I'll be there. Should be great. 37C/98F there last weekend!
This strava segment has 517m for 1 loop. So fair to say it will be 400-600m per loop. Doesn't really matter to much. It's not truly hilly. Lots of tight corners from the map
https://www.strava.com/routes/1494025

If you can post a report from your training it would be great. I am interested in this venue for future years.

haha yeah - i think it wont be a wetsuit swim anymore

so narrow roads and tight turns; make me wish i had di2 on the basebars

Includes some of the Amstel Gold climbs - short, steepish ones. IIRC it includes the Mur that powered Gilbert to a World Championship - that attack still gives me goosebumps.

A Dutch friend of mine who recently got a pro card is targeting it. I'll quiz him on it next time we meet.

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

I'm in Australia so my training specifics won't be that helpful
I'll post a race report up post-event

I can't find anything anywhere about the water temp in the Maas river. Do you know any more?

well i checked history and the river usually is well below the cut off... however during the current heatwave i don't know ; i ll be taking both wetsuit and swimskin

Flowing water will be much cooler than the lake in Frankfurt (for example). The weather hasn't remained that hot, so I will cross my fingers for you.

My wetsuit never left my car boot when I was in Frankfurt; in fact it's still in the compartment under the load bay!

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29 years and counting

Im there in Mastricht. I did a reconnaisance a few months ago with a buddy who is also starting: https://www.strava.com/activities/298620782 . We missed part of the route just before Valkenburg and went back to find it, so the lap is actually shorter with less climbing then in the link. We also started about 10k into the lap. The lap has a lot of cornering and narrow roads. Difficult will be finding spots to eat and taking yourself up to speed after every corner. Reconnaisance is highly recommended.

About the swim: because the river flows I cannot imagine it will be a non wetsuit swim. If it rains in the week before in the Ardennes area in France and Belgium there might even be a strong current.

I hope you liked my first post on this forum!

http://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/...aspx?cookieload=true

For actual water temperatures

Hello, thanks for the maps. I will be racing this IM too.
IM pdf says 800m total elevation, whereas strava says >500m (x2), how can it be possible? why is the difference so big?
How is the river flow? Could it be a problem for slow swimmers?
thanks

on their facebook page they posted a video of a boat ride around the course - have a look

looking at the map wd be against the current on the way out and witht he current on the way back

Bit worrieed about those narrow turns; especially on the 2nd loop with the congestion

The elevation from my Strava link is too high. This is because we did not take a right turn and we had to do a climb which is a descent in the race to check the part we missed. My best guess would be 450 meter per lap. I do not know about the other link, but offcourse heightsensors need to be calibrated to work properly.

River flow is very low when it is not raining. Usually it will not rain for days during summer. So it should not be a problem. When it does become a problem, I imagine Ironman moving the start upstream.

Thanks for your advice and help!

thanks for all the insights - i am deciding on gearing for the bike - how steep are the climbs? wondering whether i need 28 or not

So the Cauberg will be done in the opposite direction? That's lame...

No the Cauberg is in normal direction

This https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauberg is the steepest hill. Decide for yourself which gearing you want to use.

thank you - really appreciate the insights

guys found this website - in dutch but self explanatory

http://www.klimtijd.nl/beklimming/cauberg

I have to correct myself on the Cauberg direction. It seems they changed the course. The strava link is not right anymore. We are planning a new reconnaisance next week. I will provide a new strava link when I have it.

Yeah thats what I thought. After the Bemelerberg you turn left instead of go straight for the fast descent into Valkenburg. With the current parcours you have to do it this way otherwise you would have a level crossing of the bike course but somehow it is a bit weird they left out the Cauberg. Then again, permits are probably not so easy to come by.

That will be really helpful - as I'm trying to run a BestBikeSplit estimation on this course.
My current estimates are based on a BIKEMAP course-profile (which seems to have the "classic" climb):
http://www.bikemap.net/...6938,5.83146/terrain