HITS Triathlon Series: Ocala - Half Iron Course : Official Thread (Page 2)

We aren't crazy-fast bikers either.  Maybe 17-19 mph, depending on course.  And we usually try to find a store to stop at to grab something to drink on the route.  We keep a decent pace, but we don't hammer it hard.  

We want to come up on a good weekend when we can also swim in the lake too, without crazy wind and waves!  Although, we probably need to practice that as well!

I am jelous, might not get a outside bike ride here before the race if this weather does not warm a little.

So how fast do you need to swim to be faster than a gator?

I might be able to hang with you. There are a few gas stations on the loop, and with about 16 miles to go there is a Winn Dixie. 

As far as swimming faster than a gator--that doesn't matter--you just have to be faster than the person next to you

Jealous =(

I'll be up here in Atlanta riding by myself. Have fun and let us know how the course is.

We've got a tentative plan (as long as weather remains good) to ride the bike course this Saturday morning (February 9).  Maybe do a swim afterwards.  Probably head out by 8am, unless it's cold, then may be a bit later...  

I'll post if we are for sure later this week...

Saturday anyone?  Weather looks great, we are calling our tentative plans FINAL!  Probably get there about 8am, riding by 8:30.  Plan on doing the whole bike course, and then adding on another 20-25 miles (we're training for the full).  Then maybe a run around some of the run course in the park.  And then pulling on wetsuit and trying out the lake!

Anyone else up for it?

We are actually going to stay up there Saturday night and probably do some running/swimming there on Sunday too.  But Saturday will be our bike day.

Double-checking the course map in Google Earth today to make sure road names match (been caught by that before!).  We ride around 17 - 19, depending on terrain/hills/road roughness.  We take our time at intersections, and may stop at a convenience store quickly if we need something.  A good working pace but nothing crazy.    Should be a fun ride!

I grew up in the area, though I haven't spent much time there in the last 10 years. I've been told that the roads north of 40 get hilly, but I haven't seen it for sure anytime recently. I do know landmarks of the course closer to the race site. 

Also, it looks like the local tri group is getting some people from the bike shop together to ride the different distances. https://www.facebook.com/groups/TriOcala/  so there may be more people of different speeds involved. I'm not sure if I can hold 17-19 mph for 56 miles, but I will certainly try. I have only gone for about 2 hours at that speed before.

Don't worry about our speed - by the time you factor in stopping at intersections, quick restroom/convenience store breaks, our average speed is much slower.  So I guess you could say 17-19 is our "moving average!"

Thanks for the FB link to the TriOcala group.  Nice to see there will be a decent-sized group out there on Saturday.  We still want to ride out around 8:30 since we are going to do a longer distance...

I thought it was a beautiful ride-- Kirsten, thanks for including me and being patient with my inexperience. I really enjoyed it. 

The sections on County Rd 25 and State Road 40 were a little hairy with traffic. Hopefully there will be enough of a police presence on the day of race to slow drivers down. Besides that, there was little traffic on the back roads. There was some rough pavement, but nothing terrible. As an inexperienced biker, I didn't think there was a single substantial/scary hill on the course-- I stayed in the big ring in the front. 

I don't know what else to add, if you have any specific questions, I'll try to answer them. 

We had fun too!  The bike course wasn't hilly at all, just some gentle rolling hills.  Never had to come out of the big ring in front and never had to stand up or pedal hard.  Roads weren't unusually rough either.  Not smooth, but not too rough.  It was pretty open, so could get hot depending on the weather.   Pretty scenery though.

We also rode the asphalt part of the run course.  Some rolling hills there too, but I don't think they will be enough to slow anyone down (I'll already be going slow by that point!).  The section of the run down SE 101st avenue has very rough pavement.  Luckily it's less than a mile long, one way, so shouldn't be too much of an issue, but it's making me rethink my shoe choice.  Again, pretty open the entire way, so heat could be an issue if the weather is right (or I should say, if the weather is wrong!)

We did run the 3 mile trail part of the run through the park.  It's basically a hard-packed sand road.  However, the sand was not as hard-packed as I would have liked it to be.  There were sections where the sand was loose, which made it hard to run, so we ended up having to run on the grass along the side of the road.  Maybe about 25% of it was loose like that.  Again, not too big of a deal because I'll already be going slow, but having to zig-zag around to look for the hard-packed section and having to run in the grass can be big energy zappers.  But it hasn't rained here in forever, so hopefully a few storms before the tri will pack it better.  Lots of shade on this loop, so that will be a plus if it's hot. Also really pretty scenery here too.

We didn't get in the lake, it was too windy and we were too tired, but the beach area looked nice and the water was fairly clear.  The park is really pretty, we're looking forward to the tri!  I don't feel like it will be one where you want to try to make a PR, but overall doesn't seem any more difficult than any other courses. 

I just emailed a few questions about the full iron distance to the race director, and received a very speedy reply.  Thought I'd share the info with everyone:

Q: Will there be changing areas/tents? 
A: Yes, there will be changing tents available