Our idea of “little on the warm side”must be vastly different. Buy stock in inner tube companies cuz the roads are covered in debris. It’s gonna be a flat fest! With that, I wish everyone doing it the best, have fun, be safe, enjoy the suck.

after the low pushes through, you'll have some really calm and stable weather until the net front comes through. super calm right now, hope the race is going well for everyone

---

"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

That was fun! Rain held off until the finish and then drenched us all and our gear. It was a miserable walk with the bikes and the gear back to the shuttles.

This race was great. Definitely doing this again. WX could have been better but oh well. There was an extraordinary number of flats. Folks fixing flats on the shoulder. The. Entire. Course. Flats flats everywhere. I saw a few people on the ground and ambulances unfortunately. :(

This might help someone: lake water quality was average. Have seen much worse. Swim course is pretty straightforward but is not quite the typical rectangle. Make sure you listen to the briefing. Bike course is rolling hills with only two or three real climbs. At mile 7 and 12 there were proper climbs, and at miles 47 and 48 and 55 (just before T2?!) there were steep punchy yet short hill. Other than those I was in the big ring the entire time. The course must be seen to be believed. It is gorgeous and not too technical or too crazy with elevation. So is the run course. Cedar river trail running north from Maple Valley either perfectly flat or a barely noticeable false flat.

Agreed - that course was so much fun! I had an awesome time today, and the course was absolutely beautiful. I have no idea how everything was so green with how little rain we have seen lately. I thought the swim, bike, and run were really well laid out, and traffic control during the bike was exceptional with law enforcement directing traffic, etc. My only complaint (although it is minor) would be the shuttle situation back to the Tahoma parking lot - that was a long walk and long wait after the race. But, overall I had a great time and would definitely consider doing this race again - great work to all the folks involved in organizing the inaugural race in Maple Valley (and thanks to the community for coming out).

I was towards the front and didn't see actually any flats, but if people were riding the shoulders they were certainly more likely. I thought it was a tremendous race to be honest. Had to embrace the conditions like everyone, but didn't regret the jacket and gloves combo even when I doubted myself as people rolled thru without anything else on!

The swim was pretty fun, a little different and encompassing the entire lake was pretty cool. I think the bike ride is great for 70.3. Easy to break up into different sections, some good climbs, good solid out and back section, nothing too technical. It would be a blast in good weather.

I thought the run was great. Maybe the most aid stations I've seen in a while in a 70.3, really well placed, volunteers were awesome! Just watching the long out and back, visually to me it seemed downhill (I haven't been wearing a watch on the run the last 4 races and so no pace numbers to double check) but once I got to the turn around realized it was downhill on the return (which was phenomenal) and then the last 2.6 is all uphill but a fun finish line, great small race vibe and one of my best days on the course in years. Fun event - September is a crapshoot weather wise (weekend before and next weekend look AMAZING) but such goes racing in the PNW!

Thanks Maple Valley for an awesome event. Highly recommend!

---

DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

+1 to everything above. I think it has the potential to be a fantastic 70.3 especially in good weather. I also saw a ridiculous number of flats and made the decision cora mile 10 to ride in the road for much of it unless the shoulder looked very clear. The shoulder was smoother and probably faster, but weighing the chance of flats and my cold hands, decided to just send it in the lane and hopefully not deal with it. It took me a bit to warm up so I was much stronger coming north on the way back anyway, so it worked out.

I really liked the run course. Done enough "run through the banking district of Generic City" and appreciate different courses. Only con would be that it's effectively empty of spectators, so if you really need that energy, not great. But absolutely fantastic (and frequent) aid stations.

Overall really fun.

---

JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

I did it! Thanks to everyone for the information and support.

The lake water was perfect 68 degree (warmer than air). It was a bit murky but no waves. The surrounding was just beautiful, sighting was easy and was comforting to be swimming along the beach.

The bike was hilly and had a few big ones, but achievable. By the same token the downhills were great! It was wet because of the rain, so we had to be careful.

The run was great. Low grade up hill all the way to the return and then the return was nice and downhill back to home.

Both bike and run were very scenic. I just wish that it was clear so we could see mount Rainer. However, it was nice to be riding and running in cloudy and light rain.

Thanks to all the locals. You guys were just amazing!

Good morning all! I thought of one additional thing about this race that I thought I would share for the benefit of the group to keep in mind for anyone doing this race next year. The T1 and T2 transitions happen at the same spot - for us, this meant that we did not have the typical IM “bike” and “run” transition bags. Rather, all of your gear goes in your own bag (or on/next to your bike). Most folks were good and courteous about taking up only “their space,” but I definitely saw a few larger bags which could cause a bit of congestion around the transition spots. And, I’m not exactly sure if I saw any changing tents, but that would be something to look into and figure out if you need/want one during the race next year. Anyway, someone mentioned in an earlier post that this race felt like a local triathlon, and this aspect of the race added to the vibes, too! Loved it, and will probably sign up for next year, too!

I didn't race (registered... but still building/recovering after my cardiac arrest/heart attack in Feb)... but I did still get out there to cheer everyone on. While I was there for the athletes... the true is I received far more energy, encouragement, and joy from everyone out there racing then I could have given back. So thank you for letting me get surrounded by the sport that I love... I needed that:).

Weather may not have been perfect... but compared to the forecast of "get your ark ready"... I'd say it actually turned out pretty good.:). As other said, the previous weekend would have been perfect and the Black Diamond half/long course race typically ran a week or two earlier and we usually had amazing weather on race day.

We set up a little Team Zoot energy zone out on the run course at the intersection where the trails come together so we had a pretty good view of people as they ran through mile 2, 10 and 11. My observations:

• For the most part, everyone was having a lot of fun out there on the run. Lots of smiles.
• I didn't really see a single person who was struggling, cramping, or that normal "my body is done", even late in the race. One older guy tossed out his back and was running hunched over, but even he had a smile and wasn't going to give up. The cool weather was a HUGE blessing for all the 1st timers and those finishing late in the day. I am so used to seeing all the walking zombies and people dropping left and right as the afternoon sun starts to zap the BOP'ers. (last race I spectated at was Honu in June... so quite the contrast!)
• All 13 miles of the run course are very challenging to get out and spectate on, so there weren't many people out there. We rode our bikes out on the road then scaled a very steep wooded hillside to get to the trail/course because we wanted to avoid riding our bikes on the trail people were racing on. If I had to do it again, we would just carefully ride on the trail, but obviously that doesn't scale if a ton of people wanted to do it. Bike course is also difficult to get out on if you are in transition. I have raced most sections of the course in various local races and I love racing out there.
• The heavy rain held off.... till the very tail end of the race. Just as I packed up and headed out from our little spot on the trail the skies opened up.... I was a soggy mess after my 5 mile ride back to my car. Can't imagine what it looked like back at transition :-O.
• Huge congrats to everyone who raced out there on Sunday!

Here is a photo of my teammate Boyce and I out on the run course... as you can see, not a ton of people around, and this was sort of the hot corner. Run was 98% on these hard packed trails in the forest. The one true "hill" on the run course is just behind us (it is where you climb back up to the other trail for the last 2 miles back to the park.

---

______________________________________________
Team Zoot