Just got home from Donner. Boy, that race seems to get tougher every year. By far, one of the toughest rides, and being at 6000 feet does not help.
The swim had water temp at 66 from what they said. Boy was it warm. I went our real slow this year since I lost it last year early. Worked well since I think my time improved from last year.
As the weather got hotter, I think I seemed to get slower, especially on the run.
As usual, well run event!
How did others do?
Dave
How did human taste.
I was about 16 minutes slower overall than last year. But maybe that’s because I did CDA three weeks ago? 
I just didn’t want to break my 5-year Donner streak. What a great race! I love it. Even though that bike course is torture for a non-climber like me.
Yeah, that water was warm. I felt pretty toasty in my wetsuit.
I was pretty happy with my race (as a non-climber). I rode my tri-bike at 81+ degrees. Most people seemed to ride road bikes.
Overall I thought the race was great. Very nice locale - great views on the climb/descent. I also thought the descent was quite fun - I rode a bit conservative on it as I had never ridden it before but I think you could ride the whole descent without braking. A great family race as the kids have lots of grass, a little beach, a playground, and a lake to play in. Not too crowded - easy parking - lots of places to stay. Logistically - one of the better races I’ve done. Course was super easy to follow roads were pretty good. I’d do it again.
Water was fine (warm) yet the 1st leg of the swim was into the sun - hard to see - climb was tough but not too bad. 2nd half of the run was harder than I thought. Altitude was easy - the lake is only at about 6000 and the top of the bike is about 7200 - but maybe thats because I live and train at 8000.
The course description was a little off. They describe the bike course after the climb as flat with rollers I believe. I never saw any flats. Its a 3 mile 1200 foot climb - then a 9 mile fast downhill section (couple rollers where you power over) where you average about 30 mph - then a steady climb back to a fun/fast 3 mile descent. The run is flat and fast for 3-4 miles but the back side of the lake has these little hills that hurt me…Also few aids on the run - esp. early but I was fine with that. I skipped the aid leaving T2 and did not see a station until after 2+ miles and it was warm.
Dave
I also noticed the lack of aid stations early on the run also, but, they were fine for the second half where I REALLY needed them.
Dave
Great report thanks. I’m doing a race there next monday (Western States Police and Fire Games) your info is appreciated.