I am a slow swimmer (1:13) and a mid pack? biker (5:48). This is the least drafting that I have ever witnessed at a WTC event. It probably has something to do with where I was in the race, but I don't think I saw any blatant drafting the whole day.

A very fair and fun race. Hard but not too hard. And you can't beat the fact that I raced an IM yesterday and I will be sleeping in my own bed in Michigan tonight without having to catch a flight. A return trip to Muskoka is not out of the question.

For those who may look at this thread in the future, my wife and I stayed at Hidden Valley which is one kilometer from the race venue. We stayed for four nights and charged about half of our meals to the room and spent right around $1,000 US, which is considerably less than folks were paying at Deerhurst. Highly recommend this option (or maybe I should keep this to myself). An easy walk to the start on race morning.

Edit. My wife tells me, $1,132.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

I took a picture, will try to post tomorrow. Didn't stick around to watch all the awards, so wont be able to comment on roll downs, but wanted to see the joy on some people's faces once when they got their Kona spot.

First off, congrats Ken on a great race. Impressive numbers for you.

As for Deerhurst, I must have booked my accommodation the second the race was announced because I was able to book only 3 nights. What size room did you get? Our bill was roughly $400 C a night for a 1 bdrm suite (and that is including 3 charged breakfast/lunch meals).

I would also say that it seemed that basically Ironman took over the hotel for at least 3 nights and on race day you had reserved seating in an indoor change room, amongst many perks. So I can understand the HOST hotel having a minimum number of nights, and even charging a slight uptick. But I for one wont be back to Lake Placid as long as Muskoka is around.

I paid approximately $450 for a double queen in the main hotel. It was at best a $179 quality room. I think my experience was typical from talking to others.

I'm pro Deerhurst making money and it is a great venue for the race. I would illy support a $280 room with a 5 night minimum so they can make similar money with additional restaurant visits etc. the bottom line is, with an 8 month old baby, I couldn't beat the convience for naps etc.

Ken

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"the trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you've been sick. then you know you're within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you've got cancer or aids, you're within 5. when they actually do an intervention, you're at race weight." - Slowman

I saw one race official 3km into my bike and then several bikes that I didn't know what they were for. Not one bike had two people on it.

The only drafting I saw was 80km into my ride when I passed 15-20 guys Who looked they were out for a club ride. Aside from that everyone else was doing a great job of riding legally.

Ken

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"the trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you've been sick. then you know you're within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you've got cancer or aids, you're within 5. when they actually do an intervention, you're at race weight." - Slowman

Not a reflection on a well run race , great location , course and volunteers

They just need to police the drafters

I was out of the water near the front and then slowly bled position on the bike. I'm fairly certain we were near each other on s portage, because that same pack passed me about 80 k. That was the only drafting I saw, I did not see a race ref.

All in all, I loved the race and venue.

Can't figure out how to rotate.

Loved the reserved change seating:

I feel bad for some of the M30-34 guys, who would have thought that a 9:31 on that course wouldn't be enough

So here's a question for everyone:

On the bike I passed a guy in his early 60's. His head was tilted oddly to the left (ear toward the shoulder if that makes sense). After I passed him, I got a hamstring cramp and had to coast at the top of the hill for a bit and he passed me back. But in his right ear he had an earpiece (not a hearing aid, but a headphone bud)

I thought that wasn't allowed.

I didn't say anything as (since I had a lot of time to think about it) I thought "What if he's had a stroke which explains the head tilt, and the earpiece has some audible signal that helps keep him upright?" Or, maybe the head tilt was to hide it and he was getting splits as he tried to KQ.

In the end, I let it be. When I passed him again he didn't change position like he was obviously trying to hide it or anything so I just let it go. He was was on track for a 7 to 8 hour ride anyways, which means the KQ splits idea was probably out.

If I saw a marshal I was going to point out an obviously brutal drafter. Didn't get his bib, but had his jersey name/colour/bike and would have pointed him out. Every marshal that passed me was going too fast, and I didn't flag any down.

I will say this: I saw people drafting, but didn't see any packs of people. I thought there were very few drafters in general, but that's just my experience.

I stayed at the Super 8, and when I checked in the guy looked surprised:

Clerk: Can I ask, when did you reserve your room?
Me: In October, and I confirmed it twice as recently as Monday.
Clerk: It's just that you saved about $400 per room.
Me: How much are rooms now?
Clerk: $189/night

I paid $89/night including tax vs $213/night ($268 for 3 nights). When I checked in they said that they would do breakfast starting at 430am on Sunday, which was also pretty awesome. The Super 8 was on the opposite end of town, but it's right by the Highway so it was only about another 5 minutes farther than most hotels. Decent rooms, poor breakfast really but I would stay there again. Deerhurst would be convenient but it's just too expensive. We did buy the kids the wristbands so they could use the stuff in the water, pools, etc. at Deerhurst on the Saturday and Sunday, and they had a blast ($20/person, totally worth it for kids for whom IM is a lot of waiting to cheer you on for 30 seconds).

And a shoutout to Trimac2 who took the other room I had available, hope we weren't too loud! :-)

I figured I'll throw my Muskoka experience in this thread to keep all the info in one place. My experience with check ins, facilities provided, organizational, volunteers, etc was top notch. I liked having "only" 1500 athletes vs 2k+ on some of the other IMs. We rented a condo up past Hidden Valley for a very reasonable price, but lucked out as there were very few options when we looked. I don't really care about the "swag/stuff" that comes with the race (I know we pay for it all anyway), but if that's your thing I was pleased with what you got for this race. Backpack actually seems practical. Hefty medal. $25 food voucher. Shirt, visor, two towels. The two Canadian races I've done even have beer (given it's crappy beer) but beer none the less! Onto the race..

