What's Wrong with the Louisville IM? (Page 2)

Too hot,  no wetsuit, timetrial start, tough bike (I'm not saying that just reporting), ........

Folks, it's IM....it's supposed to be hard..... BRING IT ON!!!

And for the rest of you......I'll put out the call..........

(wambulance.jpg)

We can't very well cite the TT start as the reason it doesn't fill up as fast as other IM events - the original plan for IMKY was NOT A TT START and it still took a few weeks to sell out.  It did not become a TT start till 2 days before the start of the first race in 2007.

~Mike

I had signed up for IMKY last year (my first IM) knowing full well it would be no wetsuit and it would be god-awful hot.  I trained accordingly.  I finished with a smile.

My point is: don't let the no wetsuit and/or heat turn you off.  You can and will overcome, like over 1700+ other IM finishers did this year!

What percentage of entrants would you guess are competive and trying to secure an AG Kona slot?  I'll take a WAG....less than 10%.  Which mean for 90% of the field, a KQ never enters their minds and the TT start is not a factor.  I'll revise my statement to this.  TT start is not a significant factor in IMKY not selling out as fast as the other IM venues.

I really think it is becuase it is a new race and you don't have as many repeat entrants.  As time goes by, more and more people will repeat the event and it will sell out faster and faster.  Check back with me in abother 5 or 6 years and we'll see if my theory holds.  :-)

~Mike

Very interesting thread...

Honestly I am worried now of this no wetsuit swim since I am quite bad at swimming. I need to take some master swim lessons.

What does it mean "time trial" start? Jumping in the water? What is it?

When you say "rolling hill" bike course, you mean that you need a 25 cog or 23 would be enough for you (with 53/39).

Do you have in USA a website like this one for hills?

The time-trail type start means you line up and jump in on about 1 second intervals.   Most IM events have a mass swim start where everyone is in the water when the gun goes off and you fight your way out of the crowd to find your space to swim.  If you like to start your day by getting kicked in the face, a mass swim start is they way to go.  :-)

A lot of folks use a 12-27 cassette and use every gear.  Personally, I would not have been able to spin up many of the hills w/o the 27 gear.  There really are only a couple of out-of-the-seat climbs....but there are a lot of rolling hills.  Not a hard course per se...but not the easiest 112 miles either.

~Mike

 Check this link out for a detailed profile of the bike course

http://bicycling.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripId=129201

so someone asked, but it was never answered at least to my knowledge... why no wetsuits?  Is it just a water temp issue?

-B

USAT rules as to when wetsuits are allowed. IMKY water temps are too high to allow wetsuits. It is dangerous to swim in wetsuit when water is warm as folks can overheat even more so in a 2.4 swim that takes significant amount of time.

Is it warm 100% of the time? I mean in August can it be that it will drop below the threshold?

It'll be my first IM, and I'm already excited.  I signed up for it because I could get in, but the TT start and the no wetsuit are attractions for me (not because I'm a great swimmer -- I'm not -- but because I just don't want to mess with it).  I live and train where it is much hotter, so I'm not bothered by heat.