Ironman Coeur d'Alene : Official Thread (Page 8)

Woo hoo! Just signed up for 2014. This will be my second IM. I did Vineman in Cali in 2012, took this year off of tris entirely and have missed it very much. Cannot wait!!

I'll be starting true training in January, but will begin base building now. Did I mention how excited I am?!?

Welcome aboard! It's always a thrill to push the button on signing up for an IM race.

Traditionally, the Volunteer sign up opens up just after the first of the year. Most areas do not fill up very quickly, so you don't need to be in a huge hurry on January 1st.....

Thanks.
I'm ok with the traffic and speed but sometimes get the jitters about the possibility of someone who decides to text and wanders onto the shoulder. At that speed....well, ya know.
With 50ish athletes out and about that really raises the awareness as opposed to being completely solo.

I did IM Cda this summer. Great course. Great weather this year. Look foreward to volunteering 2014. Stay healthy everyone. No Christmassing(peaking too early)

How is the Trail of the CDA? I've been wanting to get out there and ride it.

Its a great ride. Lots of scenery and animals. No hills but the wind will keep you entertained in the open areas and near the lake. Not much access to water, so bring all that you need. Trail is clean and have never had a flat.

I had 4 flats while training on the IM course. I highly recommend riding the course as much as possible. The "Mica Monster" feels different on each pass, on each loop.

Could someone who's done this before please post a link to their Garmin Connect / Strava segments? That will be super helpful in simulating training rides Appreciate it!

I have ridden HWY95 and the hills are awesome! For training, when warmer weather has allowed, I ride to the top of the Fernan Saddle. I figure 6 straight miles of hill could help.

I have always wanted to ride the Trail of the CDA from Cataldo-Plummer and back.

Sorry, I cannot help ya on this one. I'm an idiot with a bike and 2 legs and have no clue what you're talking about

Edited by AndyEWU07 2013-11-26 7:35 PM

Strava has an amazing search feature. Just search for bike rides near CdA that are 110 to 114 miles, on June 23 2013.

Duh, that's right. Will do!

I've already spent hours on Strava analyzing the hills and trying to find the best local climbs to simulate them.  

I've already modified my commute to work to include these two climbs at least once a week:

http://www.strava.com/segments/613638

http://www.strava.com/segments/4893854

Now I just need to work on the weight part of my power to weight ratio

Edited by ultramike 2013-11-26 10:14 PM

I looked at the Strava postings for IM CdA, and it seems like the total elevation reports are all over the map. I know the course changed recently, but even the reports for the new course have some pretty widely differing elevation totals. Does anyone have a good idea of what the total elevation really is?

It does look like the climbs are in the 1 - 1.5 mile range. Those will hurt, especially given the number of them, but fortunately, I think I've got some decent hills to replicate those climbs in training.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Coming out of T1, you hit your first hill which is only 8 blocks. It's flat until mile 3 and you hit a tiny hill. At mile 6 you hit another hill... This is short and steep. Coming back you hit the same hill again which is twice as long and not nearly as steep. He first real climb starts about 17ish and that is approximately 0.9 miles long and it's steep. The next big hill is approximately mile 23 and that is closer to 1.5 miles long with a small section which is steep. Rolling hill until the turn around and do it again.

I'll report back with the elevation totals.

There are 3 hills I would be concerned with. On your first loop, the hill going up Cougar Gulch is 1.1 miles long, elevation gain 550ft with a grade of 2%-9%. The second hill is the Mica Grade which is a 3.5 mile total climb. It's only a 350ft climb with grades from 2%-5%. The major climb the going back up the Mica Grade and that is a .5 mile climb. It's a total 300ft climb with a grade of 8%-9%. It's a. Two loop course so you have to do it twice which we all know.

I hope this all helps. I got my information from www.mapmyride.com.

Any thoughts on gear ratios for this bike course? My front crankset is 50/34 and my cassette on the back is a 12-25. I've been thinking about putting a 11-28 on the back. Any insights would be appreciated.

I have zero experience with gears so any insight would be helpful... Heck, I may even change my gears out depending on what people say.

