Subject: RE: IRONMAN MELBOURNE 3/25/12 !!!!!I'm more excited than Yanti, looks like my first IM is going to be in my backyard (literally, the bike and run legs go 300 metres either side of my house). This is going to be a fast course, I've ridden the freeway the bike is going to be on quite a few times prior to when it opened just under 2 years ago and it's almost flat, with just a bit of a rise up away from the transition. Back then I was doing around high 20's km/hr on the way out, and 40km/hr on the way home (my bike riding now is a bit stronger, I was definitely BOP then). Over half of it is protected from side winds. I used to enjoy this particular ride even in pouring rain, and then they went and spoilt the road by putting cars on it and banning bikes. I'm predicting the top end riders are going to do well under 5 hours on this one. The run is along the bay, fairly flat with only a few short sharp hills to contend with. This is the old Melbourne Marathon course. The swim is in my preferred area for open water swim training, the beach has a gentle slope away so if planning on racing this one, get some practice in running out of the water for 50-75 metres. I've never noticed any tide assistance there, but will wait to see where the course is actually going to be. 99.9% of being a wetsuit swim at that time of the year. |