Milwaukee is a good course and the swim is pretty good as well… protected cove with a bottle neck going under a bridge. Ref’ing has gotten super slack in USAT sanctioned events with a lot of warnings, don’t know how Nationals is comparatively since I’ve not raced it myself the past few years… I’ve raced at Milwaukee several times since it has been there multiple times since I’ve been going to Nats.
I’ve seen clean racing and then I’ve seen very blatant draft packs at Nationals. Flip a coin, really depends on the day… if you really suck at swimming, biking and running… you’re not competing for a podium anyway so ???
We’re about the same age and yes I’ve had competitors popped post Nationals for T or something else. I don’t think about it too much but my wife on the other hand is super suspicious of people at Nats. Tends to be a lot random (testing) and I’ve podium’d and been top 5 in my AG but never tested. What are you going to do though?
Milwaukee as I said is a good course and site. Enjoy the town as well.