I've been doing some research on this and getting a little more educated. Still have a lot to learn though......

If you went with an 11/28 I would switch your crankset to a 53/39. You will need the taller gears to take full advantage of the descents. There's lots of climbing at CdA, but also just as much descending.. The problem with an 11/28 cassette is the huge gaps in gearing that can leave you in no man's land without the right gear.

I've been toying with going to a 55/42 crankset combined with the 11/28 cassette, but I'm certainly not convinced yet..

Here is a link that was shared with me that is a huge help in deciding what may be right for you. You can plug your crankset and cassette numbers in and see exactly where your speeds would be and how big or small the gaps are between different gearing set ups..

http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/bikegears/CompareBicycleGea...

Enjoy!

I'm leaning towards keeping my 53/39 crankset and going to 11/28 cassette. Also moving from 175mm cranks to either 170 or 172.5mm cranks. This would make no change in speed capability, but would help reduce leg fatigue from the larger cranks..

It all comes down to personal preference, pedaling style, and cycling ability. Some like a standard 53/39 crank, some like a compact 50/34. I've done many very hilly courses on my tri bike, both in tris and stand-alone bike events. I have hit sustained speeds of 50+ several times in long events with long descents. I have a 50/34 with a 12-26 on the back. That gives me the capability to go up very steep hills without having to mash the gears and still gets me a high rate of speed on descents. I typically spin out at about 36 mph going downhill (I like high cadence), but I haven't had any trouble keeping up with people who still have more gear left to keep pedaling, mostly because it gets unsafe for the average age grouper. If the hill is steep or technical enough, nobody is pedaling anyway. If they really want to hammer and power away from me, they probably could, but at what cost in effort and muscular fatigue?

Unless someone is a tremendous descender and very aggressive about it, I just don't see much time gain to be made by carrying a front chainring bigger than a 53/39. In a pro cycling race, yes, absolutely it would make a difference because those people have the descending skills to take advantage of the extra gears. In an age group Ironman, not so much. I'd much rather have the gears going up and the middle gears on the relatively flat sections (especially the 16). That said, there have been times when I thought I'd like to have that 11 on the back on long, relatively straight downhills so I might very well do that for CdA. I'll stick with my compact crank though. It has served me well.

A 34x28 would get you up a seriously steep hill. From what I've heard, there's nothing on the CdA course that needs that kind of gear. For reference, I've done the ride around Mt. Rainier, the climb up Mt. Bachelor in the Leadman tri, and the ride up to Mt. St. Helens on my tri bike with a 50/34 and 12/26. I spent plenty of time in that lowest gear, but I never felt like I needed more. My advice would be to pick a tighter cassette that doesn't skip those valuable middle gears to cover the wide 11-28 range. But like I said in my other post about this, it's all personal preference and pedaling style.

Thanks for all of the input -- I guess with an 11/28 I would get a slower slow gear and a faster fast gear but lose some middle gears than my current 12/25 - 50/34 crank set up . I've been doing some Strava searches CdA and I'm not sure it would be worth it for me to change. I did St. George 70.3 last May and there was 4.8 mile climb that had three category 3 and two category 4 climbs within it. I didn't have any significant issues with my current set up but there were certainly times (especially when it max grade hit 12.7%) that I wished I had a smaller gear. Given this ride is going to be twice as long and standing up mashing on the lowest gear takes a lot of energy, I was contemplating a change.

I did St. George as well, but when it was the full in 2012. From what I'm hearing, you won't hit anything that steep in CdA. There were some pitches in the old CdA course in 2011 where I maxed out my low gears, but that's when the course went through the short, steep rollers north of town. Granted, I haven't done the new CdA course, but from what people here have described and the profiles I've seen, it looks like we've traded the frequent short up-down-up-down hills for longer, more sustained ones that aren't as steep. If that is correct, I'd bet your 34x25 will get you through just fine without having to mash. You could probably find an 11/25 or 11/26 that has the middle gears you want if you'd like more speed going downhill. Heck, you can even swap out some of those cogs if you want to insert a certain gear and drop another.