Chili Harvest 2011- what to expect?

I am doing this race for the first time myself, but have done it as a team before and my wife has done it 3-4 times.  We went to College there so it is kind of a homecoming for us.

http://www.chileharvesttri.com/

Everything is there.

How Hot?

August in Socorro, gets pretty darn hot.  I would say this depends on your swim seed time.  The later you start the later you finish.  What I have noticed is it depends on how much/if it rains the night before.  When it does it is humid and muggy making it seem hotter.  I go through a lot of electrolytes so I will use endurolytes before and throughout the race.

How Flat/Hilly

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/42526932 Bike Course 292 ft of total elevation

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/42527908 Run Course 43 ft of total elevation

I live and train in Los Alamos, so I think that is FLAT.  Having done the bike leg in the teams I was on I can say the bike is fun and very fast on the way back.  Part of the bike course in on EMTRC property and closed to the public except on race day (at least it used to be) so you won't be able to preview it.  It was well marked in the past.  For the run I would assume it is well marked and haven't heard any complaints.

As far as the hotel goes it's up to you.  We have always stayed the night, so I don't know how busy it is in the morning.  This is my first real "season."  I've done 3 so far.  2 overnight (Durango, Ruidoso) and 1 we drove to in the am, but did packet pick-up the night before in Santa Fe.  I don't like to feel rushed and am obsessive compulsive about being on time, so I will end up standing around some Saturday morning, but that's my choice.  The race usually draws a lot of people.

I think it's a fun race! Good Luck!

This will be my third time racing this event so I have a little experience.

Will it be hot?  That's relative but since it starts in the morning I don't think it gets all that hot but it will be warm and possibly humid.

Hilly/flat?  Again relative but the bike starts with a bit of a climb, hits some rolling hills then another climb, and finally a downhill/super fast finish.  The run starts with a bit of a climb also.  It's not very steep or overly long just uphill, then it flattens out for a bit and goes up a bit more after that, then it's downhill for a bit, and the last half mile or so is flat to the finish.

I always go down the morning of but it does make for an early start to the day.

They typically give some above average swag so I'm looking forward to see what it is this year!

Good luck to you and all who are racing.  I'll be wearing an FCA Endurance kit and riding a Cervelo be sure to say hi if you see me.

Trinity....The Dam it man was held on the 24th so I'm not sure that it will have an impact. I guess we'll see.

What I did see on their web page though was that Mike Montoya (last year's winner) just had a heart attack!!!!! What the heck.

You're right...I'm not sure how I got it in my head that there were two races this weekend.

Wow, I hadn't heard about the heart attack.  I hope he is recovering well.