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St. Croix Check-in!
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We're less than 4 weeks out from race day. Who is going to be there?

I'm coming in on 5/2, leaving 5/9. Staying at the Divi Carina. Beyond excited for my first tri of the year after getting injured in August.

______________________________________________

"Sweep the leg...Do you have a problem with that?" - John Kreese
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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What airline are you flying? Three racers might come if we can find inexpensive airfare from Houston.

Do yo know the road surface conditions? We've been training with the Computrainer Real Course video, and the surfaces in the video look like a deal breaker. Have the roads been repaired since then?
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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I will be there. Looking forward to a fun race!

____________________________________

Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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I'm in.

Flying in Friday, staying at the Hotel on the Cay. Looking forward to the post-race party much more than the pre-post-race party sufferfest.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [eganski] [ In reply to ]
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eganski wrote:
I'm in.

Flying in Friday, staying at the Hotel on the Cay. Looking forward to the post-race party much more than the pre-post-race party sufferfest.

Alright, looks like an all star caste of ST celebrities. Looking forward to making trip number 5 down to the island!
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [DamonHenry] [ In reply to ]
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DamonHenry wrote:
What airline are you flying? Three racers might come if we can find inexpensive airfare from Houston.

Do yo know the road surface conditions? We've been training with the Computrainer Real Course video, and the surfaces in the video look like a deal breaker. Have the roads been repaired since then?

The best option is to connect on the American direct flight from Miami so you come in on a wide body jet. The problem for you being from Houston and me being from Ottawa, is that these are star alliance dominated airports (United, Air CAnada) which means the cheapest connections are typically through San Juan and then the puddle jumper which is a "ticket to lost bike case". Also if you connect through San Juan on United, check who is operating the San Juan to St. Croix leg. If it is Cape Air you are screwed cause Cape Air does not transport bikes...I learned the hard way one year and had to buy a separate Jet Blue ticket out of St. Croix to get to San Juan, (by which point I had missed my original connection).

Anyway, I hope you can make it!!!
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Dev, I bet we can get Slowtwitch, The Real Starky, and Captain Morgan to sponsor a few blogs and pre-race chatter! I can't wait, I've been looking forward to this since my DNF in 2008.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [eganski] [ In reply to ]
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In-
Staying at Hotel on the Cay. Sounds like we are in for a rough race
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [DamonHenry] [ In reply to ]
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DamonHenry wrote:
What airline are you flying? Three racers might come if we can find inexpensive airfare from Houston.

Do yo know the road surface conditions? We've been training with the Computrainer Real Course video, and the surfaces in the video look like a deal breaker. Have the roads been repaired since then?

I'm flying out of Dfw on American thru Miami. Not sure if it is sold out, but American has a flight that gets in to stx around noon on Friday.

As far as the roads, I've heard they're improved but not great. Check out the "st croix updates" thread for a good write up on the course.

______________________________________________

"Sweep the leg...Do you have a problem with that?" - John Kreese
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [eganski] [ In reply to ]
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eganski wrote:
Dev, I bet we can get Slowtwitch, The Real Starky, and Captain Morgan to sponsor a few blogs and pre-race chatter! I can't wait, I've been looking forward to this since my DNF in 2008.

We should get the real starky parked at the top of the Beast sending out live tweets etc! That would be a good addition to race week chatter. I'm planning to fly in Wed fly out Mon. After I am done St. Croix I will decide if I have done enough training or IM Texas. Going Galveston on 2x30 min outdoor ride, 24 hours of bolt upright spin bike noodling and 6 hours of CT riding was not a great plan, but I figured, that better to race ill prepared and fight your own body and get whatever you can out of it, then not race at all. Now at least I know what work I have to do before St. Croix (lots of 80-95% FTP riding, lose 5 lbs and swim 5-6 days per week). One thing that is nice is that if you have run base, you can fake through the other two sports and get it done on a flat course like Galveston. That's not possible at St. Croix where every leg is a standalone test in that sport, forget about tying them together in a tri (speaking of which my swim in Galveston was 1 min slower than St. Croix)...yikes! Time to get serious.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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Bing.....I'm there
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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I'm in.
Will be there with some teammates. (2 Guys - 2 Girls)
Any good place to find run and bike course maps/ elevation profiles?
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [KMILES] [ In reply to ]
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KMILES wrote:
I'm in.

Will be there with some teammates. (2 Guys - 2 Girls)
Any good place to find run and bike course maps/ elevation profiles?


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311185799

I did not wear a GPS on the run, but here is the Garmin Connect File for the bike course from last year which shows elevation. I rode it very conservative (ave power 195W, NP 209). To put it in perspective, I typically ride half IM at 215 to 220 (did Galveston at 214, but really my first outdoor tri bike ride of the year) and IM at 190.

Dev
Last edited by: devashish_paul: Apr 8, 14 6:02
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
KMILES wrote:
I'm in.

Will be there with some teammates. (2 Guys - 2 Girls)
Any good place to find run and bike course maps/ elevation profiles?


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311185799

I did not wear a GPS on the run, but here is the Garmin Connect File for the bike course from last year which shows elevation. I rode it very conservative (ave power 195W, NP 209). To put it in perspective, I typically ride have IM at 215 to 220 (did Galveston at 214, but really my first outdoor tri bike ride of the year) and IM at 190.

