Lake in the Hills Tri - Official Thread

Maybe. Remember the course quite well from two years ago.

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It's a good event and has been organized. I think they're going with a TT start which is fairly new (1st time was last year). There are 2 transitions but easy to manage. T2 is on the way from the parking lot to the start and they've brought over the T1 bags to the finish quickly enough after.

I've been to the evening swims a couple times. If you're signed up for the race, you'll just check in at the gate, otherwise I think it's a couple bucks to swim. They have the course buoys up and a few lifeguards in kayaks around the loop. You just get in when you like and go swim laps around the loop. They have had someone doing a little open water teaching/explaining at times in the past, but not sure if they always do.

I'm in again for this year!   

With the TT start last year, how well spaced out were things by bike? I've only seen/done this one as wave start over the few years prior. 2 people every 10 seconds sounds like it should work ok, but still thought it good to hear from people. Kind of expecting to move up a lot on the bike and would rather not deal with crowded situations or startle so many people coming up from behind. Not sure if I want to start in the elite wave either, so weighing a few things here.

I don't remember having any issues at all on the bike in terms of traffic.  Having the swim as a TT start last year was really nice, it was just spaced out enough to make it fairly easy to both sight and make your way through people.  

The only thing I was completely unprepared for (with it being my first time doing this race last year) was the 4 mile run at the end.  That last mile kicked my arse!  

Ok. I've done a few TT starts before. Most relevant one had 2 people every 5 seconds and it was fine. For both the swim and the bike. Checking there as it was also an Oly, so twice as long for us to spread out in the water. The 10 sec here should work with the shorter distance. For the bike itself, I probably should have phrased it as if there was room if you were on a small motorbike. Probably just overthinking this, waiting for the season to get going. Roads seemed to have some size once out of the first half mile or so.

Even with a more open schedule, this is race I'd pick of those three. Kind of meh on RAM (Bigfoot) and the other is really going to have some work fitting it in. First year, and construction and a revised multi-lap short course setup sounds like a lot of congestion.

The runs can be kind of a toss-up, depending on what you like. LITH goes through a nice subdivision area and it's long for a sprint at 4 miles. A good hill early and a smaller one late. Later parts also get onto the paved multi-use path. I liked the Bigfoot run too, but would wonder about a later wave and footing. All those people could muddy it up a bit. I was first wave and rather near the front by that point. Bike course is definitely LITH. Hills are a little bigger at LG, but the road quality at LITH was quite noticeably better. I like having terrain to negotiate, but not at the expense of more sure footing. That area around Lake Geneva can get pretty bad in places. Also not really that different in difficulty. The LG water is better to swim in. I didn't like the rocks at the entrance/exit, or having to run the pavement to transition. I have trouble on rough surfaces. LITH water still seems to be as good as a lot of other races in the area though.

The LITH organization has certainly been better when compared to this and several other RAM races I've done. Ridiculously long packet pick-ups and people not knowing information they should. A booth titled "Information" should know where the start line is, for example. LITH has also felt like they want us there in the way they conduct themselves at the start, the awards, and other points throughout the day as opposed to throwing money or expenses at us, like with expensive looking SWAG I'd rather not pay for.

Any idea how well you can handle various water temps? Current conditions not withstanding, I'm thinking it will still get warm enough by then that at least some people would be fine. Don't really know about "most" or "average" people yet as it's still so unpredictable.

Hehe. They do a good job of things at the race, and you'll probably just be able to follow the crowd.

The morning of, you ride your bike to T2. Drop off your run stuff there. Then ride over to T1 and get ready to go. It's about a mile between them. Your swim stuff and anything else you brought with will go in a bag they give. This gets brought over to T2 after we all leave. They'll have a pick-up either right by T2 or put the bags by our bikes. After the race, we ride our bikes back to the parking lot using the same way we rode over.

The hesitation about two transitions is understandable as some are a pain, but these guys really have it down how to do it. When going through it on race morning, it just works.