Anyone doing this race this year? Looks like they changed the bike and run course again. Interesting…
This will be my first full distance race. There were apparently some issues with the location of T2 - the hospital is under construction and I think they didn’t want HITS to use the parking lot due to the construction.
Was the new hospital not yet open last year, but this year the new hospital is open? It would be dangerous to tie up an open hospital, so the race would use the old, now closed, hospital parking lot? Satellite maps kind of suggest that. Time to break out Orange Man. Can anyone survey the course and send a report?
Good point about the hospital. I was wondering how they got away with it last year. The roads are mostly the standard central Texas variant - chip seal. Hills are normal for the area as well. NO shade anywhere on the course. Be prepared to bring your own fluids as bottle hand ups on the bike can be tricky at best. If you are at the pointy end of the race, they may not be ready with water on the aid station during the run as well. I did this race last year; these are a few of the challenges I encountered. The bike course looks to be on the same roads with a different finishing point. The run course will be different. My plan is to head out there next weekend and see how it feels. I’ll share any updates or changes I encounter.
I will be up in the area next weekend, Friday thru Sunday - if you’re interested in riding the course together. I was thinking of starting off from the hospital - i figure they shouldn’t notice a couple of cars in the parking lot - then ride the course. I’m not sure about the safety of the run course on the weekend.
ill be doing this race, will be racing the half distance. Would love to podium or win overall at the race distance, any advice is appreciated 
Just FYI…last year they had 2 separate transition areas. I have never encountered that before and it threw me for a loop.
I’ll be heading up there Friday morning; my plan is to be there by 9am. If you’ll be there, I’ll be in the hospital parking lot. If you ride alone, DO NOT ride the section from the water, over the bridge and out of town. It is incredibly unfriendly and is only about the first six miles. Not worth it.
Rest,
Be strong on hills and used to rough roads!
Cojo,
Good point about the two areas. Thankfully they seemed to be pretty well organized. I went up as the area opened and spend all of five minutes dropping my T2 bag off. This year they are supposed to have a bus from T2 - T1 in the morning. Hits actually has a really nice transition set up, very organized. If anyone is staying at the Hampton, you can literally walk to T1 in the morning in less than five minutes.
I’ll plan on being at the hospital at 9:00am Friday - I’ll be in Kingsland (20 minutes further west) from Thursday night anyway. I’ll send you a PM with my cell #
Agree about the section from the lake up to 71 not being friendly - I normally ride the Marble Falls event in July so have ridden that road during those events. I ride around the Kingsland/Llano area but haven’t ridden up 962 before.
I am driving down Thursday from Plano and would like to join you in riding the course on Friday morning. Hospital parking lot at 9:00am works for me. I was planning to stay through midday Saturday and hopefully get a little running and swimming in to.
Sounds like a plan - safety in numbers out on the road.