Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains : Official Thread (Page 10)

2000 bike mass start!

There's a real steep hill about 3-4 miles in that will thin things out a bit, I'm sure.  Or we'll all just be spinning uphill side by side.  Rode it today and didn't downshift early enough and had to unclip, walk down and try again!

Ha!  Same here.  Had I thought ahead and realized I was going to be there tomorrow for one of the race meetings anyway, I would have waited to pick everything up until then.  Of course, now I can get everything organized tomorrow before heading out.

Plan tomorrow is to drive the course and get everything to transition and the start.  Debating on whether to try to drop the bike off as late as possible to avoid sitting it out in the rain all day or not worry about it since it's probably going to get wet anyway...

Well, right now it looks like the best chance of rain is midday, dropping off as it gets later, and then now they're saying no rain tomorrow, which would be awesome.  Maybe the front is moving faster than originally anticipated.

We drove it this afternoon as well, although I skipped the figure 8 section.  There are maybe only 2 or 3 real steep hills, a couple longer climbs but not as steep, and otherwise a lot of rollers.  Seemed like the route rises faster than it descends.  I'd say for a 56 mile ride, it looks like pretty good road conditions.  I've never been lucky enough to have roads in that good of a shape on a ride that long unless I stuck to the local bike path.  A few sections were definitely rougher than others, but not bad, and I rode on the chip/seal yesterday (technically it's not chip/seal, it's just real coarse asphalt), and it wasn't too hateful at all.

I've taped my bike shoes up, and I think I finally figured out what I'm going to wear tomorrow.  The only question is whether I wear tights or not.  Is it better to have my legs cold on the bike or warm on the run?

Can you take the tights off after the bike?  I lean towards most people wearing them if it's raining in the temps we'll see.  So a little warm on the run assuming you can't take them off at transition.  If they fit well you'll just sweat more, but like it was warm out.  Dehydration shouldn't be an issue in these conditions.

I'm not going to wear tights, but know I have a strong motor and can work it hard over this distance.

I could probably throw them over my bike shorts, then peel them off in T2 if I need to.  Probably what I'll end up doing.

Mine is up too.  Hopefully it makes sense because I was overlooking a lot of mistakes while drafting it.

Vegas slot, woohoo!

Awesome job! Your description of the bike course makes me feel very happy with my performance on the bike now; were it not for traffic on some of the downhills, I'm sure I could have done even better.  I tend to fly past everyone that passed me going uphill on the downhill, unless they get in the way.

Yeah, it didn't help that apparently nobody went to or paid attention at the race meetings where they gave us explicit instructions that when riding on the left side of the road, to ride left and pass right.  I eventually gave up trying to follow that rule and just did what everyone else was doing.

People never do really get that.  They don't realize how absent minded they are.  I'm not perfect, but do seem more aware than others.  I'll be thinking about entering WTC races after this, maybe see where my start could be.  This is no different than other races I've been in, but at Rev3 Knoxville there were like 450 people out there.  About 1/4 of what we had today.

Wonder what my time would have been if I'd gone for the P4 frame instead of that lousy Ordu? (haha)

Started my day off with a flat tire.  While driving to the event!  Heading up Rte 33, found a BIG hole in the road, on the left side of the left lane.  Rear tire blew out, even dented the rim a bit.  Fortunately I had a good spare, and even an air compressor (not that the spare needed it).

20 minutes later I was back on my way, until the traffic jam in town.  Got myself rushed and forgot to grab a water bottle and gels, so I started with no fluids and maybe one gel.  Oh well.

This was my first HIM, and I had wanted to pace myself on the bike, but then decided to go with what was comfortable, and just see what happens on the run; I had done 45/10 bricks in the last few weeks, with similar terrain, but 30 deg warmer, so I figured to just let it go and see where the wall was.

I was surprised to see some walking on some hills, and some "complaints" about tough hills.  Maybe it's my MTB background, but the hills didn't seem bad at all.  I also have a road bike, so maybe that helps?

Didn't see any crashes, but I did feel it slip a couple times, not too bad though.  There was a rough patch, I think after that newly paved section with coarse asphalt, where a guy on a tri-bike got into one of those oscillatory modes with the front wheel, wiggling left and right.  Don't know if he got a flat, or the right combination of road/bump/speed.  I think he recovered without incident.

psycleridr, I didn't see it, but saw people on the side, most I think were flats.  Good job sticking with it. To make a race report, go to the Race Log button near the top (next to "Forums").  Click the Add A Race button from there and fill in various information as best you can.  You can save it as a draft first and don't have to put in an entry for every box provided.

tcj103, I think the mountain biking really helped me out too.  Saw people walking the hills and think some were slipping out with the wetness.  Weight back, consistent pedal pressure all the way around the stroke, and go through it, right?  I only had the slightest slips on when on the lines.  Otherwise it was fine.

cyclone31, nice going!  By the way, the run splits on the results is not accurate.  The sensor was at the turnaround which was ~7 miles in, not 6.55, so things are skewed.  The total and overall average are still right on.  My Garmin was showing me ~7's for mile pace the whole time, not 7:30/6:30.  That'd be a major screw-up of pacing!

I just noticed my race position changed from Sunday.  Up to 7th Age Group and 47th overall.  Penalties?  Less than a minute out of 5th now, which would have been a podium spot.  If only I had my act together in a few places.  Oh well, it was still fun and I still got the slot.  If I really deserve a podium finish then it won't be a one-time performance.  It'll be from consistently doing really well.

I still can't believe Bart Aernouts pulled a 2:11 on the bike in those conditions.  That is some insane riding.

Maybe that chipmunk I saw belly up around mile 30 saw him go by and just fainted out of amazement!

I saw that poor little fella . I contemplated hitting him as he was still squirming when I rode by and just wanted to put him out of his pain. Felt terrible.

As for Bart I know not having all those people in front of him helped. I know my OTB accident was partly due to congestion and partly to my stupidity/over exhuberance. I will also say that having the MTB background was helpful. I can't say I slowed much on the descents even with the wet conditions. As for the climbing in the course I did not find it that bad although there were a few tough little sections that were definetely in the 7-8% range but they didn't last long....thankfully!