride with d*ckheads" -tridork

I am in. First time in a long time. I dig the early start times. Pretty excited for the new course. Should be fun last race of the year.

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Looking like a color blind super hero!
Damn triathlon.

Nice! I had to defer Lifetime - called out of town on business. Good luck out there!

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“Bloom wherever you are planted"

I'm in and looking forward to it. Is this the first year of the new course?

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https://twitter.com/mungub

Second year. Personally, I'm not a fan of the new Olympic bike course (did it last year).

Is it still better compared to the two loop course that got crazy busy on the 2nd loop?

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I'm hearing now that it's wetsuit mandatory. Anyone else heard that?

I didn't. I went to the course talk at 7:30 last night and they said 61 and hopefully climbing. It makes sense to do it but not the day before the race with many not planning on wearing a suit. Good luck tomorrow.

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I'm racing the ITU race in a few weeks that also uses the tunnels on Wacker and the busway, which I believe were also used in the Lifetime Oly course. Any of you have feedback on those? Tunnels plenty wide enough to keep speed through the 180* turns? Road surface quality? Transition from daylight to tunnel darkness was ok? Anything tricky about the ramps from Wacker to the busway, or the busway back up to the road?

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http://trainingwheelsrequired.wordpress.com
@KellyNCollier

Oh crap ITU is using the busway as well? Noooooo.....

Transition from light to dark: wear either clear glasses or glasses with minimal tint. If you're used to wearing darker sunglasses you might not be able to see much of anything when entering the tunnel.

Road surface quality: there are some serious rough spots out there but the worst offender is when you first enter Lower Whacker from Columbus: it's on a downslope, the first transition from light to dark, very poorly lit, and it's a mine field.... and it goes into a turn. Be on your base bar before getting to the tunnel to be safe.

Turnarounds: tighter than you'd imagine.

Ramps: going down isn't too bad but if they repeat the Lifetime Chicago course (they can't, I genuinely hope they don't) the ramp coming up from the busway involves a very sharp 180 at the top of a very steep ramp. Not a fan.

This looks like what you described, including the 180 at the top of a ramp coming up to Columbus from the busway:
http://wts-assets.triathlon.org/chicago/Race_Course_PDFs/Open_Age-Group_Standard_Overview.pdf

I'd imagine it's the same course, except 2 loops of tunnels instead of the out and back on Lake Shore Dr. Except Lifetime refers to riding on Intermediate Wacker and ITU refers to Lower Wacker, so maybe we're riding on different levels there.

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http://trainingwheelsrequired.wordpress.com
@KellyNCollier

I learned at itu last year that dark tinted glasses are terrible for that course. Wear low tinted or clear glasses for sure. The road surface was generally good from what I remember but the shadows of the signs make it seem like there is stuff in the road. Yesterday they had a lot of areas clearly marked so as long as you're paying attention you should be fine.

Turns were generally good but I started in wave 2 so not many in front of me so might get a bit trickier with more people.

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Yeah this is the same course :/ Looks like I'll have to accelerate my aero road bike project.