Hy-Vee 2012

The event is downtown, so getting all that close is not easy.  You have two options.  You can spend a pretty steep amount and go to the Embassy or Marriott.  You are looking at $180 a night at the Embassy.  The bonus is that it is one of the places that the Pros stay.  I have never been at The Embassy during race week and not run into somebody I recognize.  The Marriott is a bit closer to downtown and will run you about $120 per night.  You can ride your bike to transition with a backpack from either hotel.  The Embassy is on the east side of the river, where we actually race.  As you go up the hill towards I-235, there are two others.  One is a Holiday Inn Express and one is a Quality Inn.  Both are in the $100 range. 

Your other option is to go the other way and find something by the airport.  Gray's Lake is on Fleur Drive, which is the same road as the airport.  Easy enough to come straight down Fluer from the hotels over there and do the dropoff at Grey's Lake.  You are in the $80 range in that area.

John,

Can you tell me are both transitions in the same spot?  

Do they have a shuttle that gets you to the start before the race and the transition for the end of the race?  

I'm just trying to figure out logistically the best place to be.

Yes - both transitions are at Grey's Lake, but the finish is at the Capital Building.  It is both an easy walk and there are shuttles available to get you back to Grey's Lake.  The toughest part is getting your vehicle in and out to load your bike up.  I always try and pack my stuff up in transition and make a short ride from Grey's Lake to where I can meet my ride off of the beaten path so that we don't have to deal with the traffic.  It really amounts to a 5 minute bike ride. 

They actually do a fantastic job with traffic control, but there is only so much you can do when you are talking about that many people trying to get into a fairly small area all at once.  With three races happening in one day (Amateur, 5150 championship and ITU event) they have to make things run very smoothly.

I did the HyVee tri last year and stayed at the Hotel Fort Des Moines.  We knew we would be driving into the Grey's lake area and that it would be chaotic so decided to stay somewhat close.  Only about a 10 minute drive.  It took much longer parking and walking to the transition area the day of.

One tip though, the night before (bike check in) you can't get close.  You have to walk your bike about a mile to the transition area from the parking lot.  Major pain in the if you ask me.  Especially if your support team (my wife and 3 little kids) want to "check it all out".  I could have rode my bike from parking to transition and would have saved an hour.  Oh well, it was woth the support.

I plan on doing HyVee this year again, unless the Pig Man Long Course wipes me out. 

Have fun!!

The bike course was okay last year.  Going through the school's parking lot and around the construction site was rather annoying.  I thought the ride up Grand was great.  A guy tried to hand me a Pabst Blue Ribbon about half way up the hill.  Knowing HyVee, I would have been disqualified if I took it, but it sounded REALLY REALLY good....

Looking forward to 2012 and finishing at the Capital again.  That was pretty cool.

I'm doing the Hy-Vee for the first time too. I booked a room close to Gray's Lake so I can just walk or ride my bike down to transition, catch the suttle back to the lake and ride back to the hotel. My mom and my young son will be there to so it seemed like the best plan. That way they can watch me leave Gray's Lake on the bike then just play at the play ground until I get back and finish. I have a kids wagen so my boy won't have to walk and my mom is in excellent shape so pulling him won't be a problem. I'm just trying to make this a simple as possible since it will be crowded.

Best of luck to everyone who will be there.