just wanted to get this mini race review up for anyone in the future that may search for info on the race.
seems like this is the first race of this distance back in the state of texas since lockdown. "out-loud productions" put the race on and did a fantastic job, in my opinion. race felt about as close to normal as possible with covid protocols in place which the race organizers enforced as best as possible.
a pre-race swim clinic was avail the morning before the race. just a short swim for around the first 1/4 of the swim for those that want to get some water time in. i highly appreciated this as like many of us, swimming isnt my strongest discipline and the ability to get in the water ill actually be swimming in for race day settled the nerves down some. one of the local race team coaches was there for the complete noobies to help them out with stuff as simple as how to put your wetsuit on, keeping goggles not foggy, etc.
morning of / parking. if you dont need your vehicle till the race is complete you can park right by transition. if you want it sooner you have to park at the front entrance of the resort and walk or bike in about half a mile.
swim- swim is pretty basic. leave a beach area at the host resorts main "swimming hole", hang a right to head straight out to the lake, two left hand turns out in the lake then straight back to transition. the hardest part was the first right turn to the lake has you staring directly into the sun. i couldnt see any of the buoys so i sighted the trees that lined the outlet into the lake.
bike- the bike ride was a rolling hill type ride with maybe 3 hills that put me all the way in my highest gear putting down around 200w. i spent a guestimate of around 30% of the race seated upright versus down in aero. scenery was nice, texas woods on country roads and two lanes. majority of the roads were nice with a few patches of rougher asphalt that wasnt too terrible. my daily riding where i live is worse so i was pleased.
maybe the middle 40% or so of the bike leg has athletes on the country roads with cars. i wasnt a big fan of this but mitigating it was just staying on the nice shoulders when avail. early sunday morning traffic didnt seem too bad until you get closer to the resort and transition... maybe 6-7 miles out.
run- two loop course. first roughly half is through a neighborhood by the resort. neighborhood streets mostly with a little bit on the resorts golf course cart path. end of this half has you cutting through the resorts swimming pool / restaurant / splash pad / water slide area. music from the resort playing, people cheering, this was a nice little spot. second half of the loop was pretty much all on the golf course run path and was very hilly, and LOTS of the golf kart paths was horribly off camber. i intentionally ran in the grass / compact dirt a lot to stay off the off camber pavement.
there are plenty of VRBO type rentals on the lake if you want to get a rental and make a long weekend out of it. i spoke with a few folks that stayed in hotels in the area. you can also stay at the margaritaville resort. seems like a really neat place to stay and its RIGHT THERE... reminds me a lot of the setup you have if you stay at the moody gardens resort hotel for texas 70.3.
overall i enjoyed the whole race, only detractor for me was the bad camber jogging paths. i cant fault them at all for using what they have avail, but i personally would just make sure to stay off this as much as possible when running it to avoid a rolled ankle while on tired legs.
80/20 Endurance Ambassador
seems like this is the first race of this distance back in the state of texas since lockdown. "out-loud productions" put the race on and did a fantastic job, in my opinion. race felt about as close to normal as possible with covid protocols in place which the race organizers enforced as best as possible.
a pre-race swim clinic was avail the morning before the race. just a short swim for around the first 1/4 of the swim for those that want to get some water time in. i highly appreciated this as like many of us, swimming isnt my strongest discipline and the ability to get in the water ill actually be swimming in for race day settled the nerves down some. one of the local race team coaches was there for the complete noobies to help them out with stuff as simple as how to put your wetsuit on, keeping goggles not foggy, etc.
morning of / parking. if you dont need your vehicle till the race is complete you can park right by transition. if you want it sooner you have to park at the front entrance of the resort and walk or bike in about half a mile.
swim- swim is pretty basic. leave a beach area at the host resorts main "swimming hole", hang a right to head straight out to the lake, two left hand turns out in the lake then straight back to transition. the hardest part was the first right turn to the lake has you staring directly into the sun. i couldnt see any of the buoys so i sighted the trees that lined the outlet into the lake.
bike- the bike ride was a rolling hill type ride with maybe 3 hills that put me all the way in my highest gear putting down around 200w. i spent a guestimate of around 30% of the race seated upright versus down in aero. scenery was nice, texas woods on country roads and two lanes. majority of the roads were nice with a few patches of rougher asphalt that wasnt too terrible. my daily riding where i live is worse so i was pleased.
maybe the middle 40% or so of the bike leg has athletes on the country roads with cars. i wasnt a big fan of this but mitigating it was just staying on the nice shoulders when avail. early sunday morning traffic didnt seem too bad until you get closer to the resort and transition... maybe 6-7 miles out.
run- two loop course. first roughly half is through a neighborhood by the resort. neighborhood streets mostly with a little bit on the resorts golf course cart path. end of this half has you cutting through the resorts swimming pool / restaurant / splash pad / water slide area. music from the resort playing, people cheering, this was a nice little spot. second half of the loop was pretty much all on the golf course run path and was very hilly, and LOTS of the golf kart paths was horribly off camber. i intentionally ran in the grass / compact dirt a lot to stay off the off camber pavement.
there are plenty of VRBO type rentals on the lake if you want to get a rental and make a long weekend out of it. i spoke with a few folks that stayed in hotels in the area. you can also stay at the margaritaville resort. seems like a really neat place to stay and its RIGHT THERE... reminds me a lot of the setup you have if you stay at the moody gardens resort hotel for texas 70.3.
overall i enjoyed the whole race, only detractor for me was the bad camber jogging paths. i cant fault them at all for using what they have avail, but i personally would just make sure to stay off this as much as possible when running it to avoid a rolled ankle while on tired legs.
80/20 Endurance Ambassador