Ironman Kansas 70.3 : Official Thread (Page 7)

Garmin Link

Things to note:

The start time is a little later than 1:30.....logistic issues.

Was in a rush trying to get on the course with the late arrival and forgot to hit the start button till we hit the toll booth. So the numbers in the link are ~2 miles short.

That means the ride was 59 miles and change (consistent with the bike computer on my riding partner's bike).

Garmin said 3,800 feet of climbing. Yeah it is Garmin, but I've found my elevation to be fairly accurate when it is run through the Gravity service on Motionbased.

The big gap between total time and moving time is mostly due to the 2 flats. Glass on the way out on the dam and a nasty nail/staple at about 30 miles. Thanks again to Jeremy for bike holding, tube and CO2 lending, waiting and not making fun of my tube changing skills.

Quite possibly, if you look at the map from the workout, we rode all the way past the water tower and turned around at N300Rd/56HW. That will teach us to show up late. The flat tires didn't help either, every time we'd catch the back of the pack it was time to change another tube.

If I can get up early enough, I'll see everyone running the half mary tomorrow morning.

Does your GPS have a barometric altimeter? I noticed that you used the MB Gravity Web Service.

Recommended

Gravity is recommended for people using GPS units without barometric altimeters. For people with the Edge 305 Gravity is Not Recommendedsince the elevation on the device is more accurate.

From what I've heard, Delorme's Topo USA is the most accurate for reporting elevation gain, but I don't want to spend $80-$100 just to find out.

Thanks for the info. I've seen that too, but without using Gravity, the 305 will tell me that the same spot on my driveway rose 220 feet while I was out running and I climbed 1300 feet on the same course it told me was 600 feet of elevation increase the week before. 

With Gravity the start/finish elevation is within 2 feet and the consistency from one week to the next is within 50 feet. So I leave it enabled in Motionbased, it might still be garbage, but it is more believable/consistent garbage.

Kinda what I do, just using the BT route tool. Is that about the same amount of climbing as the old course?

To continue on with an above post, I would strongly encourage that EVERYONE, who was comp'd into the 1/2 marathon at the training ride make a donation to Healtcare Access.  A very generous offer by Mr. Robinson to allow all of us to race for free, but the bottom line is that this race greatly benefits a great organization in Lawrence/Douglas County.  If you go to their website, you can make donations via paypal.

I'm from Colorado and it looks pretty hilly to me!  Surely the comments from xcrunner2010 are meant to be funny.  "OMG ... the swim looks flat" is hilarious!

Ok,  I went and rode the course yesterday.  Couple of things, it was super windy and chilly (around 50 degrees but 42 with windchill).  The start of the course will be tough, since the first mile is basically up hill.  I would say the first 45 miles will be tough and then you get down into a "flat" section before you come back to the dam hill (pun intended), climb that hill and then you are back onto the dam (which after 50+ miles seems to take FOREVER!! to get across).  THen a climb up to the park entrance and then the rollers through the park till you have the downhill to the finish. 

The main theme of this ride is to not blow yourself up on the first 40 miles. . otherwise you will pay. 

Again, just my 2 cents, take it for what it is worth.