There are a ton of 180 turnarounds on the bike course. Something like 25+ if you count them for each lap. Gut instinct is to mash your power coming out of these. However, do that 25+ times and your burning matches. Be controlled.

Also on the bike, Curry Ln goes up into a mountain kind of thing. At the bottom of the quick descent is a tight 90deg turn onto College. Be prepared to control your speed so you’re not jamming on the brakes.

Finally, bike is gonna get super congested since it’s only a 18.6mi loop. A lot of one/two lane roads. Be prepared to either be consistently passing people or being consistently passed depending on your level.

Swim was cancelled last year so no advice there.

Run is completely straightforward.

Wasn’t my favorite race ever and not surprised their ending it. Was super easy to travel in and out of solo tho.

Brush up on your turning skills. :-)

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

If you're a faster swimmer, put yourself at the front of the rolling start and you'll at least get one loop of the bike course without crazy congestion. As others said, practice cornering skills so you can roll through faster and not have to power up so much to get back up to speed.

Thanks for the feedback. Does the run have any shaded spots?

Very little. Couple of spots under underpasses and along the southern edge of the lake, but minimal.

Even if you're not a fast swimmer, I'll say it. Put yourself in the front. The extra time in the bike course without a pack is worth it.

Don't stress about bike drafting. It's inevitable. At some point the congestion makes it impossible to avoid. You'd rather it happen on your 2nd lap. The congestion increases the chance of someone else crashing into you. Minimize that by starting the swim early and also run hard into transition after the swim. It's far, so you can make up time.

The road surface can be pretty jarring in locations. All those turns also suck, and I likely cooked my legs doing it, but there is plenty of opportunity to leap frog people coming out of the turns.

The run is all exposed. The underpass shade is practically nonexistent. My suggestion when running those long straight sections on the loops is to not look too far ahead, but down towards the ground 20-30ft in front of you. I found my mind goes easier to staying in good form and cadence when I don't scan too far down the course.

Good feedback on here already. The swim can be pretty fast. The bike is flat but has all of those u-turns. The run is fast/flat around the river. Not much shade but usually a dry heat in AZ so can be runnable.

All of the above feedback is spot on. I'd like to add:

The swim:
The water is super murky and you will be swimming into the sun so I'd recommend a dark/mirrored goggle.

Transition:
It will be dark when transition opens so a headlight / flashlight might be good to have especially if your in the middle and away from park/street lights. Say hi to your race neighbors and they might lend you a pump, or light :).

This park has dry grass that sticks to everything, Not so much an issue for the bike, if you have a towel or something to wipe your feet is a nice to have, more so important when putting on socks/shoes for the run.

The bike:
As noted the roads are very urban, and with so many turns it will be super congested especially at u-Turns. The bike has sections that are 1-2 lanes wide in each directions, on the 1 lane section expect to ride thru 3 riders wide so ride defensively by yelling 'ON YOUR LEFT!!!' so you they know you're there.

Also, be on the lookout for ejected bottles, the roads and junctions between crosswalks, potholes, train tracks, etc. have bottles rolling around everywhere. i throw an extra rubber band around my cages for extra peace of mind.

The Run:
Wear a hat, 101* currently so it's be warm, aid stations have ice to help manage.
+ Sun block.

If you need a bike/tri shop ahead of the race: https://www.moxiebikeshop.com/ is a few miles away.

Would love to read your race report.


See you on the podium!

I'll disagree with those that say position yourself forward on the swim. do not do this if you're not a fast rider, say 2:30 or faster. You just become a impediment in the way of those who can swim and ride.

The last time I did this race I started as the 68th swimmer (took me forever to pee on the ramp into the swim, was going to start about 30th). I was just inside the top 20 swimmers overall with a 29 something. I passed a ton of slow ass swimmers in the water and then had to pass more slow riders on the bike. I didn't even have that great of a bike bc I was dragging that day.

If you do this you just clog it up for others. (makes me miss wave starts for sure)

If you can corner and handle your bike this course is a dream for you. You'll easily outride lessor skilled riders by an extra 2-5 minutes. It's one of the few courses I actually outride a buddy of mine who routinely outrode my by 2-4 minutes over 90k. I'd outride him by 2-3 minutes here.

be careful though there are a ton of people who freak out when you pass them through turns or 3 wide on Rio Salado. You won't do a race here without seeing someone on the ground unfortunately.

The run is the run, lots of concrete, I always feel more beat the next day up here vs other courses. Just be smart there and you'll run fine. As I tell my athletes proper pacing = proper racing

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Water is murky but usually mild this time of year and plenty of space to do your thing. Don’t get any chop usually and can sight pretty easily using buildings and buoys.

Be careful on the bike. It’s not worth a few extra seconds to be looking down. There will be quite a bit of congestion and not everyone reacts as you’d expect. Also easy on the brakes into the corners, no use overshooting or locking them up.

Run is very exposed. Some dirt sections can have uneven bits so careful where you put a foot when passing people.

It’s not a bad course, and great for spectators. Hope you have a great race, enjoy!

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

Would like to see wave starts come back for AG racing but not by swim time by overall time. There will naturally be some faster swimmers in later waves but they should have clear water if the waves are spaced out. It's been tough to compete in the covid era, not knowing when the people around you started. I've had sprint finishes where I've beaten somebody by 5min (& ran a lot faster than them too) & I've lost AG podium spots by seconds, without ever seeing the other person during the race. Would be nice to group everyone together going under certain times.