Ironman France : Official Thread

ME!

1. Zero. 1 half IM

2. Nope!

3. Mainly my pacing on the climb on the first part of the bike. It sounds like after 20-25k flat, its lots and lots (90 mins or more) of almost continuous climbing after that. From what I can see, it's not crazy steep - 5%ish, but still.....  So what kind of effort should I put in here? I have no idea. I'm torn between riding at a comfortable aerobic level - for me about 140bpm or below, and taking a loooong time, or riding at what I would normally climb at in the hills - 160bpm, not in the red line, but i suspect I will pay for this later. Or, will the looong decent after allow me to recover enough? Love to hear others experiences and ideas. 

Looks like the most of us will have a privilege to be "Lanced"

I actually have a newbie question about the bike aid stations. I know they have gels (which is what I plan to predominantly use for bike nutrition). It seems kinda awkward to try to get gels at the aid stations - is it? If it is easy/simple I may not bother carrying them on the bike; otherwise I will tape them to my top tube or put them in my jersey or something...

Thanks for the info!

I'm guessing you have seen most of the IM site links? But in case not:

http://ironmannice.com/course/bike/bike-comments-by-yves-corider/

http://oqzmq.ironmancloud.com/files/2010/09/IMFR-Altitudes.pdf

http://oqzmq.ironmancloud.com/files/2010/09/IMFR-Bike.pdf

And there are a couple of mapmyride ones too - 

e.g. http://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/view/bike-ride-map/nice/2058722

which all seem a bit short of the 180k for some reason - maybe thats why the bike times aren't as slow as I would expect given the climbs!

I also found a google earth flyover before, but cant seem to see it now.

Vert good info. Thanks!

Yes, you're right, for some reason all mapmyride IMF bike routes come up a few miles short of 112? no clue why!

Hopefully you're making a great prorgess on your training...almost a month to go

I'll be running IM France this year as well. I get into Nice on Wednesday.

I read somewhere that riding the downhill between miles 75 and 90 is helpful in knowing which corners can be taken without slowing down, and which ones should be taking slowly. A board I found somewhere mentioned it was a good idea to rent a car and have someone drop you off at mile 70-75 and let you descend into town.

Anyone interested in meeting up and doing this on Thursday the 21st? Would be about a 30 mile ride, back to Nice, almost all downhill.  We would need someone willing to drop us off at the top, but splitting a rental car a few different ways shouldn't be too bad.

Cory Pittman

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Cory, I would love to check out the bike course before the race, but I'll be arriving late Friday and don't know anyone who could drop us off at that mark.

Cory, are you still interested in doing this?

I might be also - though again I don't have a driver (other than me!)

Have you checked out car rental prices?