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IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ?

jono

Jul 12, 12 20:13

Post #1 of 9 (565 views)

IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ?	Quote \| Reply

Hi , after a soul destroying IMNZ this year,(reduced to 70.3) i have signed up for IM France , really looking forward to it and i guess i would just like to know of any of your experiences , observations and generall thoughts on this as a race with a 10 day holiday tacked onto the end of it.
Thanks
jono

(This post was edited by jono on Jul 12, 12 20:54)

cowardlydragon

Jul 12, 12 22:10

Post #2 of 9 (531 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [jono] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

I did it as my first IM... mwahahaha.

The swim is in Nice, on their stony beach. I mean a STONY beach. Hurts to walk on. And the swim I did had an intermediate section where you exit the water, stumble on the stones for about 15meters, then resume swimming. The water can vary a lot, but it seems to usually be pretty still in the morning.

The bike is epic, and not in the teenage sense. I think this is the most awe-inspiring bike course on the Ironman circuit. It is a single loop course, I don't think it is even 12 miles, but the climbing makes it so it doesn't matter that it's short. The bike consists of about 10 miles of flat, a half-mile climb up some 12-15% ish steep face followed by another couple miles of 2-3% grades. Then some "flat" which is rolling and still kinda 1-2% ish uphill, then a descent to the base of the main climb:

It's 20km/12 miles. It's a legit category 1 climb. There is a very short quarter-mile flat respite in the middle, but it won't matter. It starts at 4%, and gets steeper as you go up, approaching 7% at the top. The special needs bag station is at the very top of the climb, so I'd plan on using that for any extra recovery fuel. I recommend some coke/caffiene/energy drink to pep up your mental acuity for the descents that will come.

Unfortunatley, there isn't an immediate descent after the climb, it's flat for a while, and then a long gradual descent. So you don't get to rest on an immediate descent. This is actually kind of the hardest part of the main climb.

Then you do some really fun descents. The descents in the middle of the course are generally only 3-5%, and you can aerobar large sections of them. The descents ARE REALLY REALLY FUN. The tough turns are well-warned with signs and people waving flags. Also, there was a section of uneven pavement that I crashed on that was similarly marked, but I ignored since I didn't see a turn. So if you see warning signs, slow down. Also, learn to shift your hips to the back of your seat, or partially off the back, so your center of gravity is further back on the descents, so you don't end up like me.

Anyway, there is another 2.5 mile cat-2 climb about 2/3 through, then a precipitous descent, and then another 1 mile ish climb, then the last descent back towards nice. The last descent is the most technical and steepest. Somewhere in here you descend through a town that has some speed bumps which I almost crashed on. Also, the last section of descent had some cars coming up the mountain (it's a two-way road) so don't assume it's closed and be careful, especially around blind corner turns.

I recommend scouting the course on a car, especially the latter descents. It can be hard on a 100 mile car drive to stay alert, but the latter part of the course is the part that demands the most careful scouting. Maybe you should reverse-drive up the last descent and scout it separately.

The run is flat, by the ocean, and usually very sun-drenched and hot. Your typical Ironman run actually. Four loops, which can be annoying. Crowd support on the run was really good.

Be careful! And this race seems to attract the better euro bikers, so be prepared to be passed like road meat on the climbs. The Euros are great climbers.

jono

Jul 12, 12 22:57

Post #3 of 9 (516 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [cowardlydragon] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

cat

Jul 13, 12 5:19

Post #4 of 9 (459 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [jono] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

It really is a must do race. It is such a beautiful challenging course.

gkeers

Jul 13, 12 5:31

Post #5 of 9 (451 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [jono] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Yeah the bike is just a great ride. The climbs are awesome and most of the descent has only non technical sweepers which are fun, fun, fun.

Running up and down the promenade in the sun is a bit grim.

After a few days rest a few bike ride options:

Col de la Madone starting from the beach in Menton
pop over to Italy and do the Cipressa and Pogio
ride the coast road between Menton and Nice
Esterel Corniche
If you feel like a big all day ride then the route of the Louis Caput sportive

davidhoy

Jul 13, 12 5:56

Post #6 of 9 (432 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [jono] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

I was there spectating this year, and am seriously considering racing next year. An added incentive for 2013 is that the Tour de France starts the following Saturday in Corsica, just a short 4-5hr ferry ride from Nice. The first mainland stage - the team time trial - is in Nice on July 2nd, followed by a road state the next day. If you stay a little while after your race you'll get to see the TDF too! There are also rumors of a ITT on Mont Ventoux, which would be amazing. 2013 is the 100th TDF, and it looks like they are pulling out all the stops...

As to the race itself, another poster has done a pretty good job of describing it. I got to do part of the run course, and I can see how it could become very boring after a couple of loops, as it is 4x 10.5km out-and-backs. Also, remember that European Ironman races have a 16 hour cutoff instead of the usual 17 hours - hopefully this is not an issue for you!

-David

Khyron

Jul 13, 12 8:31

Post #7 of 9 (389 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [davidhoy] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

My first IM as well. If bike course difficulty is measured in climbing then I think France is the hardest by far. I was fine on a tri-bike but lots of people went with road+clips.

No shade on the run except at the far turn around. But it runs along a topless beach so you may have some distraction at least.

davidhoy

Jul 13, 12 8:47

Post #8 of 9 (381 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [Khyron] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Khyron wrote:

Congrats on your first IM! I was there cheering on a friend doing his first, which he sadly did not finish. He's already signed up for next year, and I'm probably going to join him. This would be my 5th IM - finished IM South Africa, Kona (lottery winner), and a local iron-distance race last year, and have Cozumel coming up in November.

Many people have said the same thing about IM France's difficulty, and I think you and they have a point. But interestingly www.runtri.com rates France below average on their "hardest Ironman" rankings. They base this off average finishing times for the race, which are aguably a pretty good metric. So this either means that the average competitor at IM France is an above average climber, or that the bike course is not as hard as one thinks. I honestly don't know the answer to that one, but the rankings are interesting reading nonetheless.

-David

Khyron

Jul 13, 12 8:55

Post #9 of 9 (373 views)

Re: IM France - have you done it?- thoughts ? [davidhoy] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

I met a guy in France who has done 15+ (him and his wife were trying to do them all at least once) and he Kona qualified pretty much every time. His opinion for bike difficulty was France, Wisconsin, Placid, Canada. But agreed, so many other factors for overall difficulty, humidity, run difficulty, ocean or lake swim, etc.