Swim warm up was easy with plenty of space to get away from people. Start and swim were uneventful, with a big swim PR for me. The run up to T1 wasn't bad, though carpet on the asphalt would have been a nice bonus.

The bike course/hills could have been intimidating but really just made me focus on disciplined pacing for the bike. The hills, turns, etc really broke up the monotony, which I enjoyed. I'm used to the crap roads in Michigan and there were some good sections of road that made me feel right at home. This was my first IM with lengthy sections open roads (hwy 117) and I was pleased with the respect and patience drivers had out there for racers. Maybe it was because they were expecting it or maybe it is because they're Canadians. I saw little drafting, but also had very few racers around me on the bike. I saw some officials on motorcycles, but it didn't seem like there was anyone trying to enforce penalties. However I was reprimanded for unclipping my helmet early. The dismount line was about 100' before the "bike finish" line, where they were actually catching bikes and I unclipped while running between the two. That was a new situation for me.

I thought the run course was great, even though I was blowing up really bad. I would have really liked an additional aid station on 60 as that was the most brutal section for me mentally, plus the sun had come out. Crowd support downtown was fantastic. Similar to downtown for LP. Finish, post race, etc were your standard IM stuff.

I've done CDA, Wisconsin, LP and now Muskoka and I'd say without a doubt this one was the most challenging. But if I was going to sign up for another one this would be at the top of my list. If you want to read my complete report by blog link is below or I'd be happy to share more specific details here. I biked 5:16 on 208w. File here.

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Ben McMurray
Northern Michigan Small Farm Venture ---> http://facebook.com/hillvalleymi [/size]

One quick question, did the swim course seem the correct length? My time was faster than I expected it to be (I'm a fairly consistent swimmer) and I forgot to start my watch until a few min into the swim, so my gps data is t accurate. For reference, I was about 3 min faster than my swim at LP last year.

I swam 1:13 at AZ last year and 1:13 at Muskoka on Sunday. I felt like it was one of my better swims so I'm hoping it was an accurate length.

Don't know if that helps. It gives you a data point as far as times go. I don't use gps on the swim so I can't help you there.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

It does actually. I figured if the swim was off, people would have been commenting about it, so I was hopeful that it wasnt.

I can attribute the faster times to the following
1. The rolling start and 1 loop course - I was swimming in "clean water" for almost the entire race
2. Not having to get out and run across the beach
3. A faster wetsuit! I upgraded from the TYR cat 3 to a ROKA maverick pro... I approve of this wetsuit upgrade!

That was my third rolling start and it was done perfectly. In the past two, the rolling start didn't substantially change the level of contact that I experienced. On Sunday, the way they metered us out in to the water worked out really well. Probably the least contact in the water that I have ever had at any triathlon. People around me must have seeded themselves fairly well because I swam with essentially the same 8-10 people the entire time. I came out of the water within 10 feet of a guy that I waded in with 2.4 miles earlier.

If WTC wants to make the swim start work well they should look very closely at how it was done at Muskoka. Of course, the fact that the field was half the size of AZ might have something to do with how well it went......

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

What was your experience wiht the food voucher? I thought it was a grrreat idea to spread the business around town - but East Side Mario's would not honour it as a $25 value food voucher - they would only honour it as a one meal voucher - and only the meal I had - a $9.99 and not my wife's 13.99 meal.

Totally diappointed with the service - other resaurants in town were wonderful - and judging buy the number of athletes there - paying for meals with their vouchers - if ESM's cashed the vouchers in for $25 each - they made a killing ...

Totally disspointed with the dining experience - lost a torpedo bottle on dorset road even though it was fastened down - loved the swim - bike and run were challenging - only saw two guys drafting - an an official had an eye on them - did not see a penalty though.

May do the race again - not ESM's.

Talked to my buddy erik whos gps confirmed 2.46 for the swim. Reasuring as I was 5minutes faster than LP and was wondering about course length.

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Ben McMurray
Northern Michigan Small Farm Venture ---> http://facebook.com/hillvalleymi [/size]

That is disappointing. I didn't use mine until after the race. My wife and I just grabbed pitas from Pita Pit across the road from ESM. Without planning it our 2 pitas, chips, smoothie came to $25.02 and voucher was accepted no problem. I also thought it was a great idea to spread the business around town rather than have an athlete dinner that only Deerhurst benefits from - they cash in enough from these events IMHO

The Kelsey's took the voucher no problem also.

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"the trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you've been sick. then you know you're within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you've got cancer or aids, you're within 5. when they actually do an intervention, you're at race weight." - Slowman

That's a great bike split, and backed up by a solid run. I was in Muskoka watching the race and I found it really exciting watching all you guys at the front coming off the bike. We had no idea who was a strong runner, who overcooked the bike, and who would push too hard too early because of the excitement of having a lead cyclist.

What was your VI? And how many watts/kilo were you riding?

Thanks.

I was wondering if I'd be able to run also. ;)

3.23 w/kg with a vi of 1.04.

I forgot to turn on my GPS until I got on the bike.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/885196276

Ken

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"the trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you've been sick. then you know you're within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you've got cancer or aids, you're within 5. when they actually do an intervention, you're at race weight." - Slowman

I was at ESM with family on Saturday (early, around 430 to avoid rush/get to bed early) and the only downside was that service was slow. It's probably not packed that early on a Saturday.

None of my family's dishes individually came out to $25 but they took the full $25 off our tab bringing it down to roughly $50.

Maybe they changed policy after you ate there?