Ironman Florida : Official Thread (Page 13)

I look forward to seeing a lot of you guys out there.  I'm not racing this year, but I'm volunteering at T2 and handing out medals from 9:45 till midnight.

Question though.  Does online registration happen after everyone registers on site?  Meaning if I have cash on hand to register that night, am I guaranteed to get in for 2013, or is online regristraion going on at the same time?

Registration for volunteers on Sunday morning, happens before it goes online.  Get in line early, last year the line was insane (suprised it made it online).  And be sure to check, not sure if they accept cash.  

Thanks for volunteering!

Think I'm going to use the BT plan.  Last time I used the IronFit (Don Fink) program, and found out too late that he basically does not schedule rest / recovery weeks.   The time before I used the BT 1/2 to full program and it worked well for me.  But I personally need to add another run each week.  That's something I learned on the Fink program.

I am doing the Fink 30 week plan.  I plan to do a modified intermediate/competitive plan.  Want some extra time on the bike as I already have a very good run base.

I see I'm too late to help this poster, but for anyone else with the same question....

I'll second that.  I like 30A, but not after 9am.  After 9am the traffic gets crazy and there is no shoulder.  And people have ZERO patience.

You can take a bike path up part of 79 and then have to dump into the shoulder on 79.  You will probably have to make the right turn onto 20 and go a ways to get to 30 miles from PCB.  But 20 also has a great shoulder.

I got passed by a few big packs.  Being a BOTFOTP swimmer and a lousy biker I got passed by 1500 cyclist at IMFL in 2010.  I didn't see MUCH blatant drafting.  Just a few packs go by.

I personally think there is absolutely no excuse for drafting.  It isn't THAT crowded.  You are either faster or slower than the bike in front of you.  Pass him or don't pass him.  It's a lollipop course, ONE loop...PLENTY of real estate....

The first year I did it there were two solid lines of bicycles riding out for the first few miles, there was no way to avoid being in that crowd.   After an hour or so it broke up, and I didn't really notice too much group riding.

The second time, in 2010, there were very strong winds most of the day, but still I only noticed a couple of people blatantly drafting.  There were a few groups, but what I saw was not nearly as bad a people talk about.  With the strong winds following at the legal distance still provided a bit of a draft, and folks were doing that.

There are over 2000 racers, some of them are going to cheat themselves out of the full experience.  I'm not sure I understand it.

IMFL is draft crazy – I’ve completed 3 IMF and the first two times ’09 and ’10 amazed me on the blatant CHEATING. I had an organized pack of 20 to 30 past, several packs of 7 to 10, and then there were the wheel suckers that would try to start a pack from time to time.  The thing that is the kicker is as I pass the penalty tent it will have 1 maybe 2 folks if any standing around. I am positive the ref’s will never stop a large group for fear of the hassle of confronting these CHEATERS. Go after the low hanging fruit (incidental drafts while passing too slow and the like). I fear that one day they will crack down just when the Tour de Panama City is passing me (this can take some time for the larger groups). I will admit last year was not so bad for me not many people passed me (lousy swim so I was a BOP). And while the argument that there are over 2000 bikes on the road and it is unavoidable just doesn’t wash with me. On the 6 other IM I’ve competed in only one other was a single loop course (IMTX), a single loop is 112 miles spread without overlapping. Of those 6 other IM drafting happened but not organized and not to the level IMFL has.

Off my soapbox for now. J

I know drafting will always be a problem because people are going to do what they want especially if they are bonking or wanting to conserve energy for the marathon.

I wonder if the field was cut down to maybe 1500 that would clear up some of the roads and congestion.

Honestly didn't really notice it that much last year.  I was too worried about me and finishing my first IM.  But, I bet most of the fast folks were in front of me as my swim was 1:19.

enjoy,

Duane

I was riding along last year(no one in sight) then a huge pack came.  I got stuck right in the middle.  I couldn't get out.  It was pretty bad.  The frustrating thing was that I wanted no part of it but I couldn't get out of it because there were 20-30  bikers in this pack.

I, too, exited the water at 1:19. I did not see any large draft packs. However, we were all 3 or 4 bikes wide for the first 20 miles or so. After that things seemed to space out somewhat.

I did have one lady flagrantly drafting off of me. I waited until we were not too close to other bikes then I hammered it, leaving her all by herself. Later, as I was coming back in on an out-n-back, I saw her drafting off another person.

I guess some people just don't have a conscience when it comes to cheating.

The mass swim, flat course and usual windy conditions make it  drafters haven.  That being said, most of the illegal drafting I saw was from FOP'ers or obvous freinds (same tri kit/tri club etc.). 

Now, because the course is a lollipop, you can't really see whats going on ahead and behind you, but while it was there, I have seen worse at some 70.3s.

It is a great course to us groups to pace with though.  If you can stay a legal distance, you can still get some wind relief and if you share the work load, it can be an advantage out on the bike course.