Just got done driving the bike course. Wow, it’s worse then last year and that’s saying something. Gonna be some flats out there.
Agree. It was rough just riding in the car.
The conditions of the road on that bike course were absolutely horrible. I didn’t want to believe the hype having not done the race before but it was worse than I could imagine. It was unsafe in many spots.
Agreed. Bike course was really bad and if the roads weren’t bad enough how about that section of dirt road we had to ride? First on me.
Thank you for the post. I feel this were the worst (!) roads I ever raced on…
I’ve done this race 3 years in a row and I think this is the last time for me. The road have become progressively worse every year and its just not fun. The race is incredibly well run but the course really detracts from the experience. Wish there was some way to have it on the other side of Austin by Lake Travis.
The road condition was straight up turrible. The off road portion was especially awful and dangerous. Very well run event, but those roads were dog shit.
I really didn’t think the road conditions were that bad. That said I live in San Antonio and regularly ride on the same types of roads. The drought definitely opened up some big cracks in the road, but I never felt that they were dangerous. In fact it was better yesterday after they filled some of the cracks than 3 weeks ago. I saw a bunch of folks riding down the middle of the road blocking, even where there were no cracks.
Overall I thought it was a great race. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Bike road conditions were horrible, dangerous, and not well thought out. Worst I’ve ever experienced (this includes Galveston and New Orleans). Bikes blocking is an understatement. Miles 40-50, where the bike lane was no wider than 4 or 5 feet was rediculus. I had to go into traffic to pass.
The run was unimaginative and boring.
Between the two, I would have thought there’d be “scenery” as the website describes, but I can’t say I saw much… I did see a few cows. I live in Texas, this wasn’t a “true Texas” event…
For the money Ironman charges, that isn’t a race I’ll do again. There are plenty of other, better options, in my opinion. But, it’s a free country…
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I’d have to agree about the blocking. I’d be curious if anyone got a penalty. I’ve never had to weave in and out of people like that. It’s frustrating because even if the people blocking had been penalized, they wouldn’t care. I got tired of screaming “get right.” I rode by one guy on his right and asked him if he’d ever heard of blocking. He gave a blank stare.
I kept yelling “passing on your left” and inevitably, people would start merging left. I’d ask people to stay right, and only get yelled at. I was blown away…
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I was in one of the last waves and the blocking was out of control. I was passing all day and did my best to never cross the yellow line but a couple of times it was impossible not to as people refused to move left despite me yelling.
What is unfortunate, is that there are so many other locations in the Austin area with better scenery and nicer roads. As an earlier poster mentioned, it’s too bad the race is not done on the west side of town instead of east.
The impression it leaves is that IM Corp is just looking at it from a $ perpective. The Travis Co expo area seems to be a good location organizationally, however the bike and run courses are extremely weak.
As a local, it seems like a shame that out of towers leave Austin thinking that course is representative of the area.
Having just been out to the Kerrville triathlon festival a few weeks ago, and after seeing how well organized AND scenic their 70.3 race was, there is no doubt I will be doing the local High Five event next year instead.
I did both. No question which one was better. The fact that Kerrville was a first year race says even more about the quality of their events.
X2, excluding the offroad portion of the KV run course and the fact that it was a half mile too long.
Kerrville all the way. Great race, scenic, and road conditions (while not perfect) were pretty darn good. I highly encourage anyone looking at Longhorn to also check out the Kerrville 70.3 as a late-season race in TX.
I think the perfect venue is Lake Travis, perhaps Pace Bend. I’ve done a couple of sprints out there and they are a blast. The bike course could head west from the park for some real Hill Country rather than the “fake hill country” (the hill country ends at I-35 IMO).
At least half a mile long on the run course. My Garmin had it at more then that.
I’m blaming the long run for me losing 1st in my AG 
I’m blaming the long run for me losing 1st in my AG
You too? That’s my excuse.
At least you didn’t give up an 17 min lead! Thinking back I might have slightly over biked that one