Ironman U.S. Championship : Official Thread (Page 3)

It's never too early to start planning.

I'm doing IMTX in May but think I'm going to need to sign up for a HIM between the Texas and IMNYC  to get my motivation back on track and keep me from relaxing too much.

I'm going to have to wait on deciding on a half until we have concrete orders on our next duty station.

jsnowash - 2011-08-11 6:04 AM One year 'til race day.... Forecast for NYC today is sunny, light wind, high in the mid-80's, low humidity. I would like to officially submit my request for the same weather forecast for Aug 11 2012. Can someone take care of that for me?

X2

Hudson river tide chart for August 11, 2012 at the GW Bridge

http://xtide.ldeo.columbia.edu:8080/locations/14.html?y=2012&m=8&d=11

2012-08-11  4:44 AM EDT   3.19 feet  High Tide
2012-08-11  6:02 AM EDT   Sunrise
2012-08-11 11:06 AM EDT   1.12 feet  Low Tide

Hudson river currents at GW Bridge

http://xtide.ldeo.columbia.edu:8080/locations/60.html?y=2012&m=8&d=11

2012-08-11  4:07 AM EDT   0.93 knots  Max Flood
2012-08-11  6:02 AM EDT   Sunrise
2012-08-11  7:04 AM EDT  -0.00 knots  Slack, Ebb Begins
2012-08-11 10:52 AM EDT  -1.62 knots  Max Ebb

Here is my scouting report: OMG there are a lot of hills out there.  I was very surprised to see how hilly the course is.  I drove one loop of the parkway today to see how everything looked.  I started at the Ross picnic area which will be the transition for the race and drove North for 27 miles and then came back on the South side where the race will actually be run.  They are closing the southbound lanes for the race.  For the one loop I drove today there was about 3000 feet of elevation gain.  I do hope they repave the roads before the race but I doubt that will happen.  The road is not the typical black asphalt but rather the type of road that has a lot of little pebbles mixed in with whatever material they build the road with.  You don't really notice it much in the car but with bike tires I imagine the vibration will get very tiring over 112 miles.  It seemed to be worse where the car tires wore down the top layer so there is one small strip in the middle of the lane that seems like it may be smoother.  I can imagine 2500 people trying to ride single file down the middle of the lane   LOL

Here is a link to my Garmin connect page with the elevation profile so you can see what it looks like:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/117324567

If you look at the elevation profile it really seems to fit this ride.  To me the ride looks like pure hell with all of the hills and when you look at the middle of the profile chart it looks like the head of a demon with the 2 horns sticking up.  At least it looked that way to me and my family. 

I brought my bike and was hoping to ride the run course today but I had to meet with a customer, which is why I was in the area, and the meeting ran a little longer than I expected.  I didn't want to ride my bike into NY to follow the run course when it was getting close to rush hour.  Next time I will try to get that for everyone.

If anyone wants any additional info I can pull the ride from my Garmin Edge and upload the file.  I am going to try to convert it to a course file I can ride on my Computrainer over the winter.

If I remember correctly, we drop our bikes off the day before via ferry and don't see them again until we get into T2.  I also recall it being said that athletes will pick up their bikes via ferry upon completion of the race.  don't know if they will let family members do it for you as they have in other races via a bike pick up voucher thingy (technical terms). 

No idea on hotels, toying with the idea of staying in NJ but don't know if they'll make all athletes drop their bikes off via the ferry.  Seems like a silly thing but it would be a pain to have to make that extra drive to NY to hop a ferry then drive back to NJ but you never know with these races do you? 

Thanks Matt, I've been putting off the logistics for this race until we get back to the U.S. and after I figure out my IMTX stuff.  Good idea on staying near the Javitz.  The logistics might suck for this race but it'll be fun and that's all that really matters.

I googled hotels near the George Washington Bridge and the closest hotel I could find on the NJ side is a Econo Lodge.  It looks like a 1 star hotel (and I think I am being nice) but since they only have like 37 rooms I went ahead and booked a room for a few nights just to be safe.  My buddy doing the race also booked himself a room. 

Again not the nicest of Hotels but it is close to the GWB, and I have up until 8/8/2012 to cancel without being charged.

Econo LodgeAddress:‎

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hi. I will be doing this race as my first IM and I am looking forward to it. Thanks to all who have posted so far, you have given some great information. I will be travelling with some friends from Ohio and we are currently looking for ideas on where to stay. I know you have posted the Econo Lodge so far as a possible but does anyone else have any ideas yet?

KC

While the host hotel might be easier they'll be crazy expensive and have a minimum stay of 3-5 days.  It's NYC, there are hotels everywhere and after you get your bike to transition you can find a cab to zip you in and out of the "crazy" zone. 

I just hope there's a hot dog stand at the finish line.

Hello Everyone, Quick introduction as I will be joining you next year.

I'd like to thank Obrats for catching me at a moment of weekness and talking me into to signing up.

Looking forward to another year of trainging!

Fred