Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon (Page 2)

I just signed up last night, this will also be my first HIM, and more than likely my second Tri.  Plan on doing the Capitol View Tri in Madison/Waunakee in June, this being an Olympic Tri.  Look forward to the event.

Greg

I'll be headed down on Thursday too.  It would be great to get together with some BTrs for a workout!

I like the idea of camping out for this tri.   I'll probably be heading up that friday after work.  I'd think a half day could be warranted to show up with time to set up camp before dark.  My fiance (will be my wife by then!) and I will really need the camping trip that time of year.

This is my first HIM so i'm going to want to scope the course that saturday if it's possible.

Then you'll want to do so on Friday, because the race is Saturday. 

Don't forget you need to check your bike in before 8pm on the Friday. 

i don't know where i read the race was on sunday but boy was I mistaken!  Saturday would be a good idea to scope out the course but i guess it'd be just fine to do it during the race anyway

Can't wait for it to warm up so i can feel more inspired about the race, but for now it's just head down and hamster wheel on high.

Can't wait to meet some of you in august.  

We stayed at Lake Paw Paw in a  VRBO house last year and it was awesome. Unfortunately that was about the only awesome thing about the entire weekend. IMO the race is too big for the venue. Like Jorge said it was virtually impossible to not draft on the bike course due to the sheer volume of people on the road. Had there not been a no show on my rack I have no idea where I would have put my transition area out.

I think a C+ is a fair grade.

I like large races, so I will probably sign up to do Steelhead for the 4th year in a row. However, if you are bothered by large packs of drafters on the bike, and this seems to drive some people crazy, then this is not the race for you. There are no large hills to break up packs on the bike. Also, although they have lots of waves on the swim which you would think would break things up on the bike, they always have older folks in the early waves and young faster folks in the late waves. This really adds to the congestion on the bike.

Does anyone know if the host Holiday Inn is already full?

this sounds like an awesome idea and i'm totally down for it if it saves some money.  Just got to talk the soon to be misses in to it.

 I tried to register at the Holiday Inn in Benton Harbor and it was full but other hotels were not. 

I registered last night so I will be there! 

 The Jazz house at Steelhead was awesome!  I just wish we could've stayed on Saturday night after the race, but Matt and I had to head home due to family and work.  It was a great way to meet BT folks from all over and we had chef Jorge cooking which was a great treat.

I'd like to go back just for that reason alone.  But may head up to Harbor Springs for the Coastal Crawl 3 mile swim that weekend.

it seems like it would make sense to have the faster waves go first to spread things out.  Why put slower groups first and purposely create congestion?

I assume that the race director puts slower racers in the early waves in order to finish the race earlier. This reduces the amount of time that volunteers and paid staff have to be at the race, reduces the length of road closures and the fees for local police, has the post race meal in a shorter period, and generally makes life easier for the race director. However it also causes a lot more congestion and drafting on the bike, results in faster swim waves swimming through (or over top of) multiple waves of slower swimmers, and generally makes life more difficult for the racers. This is definately a problem at large, relatively flat races like Steelhead.

There weren't that many options...if I didn't stay there I was going to the KOA...

Did you ride or walk or carry your bike to and from the hotel to transition instead of driving?  I am trying to avoid all the traffic.

Is the host Holiday Inn full? I have not signed up for the race or looked for a hotel yet.

Last year we stayed at the Holiday Inn along the lake south of town, and two years ago we stayed at the Holiday Inn on the Interstate. Both are nicer hotels and cheaper than the Silver Beach, although further away. There are several inexpensive motels along the Interstate, like the Red Roof Inn, that are an option. Many people have been happy booking accomodation through VRBO, but then you are likely to have a fairly long drive.

Bike drop off is the day before the race, so riding to transition is not an option on race day. The parking area is about mid-way between the Silver Beach and the transition area. The last 3 years I have arrived at the race fairly early in the morning and used the parking lot and shuttles without any problems. If you arrive a little later traffic  can be a problem. The worst traffic that I experienced was the 30 minute wait for a port-a-potty

As long as they start the swim from the south, which generally happens, one trick to avoid the traffic would be to get your bike and transition area ready the day before and just go straight to the swim start on race morning. Of course this would be a disaster if you get to your bike at T1 and find a flat tire

I highly recomend this race..... although the swim was canceled (visibly for saftey) it was run well and a great time.  Also the towns of St. Joe and Benton Harbor are beautiful that time of year. Do it and treat it like a vacation! I know i will again this year!

I would imagine with transition being open all day Friday to drop off your bike - it probably won't be that bad ... I think the traffic (from race reports that I've read) is the morning of the race... but I might be wrong.