Ironman 70.3 Silverman : Official Thread (Page 5)

I wondered the same thing with the low water levels. How long of a run would we have to do to get from the edge of the lake to T1 with the water so low?

With over 4000 ft of elevation gain anyone thinking of riding their roadie vs TT?

i hope not too far. we need our legs for the hilly course

i'm bringing my TT with 12-28 cassette

ahh typo! i meant 12-25..(i also have an 11-28)..but i'm bringing my 12-25..

Anyone have an idea of the predicted temp for race day?

i ride La Tuna every now and then but i don't run it..thanks for the info!

thanks! lots of info about race day!

yeah, i hardly use my 11.. i like high cadence to save my legs for the run..i think a 12 should be fine..

For what it's worth, I am using TT with 50/36 front and 11-28 rear. should be more than enough for hills and don't plan on going faster than 40-42 mph downhill. Still looking for compact running shoes but no luck yet

You should be fine with that setup.

Is anyone bringing their wetsuits?

Yeah, i guess i'll just bring one, just in case..

Good info, thanks everyone!

I'm getting close to peak hours on my training plan and feeling a lot more confident about doing this one. It's my first 70.3!

People flying in, how are you getting your bike there? I'm thinking I'm going to ship mine to the hotel but not 100% on that yet!

We are staying at the M Resort. It's about 6 miles from the finish, but I love the pool there so it'll be great for the night before and the night of, then we are headed to the Wynn for the rest of the week!

For anyone happens to be around Vegas this weekend, a couple of us will be checking out part of the bike and run course. Will be leaving from GVR at 6a. Let me know if any interest. We will report back with course feedback next week. Enjoy the holiday weekend and be safe.

Turns out, I am not able to go this weekend..Have fun and be safe..Looking forward to your reports..5 weeks to go! yes, 5 weeks!!

Justin and I had a chance to preview the bike course yesterday so here is a quick recap. If you are in the M45-49, ChrisM, please ignore this info. Everyone else feel free to use

I'll stick to the relevant facts and skip the part about snapping my front derailleur cable and having to use granny gear for the last 40 miles or the fact that we made a couple wrong turns and missed the turnaround so it ended up at 65 miles and finished when the temp was 100+. So let's gloss over that part.

Ok, I'll break down to several sections

First section is Lakeshore Dr from Boulder beach to N Lakeshore. It makes up the first 9-10 miles. We did not go all the way to beginning but did the last 3 miles, which includes a nice little 2+ mile climb of 200+ feet. The road in this section is a little rough but not that bad. Not as bad as chip and seal. Just rougher than the rest of the course, which is very smooth.

From there you turn onto N Lakeshore, which makes up most of the course. It's out and back roughly 30 miles. It's pretty good rollers both ways but going out is much tougher. It starts with a nice long downhill but after that it turns mostly uphill. It goes from about 1300 feet up to over 1800 feet with some downhill sections mixed in. The positive is that none of the climbs are too long before you get some relief and you can make up speed on the downhill. Coming back is the opposite with longer downhill sections and shorter uphill sections. The road condition is good. It has a wide shoulder that has a rumble strip in most sections but is is only about 2 feet wide so it doesn't take up the whole shoulder. Room to right and left. Also, it's not a really bad strip but we stayed most on the road. Since the course is open to traffic and lots of trucks with boats, you will have to spend some time on shoulder.

At the end of Northshore and beginning of Lake Mead Parkway is the toughest climb of the course. Starts around mile 39 and goes for 3.5 miles. Not too steep, averages 2.5% grade. But it feels like it goes on a while and some sections are 6-7%. The good thing is that Lake Mead Parkway section is smooth road. Once you finish that climb, there is almost 5 miles that is very flat and fast.

This takes you into Warm Springs Rd, which is also very flat and fast and recently repaved. This section is 4 miles long and everyone should be moving pretty quick the entire length.

Ok, homestretch is a bit tough. At mile 52 we turn up Gibson and it's a long climb of almost 3 miles, averaging 1.8%, peaking the last 500m at about 6% or so. Road is smooth so not too bad but so late in the ride. Last 2 miles is on Paseo Verde and has a few rollers but nothing to tough.

So overall a very cool but definitely challenging course. I like because it is always varying. Some time to aero plenty of climbs and descents so it doesn't get boring. None of the climbs are too steep for any length of time. Maybe a couple hundred meters >7 or 8, but that's it. Scenario is beautiful with great desert vistas. We even saw a couple of big horn sheep running up a hill.

We passed on the run since we did not get back until the temp was 100+. Decided a dip in the pool would be better decision. We did ride the one section of Paseo and that part looks pretty good uphill and it gets worse going up Green Valley. So run seem all uphill or downhill. Good luck with that.

Feel free to should out any questions.