Monte, I'm writing just to confirm and share....this is the story I got from one of my athletes and it seems to jive with the lack of direction on the bike course that you experienced. But let me first say...yes, I hope they succeed, yes, I think the mico-mini freebie race is great, yes, I know they'll get better fast - just look at what you described from day one to day two.
I"m coaching a young guy, he's solid and doing well. He had a goal of going under 2:05 at the Oly yesterday at HITS. He swim a 20 min swim and is second out of the water. He has a fast T1 (he just finished racing a season as a Junior Elite in DL races so he's quick in transition). He's first out on the bike and there's NOTHING! He's studied the maps, he pre-road the course, he knows the golden rule of triathlon: "it's the athlete's responsibility to know the course".
So he is heading out to the turnaround...he's on 66th and makes a right on Harrison - as the map has shown, as it still shows now. He even told me that as he approached that intersection there was a cop resting against his car and that the cop was sort of surprised to see him, but you've lead enough races to have experienced that sort of thing. The cop gestures toward Harrison and that's in sync with what the athlete knows. So he's riding up Harrison and riding and riding and he KNOWS the turn around is before 72nd but arrives there without seeing any one or any thing. So he suspects something is amiss. He turns around, heads back on the course (it's an out and back). He turns off Harrison and back onto 66th and ~100m down the road sees a volunteer and some cones set up to guide the athltes up a road that comes prior to Harrison (as I look at the map, I think that's Nena Dr). Keep in mind, this volunteer and those cones were not there when the athlete arrived at that intersection leading the race.
So now he's pissed and in the "heat of the moment" and pushes his limit of 290w to 340 to try and make up. He's crushing it - comes out of T2 with his hair on fire, striving to make his goal and blows up at mile 2 and is so bummed that he just walks back to transition. Done.
I"m curious if anyone on the forum was early in the Olympic race had heard anything about the course change and/or saw the turn get set up at 66th and Nena.
Ian
Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan