Ironman Louisville : Official Thread (Page 67)

Doc- Funny...and...for the marathon, I simply tried to put one foot in front of the other from start to finish. Start slow...finish slower. My goal has always been to be convservative the whole time, walk the aid stations, and then walk as little as possible between aid stations. AND THEN to get from coner to coner, or tree to tree, or a few more feet, etc. I have a good quote about such things that I'll have to dig up.

EVERYONE- I volunteered at an Olympic distance triathlon this morning. I did body marking and then took to the water in my kayak. It was fantastic! I found it both rewarding and inspiring. So, if you want to give back and gain some motivation, find a race and volunteer your time. I'm volunteering at another one in July.

Off to my son's baseball game, then an inspired open water swim! Peace!

Well, I made the trip to Louisville yesterday with two other Ohio BT'ers to ride the bike course. I must say that the course is very fair and not too brutal. At the beginning of this training season, I was scared to death of the slightest of inclines. However, a little bit of hill training goes a long way. Before we started riding the course I totally expected it to suck. After reading a lot about the course and watching several videos, I knew which areas of the course were most talked about. We hit the climb on Wolf Pen Rd and I remember thinking that it wasn't too bad. Then we hit the out and back and that wasn't so bad either. I noticed that you can really take advantage of the rollers, using the downhills to get up the next hill. It doesn't always work that way, but it does for the most part. Basically, for those who fear hills and have been worried about what to except from this course, I would say that you will be pleasantly surprised at how doable it is without being totally thrashed at the end. Train on hilly terrain, even if you have to travel to get it in, and you will be a happy camper come race day.

There has been much conversation about the locals and how they are not very friendly to cyclists. Unfortunately, I must report that my experience yesterday supports that thought 150%. We were heckled and yelled at many times. I'm not really a sensitive guy and I can take it like a champ, but we experienced something that could have seriously got one of us injured or even killed. We were cometing the first loop and heading down 42 back to 393 to begin loop #2. We were cruising along at about 20mph when the driver of an oncoming car, who was doing approx 60mph, veered into our lane and launched a full can of pop at us. The can narrowly missed the front person, but landed and exploded right by her front tire, spraying us all with pop, but mostly her. The pop made it's was into her eyes and she couldn't see. All 3 of us stopped on the side of the road to assess the situation. As we were making sure everyone was ok, cars were driving by and yelling for us to stay off the road. Talk about feeling vulnerable and totally hated. I will NOT be going back to ride this course EVER again unless it's with a large group......strength in numbers.

Now, to be fair, we had to stop several times due to mechanical issues and some folks did slow to ask if we were ok. One guy even went home and brought us back a cold water. It was no surprise that he had a swim, bike, run bumper sticker on his car though. We continued on and ran into Jeremy (redremy) at a has station. He was out riding the course, too, so we rode part of the 2nd loop with him. I was glad when the ride was over and I was really happy to have experienced the course for myself. It was a huge confidence booster knowing the hills were totally doable.

I just thought I would throw this review out there for anyone else that was really nervous about the course like i was. I also wanted to remind everyone to Please be safe if you go ride the course. I'm considering going back down the end of July when the organized group ride takes place. Happy training!!!!

DLaw ~ I'm glad you got a chance to ride the course.  I too, felt much better about it after riding there last weekend.  I'm so sorry that you guys had that happen to you.  I was with the training group, and I'm sorry to report, that it wasn't much better.  Now, don't get me wrong, iamtri puts on a great event.  They are super organized and everything about the group was fantastic; however, I have never felt so unwelcome riding anywhere else but there.  This was not, in any way, the fault of iamtri, they were amazing......but, the locals absolutely do NOT want us there, and it is very clear when you are riding.  We were yelled at, honked at and passed way to closely many times.....I was a nervous wreck when I got done. 

For those that haven't ridden there yet ~ This happens mostly on river rd & 42 (beginning and ending of the course), once you hit the loop and the town of LaGrange it really is a beautiful ride with low traffic.  I'm glad I did it and had a great day otherwise, but it was scary at times, too.  Such a shame that people act that way.

DLaw and MarathonGirl

Thanks for your great reports about the course. I am one of those that is fearful of hills as I live in the swamp land of sunny south florida, however we do have Clermont and I will be going up at least 2x to do 80-100 mile rides even if I have to go up the same damn hill 20xs...lol...

Aghh I am so sorry to hear about the incident, that is very unfortunate and I certainly hope during the race none of us encounter any problems. Wow, and I thought South florida was unfriendly to cyclists. Can you imagine the wait of oxygen and energy these people go through getting upset at a bike and a rider??? poor bastards, they are heading for a heart attack!! oh well, lets move on and happy training ;-)

Thanks again for the report! keep them coming...Alicia

DLaw - It was a pleasure meeting you and your OH crew this weekend. I appreciate you letting me tag along for my second loop.  I thought you all were moving at a good clip and looked very strong.  I lost sight of you guys on Ballardsville rd when you turned on Sligo;  As I was coming down the hill I had a rear flat that needed attention!  Nothing like a bit of pit training!  

I was sorry to hear about your experience with the locals demeanor - I take the honking and yelling with a grain of salt and have personally flown a one-finger salute a few times.  However throwing a coke can is inexcusable.  

Good luck with your training and I hope I run into yu again in Muncie in a few weeks.  Jeremy   

Sounds like Ironman needs to do some educational town-hall meetings with the locals. They'd probably be surprised at just how much of an economic impact a race like this (year after year after year) affects their community. All you have to do is ask them what they do for a living and it would be easy to make the connection as to how it benefits them personally.

But then again, it's hard to convince people who don't want to be convinced.

I don't think I have ever been so happy to be finished with a ride.  It was scary out there.  Mean people SUCK!  I was glad I was with two great BTers (Dan & David) during this ride.

DLaw

Sorry you had that experience out there on the IMKY loop.  Thank goodness you weren't hurt.  I rode the first iamtri ride back on May 21 and actually found the local drivers to be pretty courteous and quite patient.  I was the only one that rode 112 that day so I was out there on my own for several hours.  I had absolutely no issues with drivers. 

When our group started out there was about 10 or so people that were riding abreast that "seemed to forget" that we were riding on public streets.  (river road) As they carried on their conversation they had absolutely no care or concern for the 20 to 30 vehicles that had backed up behind them - let alone the other cyclist that wanted to get around.  (one of them being myself).  I kept waiting for the drivers in the vehicles behind me to start laying on the horns and yelling and screaming.  They never did.  For 8 miles or so they just followed the oblivious group of cyclists at 17-20mph and eventually made their way around.  It was like they had just grown accustomed to being held up by cyclist. 

This wouldn't be the case where I live.  Those oblivious cyclists would have taken quite a tongue lashing from folks around here and deservedly so. 

Yet - your experience sends a message to me and I doubt I will choose to ride that route solo again this summer.  I'll be returning for the iamtri group rides on July 23 and Aug 6th.  Once again - I'm really grateful you didn't get hit. 

Question to any of the veterans of this race.  I am have watched the swim start on you tube a bunch of different times.  It looks as though there are people with full wet suits, sleeveless suits, etc.   I am curious as to how strict they are about that as this usually is not a swimsuit legal race.  I am also curious as to whether they check speedsuits to see if they are legal.  Has anyone ever heard of someone getting pinched on that issue.  It seems to me if they are letting people jump in with full wetsuits, they must not be checking.  Just curioius

I'm sorry to hear the negative experiences people have had riding the Louisville bike course, but at the same time I am very envious of those who have had an opportunity to scout the course.  I hope to go for the ride on Aug 6.

My training this weekend:

Saturday:  52 mile bike ride with HILLS!!! Actually, mountains (Uwharrie Mountain National Forest)

Sunday:  3000 yard OWS (no wetsuit!!!)

Alan

jparker- Nice work!

Were you at the Tour de Kale this weekend?

Tricrazy,

No, it wasn't an organized ride.  I have a house at Badin Lake, so I went up there and made up my own course.

Alan

Sprint tri went well this past saturday (1/2m swim/17m bike/5m run). I placed 1st in my age group (20-24). The course was really hilly but was super fun.

Has anyone else not done their 100 mile ride yet on their bike? 

-Noah