Ironman Coeur d'Alene : Official Thread (Page 10)

Agreed. It is just a slight uphill trend at that point before turning around for the last mile back in to T2.  Most likely you will barely notice it.

To me the bike course is very much like Lake Stevens except twice as long, and the people don't try to run you off the road.

I was going to buy tires. I can't ride outside until I do... but snow now. I am holding out for Santa now.

I hoped to ride outside at least once a month all year... looks a bit dicey suddenly!

It looks like everything is taking place an hour sooner than it has in years past.  I do not know if this is a misprint or if they are trying to get more people to finish while it is still light out.  In past years my morning has started around 3:30 am in order to be fueled, drive to park, body marked, check on bike, drop off SN bags, wetsuit on, and ready for a 7am start.  A 6:00 am start will make this more difficult.

I did the 2008 IMCDA and my take on the bike is that there are many ups and downs, I don't know that there was a steep hill longer than maybe a 1/2 to 1/4 mile up.  The bike is no joke and pretty much what the race comes down to...  Runnergirl I would tell anyone to be waaaaay more worried about the bike than the swim, just my two cents, you swim for 1-1 1/2 hours but bike for 6-8 hours.....  The bike is very doable but just be sure to put the training time in on the bike.  Good Luck guys and gals, wife and I official start our training Feb 7th, but we are building back up right now...

This is part of what I posted back in 07 (with some edits) when they changed the bike course to it's current route.  I've ridden the course many times in training and raced on it in 2007 and 2009.  

The New IMCDA Hills

(I am calling a hill anything that I rode in the small chain ring for over 1 minute) 

The new course has around 18 hills per loop, but only 2 are really long.  The first really big hill is on English Point Road as you climb up to Lancaster Road.  This is a 6 minute hill but only the first 3 minutes are real bad.  The start of this hill is steep (2 minutes), then it becomes less steep (3 minutes), and finally it tilts up again but not as bad as the start (1 minute).  The second bad hill is on Hayden Lake Road, this is a 3 minute hill.  You start the hill coming out of a real nice downhill.  What makes this hill hard is the last minute is steeper than the first two minutes.  The remaining 16 hills are probable an even split between 1 minute and 2 minute hills. 

There are only two down hills that have bad turns at the bottom so for the most part you can maintain some of your downhill speed.  One of these downhill turns is very ugly, more technical than anything on the old course, at least one person will end there race on this corner.  It is on English Point Road, downhill curve, 180 degrees, decreasing radius, no banking.  Check this corner out carefully before the race and take it slow.

After riding it on race day... None of the hills are real heart thumpers, I was able to keep my HR under 155 on all the hills and averaged 133 for both loops.  However, this course will punish you on the run if you get stupid on the bike.

Here is a link to compare bike courses of some other IM races if you have done any of these:

http://www.ironmanusa.com/compare/comparebike.php

Also here is the elevation stuff at IMCDA bike:

(cdabikepro.gif)

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/id/coeur-d-alene/465449728

ETA: I question the elevation chart on the above site.  I know of one short hill that has a road sign that says 6% grade but the chart does not show anything above 3%.

Your link is pretty sweet, I believe the 180 degree cutback is right before mile 23, I was looking at that in Google Earth 3D....VERY COOL!  Brings back a lot of memories.....

I'm nautious.  WTH am I doing?