Austin 70.3 : Official Thread (Page 5)

Sending this to my wife right now.  "Honey, orders are orders!" ;>

As for the triple loop, don't mind losing the hills, etc but am not excited about running on cement for the complete distance.  Much prefer dirt or loose gravel but it is what it is.  Count down has begun.  Won't be there until noon on Saturday.  So what time Saturday night for dinner?

Yes, Saturday night dinner, what's the consensus?  Timewise, I'd like to have plenty of time to get my bike checked in and take in the expo and spend lots of money on stuff I probably don't need.  But I'd also like to finish dinner and get back to my hotel early enough to relax and get my beauty rest.

Would folks like to try and meet up at the expo and figure it out from there?  Or should we just agree on a time/place and meet up there?

I'm in for a Saturday dinner.  Meeting up at the expo and deciding sounds good.  I'll be getting my bike checked in and doing some shopping in the afternoon.

Definitely in for dinner but I won't be arriving into Austin until noon or a little later (driving in from Baton Rouge) so will be checking in getting settled, etc.  I will PM a couple of you my cell number and just call/text me when/where in the expo.

Climbinggonzo - 2011-10-19 4:48 PM Hey!!!  What the heck is going on with the weather forecast?  I just looked, and the high for the day is now 88.    That's almost 50 degrees warmer than our highs right now!

I haven't seen anything saying that high.  More like 84 or 85.  Also, it is supposed to be partly cloudy so no sun beating down on you directly.  Plus the high temps won't be around until late afternoon.

hathecr - 2011-10-19 6:09 PM

Climbinggonzo - 2011-10-19 4:48 PM Hey!!!  What the heck is going on with the weather forecast?  I just looked, and the high for the day is now 88.    That's almost 50 degrees warmer than our highs right now!

I haven't seen anything saying that high.  More like 84 or 85.  Also, it is supposed to be partly cloudy so no sun beating down on you directly.  Plus the high temps won't be around until late afternoon.

Weather.com has it listed as 88 as of now.  Still should be nice.

Climbinggonzo - 2011-10-19 4:48 PM Hey!!!  What the heck is going on with the weather forecast?  I just looked, and the high for the day is now 88.    That's almost 50 degrees warmer than our highs right now!

LOL and it's 15 degrees cooler than what Texans have been training in for most of the year.

Just more motivation to finish faster, to avoid the afternoon heat.

I'll be in town tomorrow night, can't believe it's come that fast.  I got my last easy swim in today, maybe go out for a short run this afternoon, once it's warmed up to today's high, 46.

I think that was made at the beginning of the week.  Morning temps in Austin the last fews days have been high 30's & 40's.  Definitely bringing my wetsuit.

Heading over to the bike shops now, then on to the check-in and bike drop off.  All you can eat pancakes at Denny's this morning, can't beat that for Carb loading!

I was downtown last night and got a feel for what's around.  Lots to choose from for dinner within a few blocks radius.  What time would folks like to meet up later this afternoon?  Meet at the expo, or meet up downtown?  I'll have my phone on me, Three two zero-491-3242 (btw, I'm Andy).

Finally home, feels good to be done traveling and standing in lines everywhere I go!

Now to figure out what the plan is for the upcoming year.  After this weekend's race I'm sad to say that 140.6 is officially off the docket for next fall, but not off the docket forever.  Looking forward to next summer and maybe doing 2 more 70.3's before considering a full.

Did you try:

http://ironmanaustin.com/results/?rid=1143239862&y=2011

Great job everyone! Did you see me cheering on the run course?
I was holding a sign that said "HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE" and then switched to "SHUT UP LEGS" - I was very proud of everyone out there in the wind and heat!

The athletes I was supporting were fairly positive about the race, but said it seemed obvious this race had grown bigger than it's britches. Did anyone else feel that way? (I was shocked to hear there were 2800 participants?? Wow!).

It was probably because they've both done/been at full Ironmans with 3000+ participants and seen how smooth it is run. This race in comparison seemed super inefficient and sparsely staffed (specifically at athlete check-in). They both thought the bad road conditions forced the entire field off of the right-side of the road, which made the course extremely crowded as it was harder to pass. 

Don't mean to be a Negative Nancy about it but that was the overall taste that was left in their mouth (if the RD still frequents BT maybe he can take this into consideration).

Hah I missed the Honey Badger Dont Care....but I did see the Shut Up Legs one, of course I was just thinking, shut up stomach!

Bike course was crowded for sure (second to last wave start).  The roads were rough, but not really any different from what I generally ride.  I wanna know where other people are doing 60mile rides on super smooth roads?  Basically just more people riding way to far left and swerving (maybe from the winds).  I was lucky to check in on Friday....I felt really bad for the people in line to check in Saturday.  I think the entire process took me maybe 10 mins.

Lisa, that was you?  I remember both instances.  Overall I think the race was run well, I would have liked to have the signs where you could read them.  Waited in one line for a couple of minutes only to find (since I could not see the number range) I was in the wrong line.  NOLA 70.3 does it well and its more of a following the line process.  But Craigs point about a lot of late folks (including myself) is valid.  But in my defense, I had to work Friday and got here as fast as I could.  Roads were rough but really the choice was race on a rough road or don't race.  Simply not a option to say "hey I don't like these roads lets do it someplace else".  I did have to ride towards the left more than I wanted but in my opinion I decided to live and slow up those behind me rather than try to ride and crash on the right.   Sorry folks but my family supports my decision to live ;> (please take that tongue in cheek).

We were at athlete check-in/bike drop off for 2.5 hours - only about 10-15 minutes of that spent at the Ironman Store.

Since you couldn't do bike drop off till 11 a.m. there didn't seem to be a point in showing up before then. I think we go there around 12:30 p.m. 

I loved everyone who pointed at my sign or said "Honey Badger don't give a $&%!" I had to explain it to my boyfriend's mother and the older couple camped out next to me. They said "We're not from here... you're going to have to explain that one to us..." LOL!

Hey all!

For 2012 I may be in Austin on a business trip.  With me doing an Oly the weekend before I won't be able to do the full at Austin but if someone is looking for a member for a relay team I might be interested.  Doesn't matter which part but I am not particularly fast at any of them.

Anyone know if there are plans to update the bike course roads for this race? I'm deciding between this race and an XTerra race in Arkansas that same weekend. If the course isn't fixed I'll be doing the XTerra.

Thanks