Omaha Triathlon

In case you have not read up on any of the old race reports see if this gives you and Idea.  I have never done the race but ride the bike course often and know several people that think this is a good challenging course.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/directory/link-detail.asp?linkid=30220

Tg

I've done it.  It is a very well put on race and has a great turnout.

It's a deep water start (jump off dock & wait for horn) and you go off in AG waves.  Plenty of room so the washing machine on the swim start is minimal.

Pretty much the whole bike course is coned off and the roads are in excellent shape.  There are rolling hills for most of the bike, but none of them are very steep and I don't recall ever getting out of my big chain ring.

The run is about the only part anyone complains about because it starts out with what I would call a trail type run to get up to the top of the dam.  Then the trail across the dam is white gravel.  It's about a mile or so to get over the gravel and then your on paved roads for the rest of the out and back.  The paved roads give you about 2 or 3 miles of what I would consider relatively steep roller coaster type hills.

Here's some video of me in the Omaha Tri last year.  It also has my weight loss journey in it so you can fast forward to 1:35 to skip the fat tony stuff.  

http://youtu.be/uNP1UYZrPRk

So, all that being said I think its a great race and I do highly recommend it.  I know both the RD's real well and they put on a great event.

Tony - Thanks for taking the time to respond.  I've seen you post quite a bit on the tri talk board.  I haven't had a chance to watch the video, but I plan to.  I signed up after reading your reply.  In fact, my son will be doing his 1st tri on Saturday.  We're pumped!

Now I'm trying to figure out how to get to the race now.  We're staying at the La Quinta om 104th St. and I prefer not to get my family up at 5am to drop me off (I've got 3 kids and a baby).  I was planning to ride my bike over to the race (it's less than 5 miles I think) but I now read that bikes are required to be racked the night before.

Awesome, I'm signed up for the Relay.  My son will be doing the run portion (i'm swimming) so I'm really excited as well.  He runs varsity cross country and track in High School so he'll smoke the run.  lol

As for your logistics, you are correct that they do bike check in the day before but I do know a lot of people take their bikes out in the morning for warm up rides.  So I'm thinking you could do what you're thinking, but I'd check with the RD first.

Kurt Beisch is the Race Director, so I'd recommend reaching out to him.  He's a great guy and I know him pretty well.

Kurt Beisch
Race Director
(402) 548-4258
email:  kurt at omahatriathlon.com

Also, My wife and I will be heading to the race and we go right by your hotel on the interstate so I'd be more than happy to give you a lift.  Might make it a lot easier than trying to lug your transition bag on your bike.  

I'll PM you my cell # in case you want to use that option.

Wow, that's very nice of you.  I may just take you up on that.  You're (and wife and son) not a serial killer, are you?  If so, I'm probably not interested...but most tri-people seem to be very nice so I'm going to go ahead and send you a DM.  Thanks!

lol, well my wife does get a little moody at times but I don't think she's escalated to that level yet.  

I forgot to mention that my wife's doing the Sprint as well.