Timberman 2012

Doing the half as a bike leg of a relay team.  Should be wetsuit legal - the water was 76 last weekend at my dock which is right around the corner from Ellacoya.

Competing in the sprint and working the half on Sunday as a shooter with Ironman. I live in Gilford, so this is my "home" course." Happy to finally be taking part in it. To all of you coming in for the weekend, welcome and have a good race. If you are out on Sunday, smile when you pass me. :-) 

Rte. 11 (first and last 3 miles of the bike are freshly paved. Wish they had done Intervale Road as well. 

Water is warm (mid 70's) but wetsuits will be okay. 

For those new to the area and firstmeers. the 5K is a natural negative split. Gentle incline out and fast back. 

For the bike, once you hit the top of the climb after the turn-a-round, you have a fast final 6 miles. Just beware of some choppy road conditions on Intervale (Rte. 11B) on the return. 

Thanks KLS. I was hoping they were repaving. I rode the bike course a few weeks ago and it had a big grinded section in front of the state park.

Good luck this weekend

Bill 

I did the sprint last year and pulled into the lot at about 5:15.  It was already fairly full but I would say 5:30 would probably still have gotten you in.  I think having the AG nationals the same weekend in Vermont grabbed a few people, and it's the same this year.

If you don't get into Ellacoya, go to Gunstock and park.  They have buses running every few minutes.

NHMountain: As was said above, Gunstock is your best bet for parking. All side roads leading to ESP will be posted with temp no parking signs as well, so it is the parking lot of the park or head to Gunstock. 

I'll see ya at the starting line for the Sprint. Good Luck to all. 

For those coming the first time, here are some things to note:

Some notes for those new to this venue:

1. There is a bit of rain forecast from now thru Friday night. If it rains a lot, the transition area will be wet. It is mostly grass, with a cross of a dirt/sand road in the park. If it rains a real lot, there could be standing water in the grass area. Good way to clog up your bike shoe cleats if you transition out with them on your feet.

2. At the start of the bike, when you turn onto Rte. 11 and go up the hill. Avoid hugging the guardrail, the new paving has created quite a drop for the road water drains. There are a handful of them and if you ride over them, you could very well wreck your bike and your race. 

3. When walking to the swim start, avoid walking amongst the picnice tables to your right, off of the beach. There are many, many short tree stumps and roots that are waiting to break your big toe. Watch where you walk over there. I hit most of them every time I swim. :-) 

4. If the front that comes thru is strong enough Friday night, there could be a good NW wind which is the prevailing across the Broads of the Lake. This will give us whitecaps. But, the wind will be at your back once you make the turn to the right, out of the start.

5. If you are not doing anything else Saturday night, there is a pasta dinner benefit at the Elks in Gilford to raise funds for a local girl who lost her glass eye while swimming. The family's dad is a disabled veteran and they are having a tough time. The Laconia PD is putting this on. COme one , come all! 

Have a great race, all. The Ironman Semi is on-site!

I'll be there this weekend as well.  I'm doing the HIM on Sunday.  Can't wait, this is my first half!

Holly, I did the sprint last year, and my wife and I brought our bikes to the transition area on Friday night, so Saturday all we had to do was take the shuttle to Ellacoya.  They have the site well secured all night, so there is no worry about your bike getting stolen.

Yes, I'm sure Burlington took some people from here. 

As a brief RR: I had a great sprint. Won my age group and gave it my all. I loved doing this, my hometown race.