Dev

B/c "it's all about the run" right? :) I'm going to be repeating your words in my head all day on May 4th.

______________________________________________

"Sweep the leg...Do you have a problem with that?" - John Kreese
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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CobraKai Triguy wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
KMILES wrote:
I'm in.

Will be there with some teammates. (2 Guys - 2 Girls)
Any good place to find run and bike course maps/ elevation profiles?


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311185799

I did not wear a GPS on the run, but here is the Garmin Connect File for the bike course from last year which shows elevation. I rode it very conservative (ave power 195W, NP 209). To put it in perspective, I typically ride have IM at 215 to 220 (did Galveston at 214, but really my first outdoor tri bike ride of the year) and IM at 190.

Dev


B/c "it's all about the run" right? :) I'm going to be repeating your words in my head all day on May 4th.

By the way, I meant "half IM" not "have IM".

As for St. Croix being about the run, well really it is more a question of whether you can keep shuffling or walking. I moved up 7 spots in my age group last year with a 1:48 run. That's crazy slow, but most people ended up walking as the humidity was stifling. I had to do the entire thing in Ironman mode. There was no racing going on.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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I plan to do a fair amount of shuffling as well. Especially since I'm about 15 lbs overweight (hopefully only 5 by the time the race comes around).

Regarding the bike course, it looks like mostly rolling hills, but that is a pretty substantial elevation gain for 56 miles. Are the hills other than the beast pretty easy to spin over? Or am I going to be struggling to get up them? I already dropped to a 50/34 front and 11/28 in the back from a 52/38.

______________________________________________

"Sweep the leg...Do you have a problem with that?" - John Kreese
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Dev. You wouldn't happen to have the run course as well would you?

Are you signed up for AmZof as well?
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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This will be #5 for me as well, so I'll look forward to meeting you all down there. I will be conducting the CompuTrainer discussions and test rides (see the race website for the link and signup). One of the discussions (Friday afternoon) will be about the bike course and what to look out for, what to avoid, and where the "gotchas" are. We'll have video segments of the course, a little trivia contest, and lots of discussion, so feel free to drop in and share your thoughts and experiences. No cost, of course. We'll be set up right across from registration....PM me if you have any questions.

As far as the roads, they're always in a state of flux, but the Public Works folks try to get the worst parts repaved and filled in. Having said that, the roads are chip-seal and typically harsher on tires than most stateside roads. I always put on new tires before this race. And carry two tubes. And pay attention. One of the video segments shows where Craig Alexander went over the bars in 2010 and ended his race, so this course can break foul on even the pros.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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The fiance and I are in, looking forward to some warmth after this horrible winter.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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I will be there and I am getting super excited. Flying from DC on JetBlue.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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CobraKai Triguy wrote:
I plan to do a fair amount of shuffling as well. Especially since I'm about 15 lbs overweight (hopefully only 5 by the time the race comes around).

Regarding the bike course, it looks like mostly rolling hills, but that is a pretty substantial elevation gain for 56 miles. Are the hills other than the beast pretty easy to spin over? Or am I going to be struggling to get up them? I already dropped to a 50/34 front and 11/28 in the back from a 52/38.

The reason there is almost 4000 feet of climbing on the course is because of all those short hills that are 10-15% grade all over the course literally all the time (you are never more than 10 min away from the next hill. 50-34 with 11-28 is the minimum gearing I would recommend for anyone in the 4W per kilo or less category if you want to have a good back end of the bike and solid run. Really easy to do lots of 5-7W per kilo surges if you are over geared and not realize it till you did around 20 of those surges.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
CobraKai Triguy wrote:
I plan to do a fair amount of shuffling as well. Especially since I'm about 15 lbs overweight (hopefully only 5 by the time the race comes around).

Regarding the bike course, it looks like mostly rolling hills, but that is a pretty substantial elevation gain for 56 miles. Are the hills other than the beast pretty easy to spin over? Or am I going to be struggling to get up them? I already dropped to a 50/34 front and 11/28 in the back from a 52/38.


The reason there is almost 4000 feet of climbing on the course is because of all those short hills that are 10-15% grade all over the course literally all the time (you are never more than 10 min away from the next hill. 50-34 with 11-28 is the minimum gearing I would recommend for anyone in the 4W per kilo or less category if you want to have a good back end of the bike and solid run. Really easy to do lots of 5-7W per kilo surges if you are over geared and not realize it till you did around 20 of those surges.

That is very depressing news. I need to lose that weight, stat.

______________________________________________

"Sweep the leg...Do you have a problem with that?" - John Kreese
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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I'll be heading down to give this race a go for the first time. Excited for May to get here!
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [CobraKai Triguy] [ In reply to ]
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going down to St. Croix for my third time on the course. Flying Jet Blue out of Ft Lauderdale, with a stop in San Juan. Looks like both legs of the flight are jet service. Hopefully the bike case makes it altho my bike was "lost" for awhile on both of my prior trips.
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Re: St. Croix Check-in! [Kscycler] [ In reply to ]
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If you're looking for accommodations for St. Croix, drop me a PM. We (Bev and I and my brother) have rented a 3-bedroom house on the bike course (on South Shore Road) about 3 miles from Christiansted. It has an open kitchen, lots of space, private pool, and is nicely furnished. There is one bedroom available for a single or couple.

PM if interested and let's see if we can find a fit.
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