I wish I was headed back. I want to do this race without the nasty winds from the last one!! Hope you have a great time and no winds!!

I'm in. It will be my 1st.

The wetsuit thing is messing with my head. I just got my 1st last week and haven't tried it. I haven't even successfully got it on.

I kinda hope it is not wetsuit legal, but I am super cold natured. I can't even ride outside if it is below 68 degrees :)

Looking at the forecast, I don't know that the water will cool.

I will be in NOLA all next week for the race. I think moving it to October was a smart move & I'm hoping we have much better weather than the 40 MPH wind gusts we had last year.

Read your Athlete Guide, especially if you are returning from a previous year. The expo is no longer downtown! It is located at the harbor this year. They completely renovated the building there & they will host everything there.

The swim course has changed. The entry point is different from last year.

There will be an authorized practice swim in the harbor at 8AM Saturday morning. If you are nervous about your wetsuit or just need one more swim in a nice diesel sheen, take advantage of that.

If anyone is planning to do any group rides next week, post here. Remember that a few years ago a competitor was killed in an accident the day before the race, so be safe if you choose to ride the course. You may be better off riding the run course along the lakefront instead of the bike course when it is not closed off by police.

Wonder how this oil rig explosion on the lake will affect things Sunday morning.

won't be changing anything that harbor smells like oil any day

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NO

Second that. Tons of parking along Lakeshore, park near canal Rd and do an out and back to the east. Get your brick run on same way.

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NO

Oh no!!! 5 months of training for my 1st 70.3 and it might be for naught? Ironman Florida is on the 4th. Wonder if I can be ready for a full ironman in 3 weeks instead?

I thought pink was supposed to be for sarcasm...........

F#$%! That describes the current swim status for IM 70.3 New Orleans. They are working on oil spill containment from the oil rig explosion. The Weather Channel has a small craft advisory today on Lake Pontchartrain, due to 7-10' waves on the lake and 3-7' waves in protected areas such as the marina. A 10mph wind from the north could push all this oil right into the south shore to include the marina. The water temperature is down to 80.6F, from 82.6F just a couple days ago. It will continue to drop through the week. By how much, who knows?

This sucks because every race I've done this season, the swim has been affected. IM 70.3 Chattanooga swim shortened (water current), IM 70.3 Racine swim cancelled (water temperature), and now IM 70.3 New Orleans oil spill....

I just hope the RD makes the right call. We don't need to be slopping through the Exxon Valdez. There are legitimate health concerns as far as this goes. I'm hoping for the best, so we'll see.

I'm not seeing anything saying that there is an actual spill. This appears to have been on a production platform and it sounds like the explosion may have been due to cleaning materials, so who knows if any flow lines were damaged. Production units are typically where all the wells tie back to. So I would assume we don't have to worry about a well head itself being damaged and flowing uncontrolled. In any case, if it was a well head that has been in service, they'd have downhole safety equipment that is a failsafe to shut off flow if surface equipment is damaged. I don't think this will have any affect at all on next weekend.

Now, the terrible weather forecast........that's another thing. I've been hoping this would be well into wetsuit temperatures, or not at all. Seems like it'll be on the border. I took a practice swim in my wetsuit for the first time in a year and a half. It's just too hot right now to wear that thing even if it does cut my time down.

Thanks for the additional information about the oil rig explosion. If there is no effect, then we're good provided the swim conditions don't suck again like last year. I'm hoping that water will cool down, but it has a long way to go.

Thanks for the post.

I can't be certain as I'm seeing the same stuff as everyone else. But I work in the industry (nothing around Lake P though) and I would assume everyone would be chattering if there was legit issues. There might be spillage, but it doesn't quite sound like something that could not be contained.

This update just posted on their FB site:

Athletes, we are closely monitoring the natural gas platform explosion that happened in Lake Pontchartrain over the weekend. This platform is located on the west side of the lake and the venue for the race is on the east side in a protected harbor.
Officials have stated several times now that there hasn't been any environmental concern nor was there any sort of spill into the lake. The gas line was immediately shut off. If there is any impact we will report that information but at this time nothing has been communicated to us from any of the agencies.
Thank you.

It shouldn't be an issue. The well site is about 15.5 miles west of the swim site, as the crow flies. The fire is out, and the Coast Guard is reporting no pollution.

Updates:
http://www.theadvocate.com/...bf-7b128698e545.html

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<The Dew Abides>

The weather is looking a little sporty. TWC is showing an 80% chance of thunderstorms with wind from the ESE at 10-15mph. Windfinder (https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/metairie) largely agrees. If that holds we'll have a quartering tailwind on the outbound bike leg and a quartering headwind inbound-- a huge improvement over last year's blasting outbound headwind. We shall see!

The forecast looks very similar to what it was for Chatt 70.3 this year. Everyone thought it would be a washout for sure, but the clouds parted and we had a beautiful day. My point is, you never really know. 80% chance of rain means there's a 20% chance it could not rain. And so long as we don't have 40MPH winds, you're right, it will be better than last year.

In case you had not seen these, there have been several changes made to this weekend:

• Saturday bike dropoff is now optional. Due to the weather this weekend, you can bring your bike into transition on Sunday rather than having to drop it off tomorrow.
• If you choose to bring your bike on Sunday, transition opens at 4:30 AM (There is one road in & out and traffic backs up easily, so get there early)
• If you do choose to drop your bike off Saturday, bike check-in now starts at 11AM & goes until 7PM (previously it was 2-7PM)
• There is no parking at UNO as previously planned. All parking will be at South Shore Harbor where the start/finish/transition is.
• Water temps are on the edge of being wetsuit legal, but with the rain coming in, it will likely drop

They also released the medal & finishers hat:

I don't race anymore after 30+ years but if your in NOLA stop in Mid City at Bayou Bicycles and say hey.

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Robert Driskell
Certified Master Body Geometry fit Technician
Certified Master Retul Fit Technician
Zipp Service Course Specialist
Bikes Plus Pensacola Florida

Is that official, that they're going to close the other roads? I know Stars & Stripes gets backed up toward the Seabrook bridge, sometimes onto Downman Rd., but in the past you've also been able to get there on Hayne from N.O. East, as well as via Leon C. Simon.

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<The Dew Abides>

If you're coming in early, I would bet that Hayne & Dowman will still be open in addition to Leon C Simon. But they all funnel down into Stars & Stripes. That's what my "one road" comment refers to. Last year the traffic there was backed up so bad they delayed the start of the race.

Thanks. I was stuck in that traffic, which is why I plan to come in from the east.

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<The Dew Abides>

I would definitely ask them at the athlete briefing what roads will be closed & when.