Ironman St. George - Utah : Official Thread (Page 2)

I used my 12-27 at SM.  I probably didn't need the 27 except for the three sisters.  12-25 should be fine.

I used mapmytri.com to check the course and didn't see anything worse than what Silverman can throw at you.

The climb is a grind but is really only about 1-2% most of the time.  It pitches up to 5-6% for about a mile and a half.  It should make for a FAST downhill on the way back since a lot of that is 3-4%.  Probably a bit too fast for my liking.  Lots of brake I think unless you are fearless.

Edited by Aikidoman 2009-08-10 4:20 PM

You're all starting to scare me! Has anyone here done the Longhorn 70.3 or the Vineman 70.3? I'm just wondering how the bike course on those races compare to this IM. I'll try to make it up there some time before the race, but I'm not sure if my tight schedule will allow it.

Bah -- don't be scared. The bigger hil everyone is talking about is a dormant volcano called Veyo. I have run it a couple of times during the marathon and it isn't too bad. It will be tougher but manageable.

I think if you put time in the saddle this winter you will be fine.

Mike

I have never ridden in Utah, but I live in Austin and rode the Longhorn course several times.  There is some climbing in the Longhorn half but they are rollers.  You can almost get enough speed going down to get you most of the way back up the next hill.  The hardest bike leg I have ever done is the BLST 70.3 it was hilly, hot and 20+ winds. 

Hey, looky...the IMSG participant list is up:

http://www.ironmancenter.com/participants/10stg.html


(Guess this means I'm really doing it...)

Little exciting to actually see my name on the list. This will be my first IM as well and would love to join the group for some March/April runs. I too am Vegas, so it's a quick run from here...

8 months from today. I'm WAY ahead of where I was this far out from my last IronMan and can't wait for fall and winter training in cooler weather.

Does anyone know how the hills compare to the ones in the Escape from Alcatraz Course San Francisco in the bike course?

I have done the Escape from Alcatraz 3 times. I am from Milwaukee WI and have never been to St. George. I was trying to analyze the elevation data and I cannot figure it all out. Being from Milwaukee, where there are not a lot of hills to practice on and the fact the bulk of the training will have to be done in winter (i.e., bike trainer) it places me at a huge disadvantage.

If the hill climbs are not any worse than San Francisco and the Alcatraz course, which has horrific ones, I will be fine. I am planning on using a 12-27 cassette with 2 HED tri spoke wheels.

I have another bike with with a compact crank on it and a 12-27 that I used for Alcatraz, but it is an other tri bike, and I would rather use the newer one. Does anyone have any familiarity with Alcatraz vs. St. George and can give me some info so I will have a common frame of reference?

This will be my first full IM. Thanks.

Matthew Quist

Just booked the hotel through the Ironman.com website (https://secure.areatravel.net/ironman/). Apparently all the rooms in most of the regular hotels were all sequestered by the ironman company and placed on the website in a list. Presumably so they could make more money and so the hotels can't kick up the price.

I am staying at the Hampton Inn, free hot breakfast, terrific bed with comfy pillows and good sheets, and free WiFi. Rooms still available.

I know nothing about using aero wheels...way beyond my level...but I do know the winds out there can be incredible..which is why they call it Hurricane Utah!

Ugh.....once again, you guys are scaring me.

So I'm curious if you all will be on road bikes or Tri bikes?????
I have a road bike with areo bars attached, but am considering if I should buy (inevitable purchase) my new Tri bike before or after this race??? 

my understanding is that there is serious climbing on this course...personally, I will be using a road bike with aero bars and race wheels.

Tri bike.

Tri Bike...and my bro in law out there recommended a 12-28?? cassette which i need to check into

Road bike w/ aerobars and race wheels.  Can't climb at all in a tri back and feel alot more confortable getting after it on the down hill on a road bike. 

You all need to check out these course reports:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2510582;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Yeah...that's one change I might make for this race as well.

Thanks for the link, they bring up some interesting points...

Don't worry about things you can't control (hills, heat, wind). Just train as best you can and let the chips fall where they will. I am also doing St George and will just train my arse off. I have done 4 IM's and they are not supposed to be easy.

Easy answer for me:  'Cuz I can drive there and it didn't sell out immediately. 

Perfectly said.

Ok, so I got a chance to head over to St George (live in Vegas) this morning and rode one loop of the two loop bike course. I woke up early, threw my TT bike (2010 Cannondale Slice 4, Love it by the way!) in the back of the car and headed over. Got on the road around 8am (don't forget that this time of year they are on MST). The air was cool and I road with a long sleeve thermal top and long pants.
I started at Snow Creek, and road one full loop (42.5 miles). The road as stated before on other logs has much to be desired, it was not very well kept and was mainly chip seal. While this was irritating at first it didn't take long before I got used to the feel and had forgotten all about it. I did blow a tire on one of the cattle guards that is located at the bottom of a slight downhill .
The first 26 miles is a slight uphill, although it's so slight that without being previously aware of the climb I never would have even noticed. I was able to stay in aero with very little effort. During these miles there are really only two hills to speak of. The first is about 200 yards long and while steep, there was really no need to even come out of saddle. The second which is located at the end of the 26 miles is a switch back (yes that's singular) and is less then 1/2 a mile long. While it looks very daunting it really was no big deal (the slowest I ever got was 8mph). I spent the first 80% of it in saddle and only at the very end had to stand.
There where lots of other riders on the road and none of them seemed to be of IM caliber or seemed faised by the ride. Lots of happy couples out on a Saturday ride.
The next 20 miles happens on hwy 18 where the road is in much better condition and almost all downhill (with exception to a short hill right at the beginning). This part of the course was a little sketchy for two reasons. First there is some heavy traffic moving at over 60 mph, and very little shoulder to speak of (hopefully this will be fixed on race day by some cones allowing us to have some safe room). Second was that this area, (unlike the first part of the course which is in a canyon) is in very open prairie land. The issue with this was wind. Due to the winds I was not able to fly down the hills as I would have liked holding an aero position. Instead I had to slow the decent to make sure I remained on the course (out of traffic) to around a max of 40 mph (avg closer to high 20, low 30's). Without the wind and traffic you could easily do 50mph during a lot of this.
Overall I didn't see anything today that would have made this course that big of a deal compared to other long courses. Lets face it, the two negatives I mentioned here are out of our hands. If it's windy, then it's windy, not much we can do to prepare for it. I would however highly recommend you consider leaving disk wheels off the bike if this is the case on race day.
I am not a great rider and did not go out at race pace today, but finished the 42.5 loop in 2:20 (18.5mph avg). The view was great, the course fun, and all in all not near as scary as everyone who has looked at the elevation charts online seems to be making it out to be...
Look forward to some more training rides over the next several months before race day. 



Edited by VegasJason 2009-10-10 9:33 PM