Alum Creek Triathlon - Olympic Distance : Official Thread

If I'm in town I'll be there to cheer you on. You better finish fast, the kids will be hungry and want to eat your post race food.

BUMP

Nobody else here is doing the Oly distance?

We have 6 of us from Findlay coming down to do the race.  This will be our 1st time at this race so I have no idea what to expect.  We really like the fatrabbit race at Antrim lake so we thought we could try this one too.  If anyone is familiar with the area is there anyplace to train on Sat with large hills?

Oh YAY!!!!

Yes, I'm familiar with the area. This is my home turf, and I trained the course on Sunday.
(FYI, parts of the run are more like a trail run.)

Where are you staying?

It is not very hilly in Columbus in general. You might have more luck just riding the hill part of the course on race day. It's really just one big climb and that's it, and it's quite close to the packet pickup area, so you can just park, get your stuff, and ride the hill a few times if you want.

The race headquarters and transition are at a state park beach. It's a free beach and there's tons of parking and bathrooms and such. You can test the waters and do a gear check and such.

The hill is on Lewis Center Road, at Bale Kenyon Road. You can Google Map it. Going west from Bale Kenyon is going up the hill to the top of the levee/dam. At the top of the hill is a curve, and then on your right is the entrance to the beach. That is where transition is.

Does this help?

What other questions do you have?

Just to add some info:

The swim is a triangle out from the beach. The Oly does the triangle twice. The water is not nearly as clear as at Antrim. This is a pretty heavily-used beach with boat traffic and beachgoers and such.

The bike is all right turns from the beach in a square. It is pretty flat except for the aforementioned hill coming back to the beach. The Oly does two loops.

The run is on a sidewalk along the beach, and then off into the grass onto the "nature path." This has tree roots, mud and what I would call "moguls." Then off that onto some service roads, and back onto the main road and into the beach. Then repeat, and head back to transition for the finish.

It's a pretty popular race, and there is a lot of stuff going on that weekend, with some OWS events, and the Tri for the Cure the day before. That could make packet pickup exciting! Also the beach is open to the public, and lots of people just park there to train on any given weekend.

The roads for the bike are in good condition. There is vehicle traffic, and the roads are 2-lane roads, but there are a lot of cyclists using the roads. This make most cars a little more understanding and a few cars a lot more pissed.

The bike course is very easy to follow from the Course Map on the Fat Rabbit site.

Transition is at the far end of the huge parking lot.  That's where packet pickup is, also.

That does help, we are camping at Alum creek state park.  Do you know if there is a set group of people that ride on Sat morning or just a mix of people.  I need to get about 75 to 100 miles and hate doing laps. 

David

Check the Tri-tech web site. They run rides out of that area but I can't remember if it's a Sat or Sun ride.

 

Dont forget to bring down some Wilson's Burgers!!!!!!

You can definitely get in that kind of mileage around there if you go north and east. You'll have to cross Route 36/37 (you can see this on the map) and go up into Knox County. There are some good roads up there, and you can get into some hills, too.

The riders who show up on Sat. and Sun. mornings seem just random to me. Like a husband-wife, a couple of friends, or 3 guys going out together. I've never seen matching jerseys or anything like that.

But as DavidTris mentioned, TriTech Multisport has a ride that leaves from Hoover Reservoir, which is not far from there. It would be more convenient for you just to leave from the park, though.

If you don't mind 2 laps, you could do the old HIM course that Fat Rabbit used to put on. The map is still out there on the Internet somewhere. It's a 56-mile course. Or make your own. You'll find your share of big trucks that hog the road, but most of the roads are decent for riding, and low traffic. Except Route 36/37.

Dont forget to bring down some Wilson's Burgers!!!!!!

Should I leave them in T1 or T2???? lol  They might be tough to eat on the bike or run :0)

Here's that map of the fat rabbit HIM course ahohl was talking about.
http://www.cott.us/maps/alum/FRR56.pdf

I've ridden it several times this year. It's a good course.

THANKS I will be riding it Sat if anyone wants to join me!

(duplicate post copied from sprint b/c relevant info.)

just did an elevation profile of the course on line

this thing is flat.  the only "hills" are over the first half mile  you gain 150+ ft and a couple miles before the finish you have another 3/4 mile 180 ft climb.  Max elevation change is 2%.

I road this last year totally inexperienced and on an el cheapo bike and flew. I climbed the worst part a couple weeks ago in Wendy's - unless you are on a mountain bike and you are reasonably fit you will fly.
The heat will be your worst enemy.  I have skipped the fluids on the bike in many sprint distance ride but will be using the aero bar bottle with gatorade.

As far as water temp goes, it is now warmer than what is preferable for competition swimming.   Nothin you can do about it but stay cool before starting.  This short of a distance with warm water - you may want to consider skipping the wet suit.

The run course had puddles last year. But unless it rains again before the race we should be OK.
They had a fluid station at the start of the run last year which I think makes more sense than with 1.5 to go. 

bikes had an assigned rack position so it is not crucial to rack first.

they actually had burgers and hot dogs for post race food along with the usual stuff.

Anyone hanging out after the race?  My kids are coming up for the finish and we will stay to eat, swim and play. 

Hey Brue - Like I mentioned, our kids are on a sleepover, but if we see you there, we'll find out how long you and the girls plan to stay. Maybe we can go get our kids (in Westerville) and come back and play with you!
Nora and Michael haven't seen the Lilly and Eleanor in forever, I think!

I'll have the kids with me tomorrow at 10am for packet pickup, though!

to echo what brue said, this is a FAST course. i went 2:09 in my first olympic here a few years ago, and the bike/run are flat, fast, and on good surfaces.

We have bumped into the kids a couple times at Whetstone and played on the playground.  It would be awesome if they could all play at the beach.

The State Budget bill is due so they are workin her like a dog, but as of now Amanda thinks she may be able to stay a while at Alum too.