SavageMan Triathlon 70.0 : Official Thread (Page 3)

I re-conned the course last year armed with a cue sheet. There were markers painted in the road too. No problems.

Come on everyone, this thread is boring.  We hit ~26 pages last year.  Raidenolsen is the only one keeping it alive!

So how is everyone's training going?

I've been pretty consistent, but don't feel as "in shape" as last year when I was IM training. 

I'm getting really psyched for the 18th.  Training for me is going as well as can be expected with the busy lives that we all have.  I have a good plan that I've followed consistently since February, and I have lots of quality workouts in the bank that give me confidence that I can get to the finish line.

Unfortunately, what I don't have in the bank is any triathlon experience at all, since Savageman will be my first triathlon - yes I'm that guy.  Wish I knew whether to be more nervous about making it up all the climbs, or the bottle exchanges and mount/dismount lines! 

Does anybody know what type of sports drink and gel that'll be on the course?  Is it HEED and Hammer gels since Hammer is listed on the website as a sponsor?

It was Heed last year, and it tasted like crap.  I plan on bring as many bottles of something better as I can, and then switching to Heed at the last possible moment.

You're doing Savageman 70.0 as your first triathlon? Impressive to say the least.

I rode the bike course two weeks ago.  Here are my observations.

Compact crankset + 28 in the rear is enough.  I was able to climb the Wall.  I agree with other observers about intimidating view, about cracks in the road surface and about danger to fall back.  I made it, but not sure I will do it again during the race.  Need some practice, but do not know where to do this other than on the roof of my house.

Moving the water station AFTER the Wall would help a lot.

The climbs are not that tough as Shenandoah ones.  But it is a lot of ups and down.  Overall, I feel ok about 6000 ft gain now.

The road conditions aren't great.  There is lose gravel on one of high speed descents - be careful.

I will definitely keep aerobars on.

Beautiful views.  It's a pity I will not see any of it during the race.

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Hammer is the energy supplier, so gels are HammerGel and energy drink is HEED.

Website details what to expect at each aid station and where they are located.

Roads are swept prior to race day and current roadwork and patching will be wrapped up well before race weekend.

Run course is not easy.  1/4 mile gravel climb to turnaround up Fire Tower trail is very difficult.  Hill in campgrounds is challenging.  Otherwise, not awful.  But, don't fool yourself, the run course is plenty challenging as well.

Thanks to knyost for the update on the energy products and road conditions - that's really helpful to prepare.  The website is great - I love the course maps, flyovers, and the shuttle bus to the Wall for the family.

Bwa-ha-ha.  The run course is as hard as the bike.  It's a 2 loop course with mostly rolling hills, with the exception of firetower road.  That road is a steep, straight uphill hike.  It's also one of those hills that you can't really run down - you kind of have to half jog for fear of falling. I ran a 8:10 min/mile last year, which put me 29th overall (top 8%). 

The wall really isn't so bad, as long as you can get a mostly clear shot at it.  The pavement is a bigger issue than the hill, as it is cracked and broken (which is part of the fun).  But the big challenge on race day is the other riders.  I got lucky last year and got a clear shot at it without anyone in my way.  It helps a lot to go up the right side, as the pavement is (was) better than on the left. 

I did have a question for Kyle.  Is there a mandatory bike check for the 30?  I'll be coming in from the DC area the day / night before, and need to plan all of the timing issues out. 

I was more nervous about this race than I was for my first IM last year, but it's getting better.

After riding the course a few weeks ago on my son's road bike with a triple (and making it up the wall ok), I had a compact put on my tri bike and got a bigger cassette for my race wheels, because not having aerobars to provide another option for position was a little rough, plus, I'm more comfortable on fast technical descents on my bike.  I've been putting in a lot of hard efforts on a variety of terrain and I can see a difference in my sustainable speeds across the boards plus my climbing ability is noticably better.

Yesterday was another little milestone.  We did 70 miles with between 5,500 and 6,000 ft of climbing.  The pace wasn't exactly blistering, and even though I was tired at the end, I still felt like I could have kept riding or ran, so it helped provide confidence.

Now, I think my biggest concern is whether I will be lucky enough to get a clear shot at the wall, because I feel like I've got a handle on the things I can control.

Looks like I'm bib 1104 for the 30, and 443 for the 70!

Good luck everyone!