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Talk to me about Lake Placid...
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The Bike
1. Gearing for 1x
How would I calculate the climbing gears needed?
2. Running.
How much elevation gain?
How did you train for this?
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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It's a town in upstate NY that hosted the Olympics twice.

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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in 2018 I had about 5300ft elevation gain on bike
About 850 elevation on run
Both measured from Garmin 935.

Can't comment on 1x gearing, but I didn't find the climbs terribly steep. More "longer" sustained climbs at 3-5% grade
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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What 1X size ring?
How much do you weigh?
What power do you plan to ride at?
How long do you think the bike course will take you?

For me on that course I would need a cassette with at least a 28 so I would probably have one with a 30 to be safe.
Last edited by: trifit: Nov 8, 18 8:35
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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I can't help you with 1x gearing. However I'll say there are only 2 short places on the whole course that I would consider using my small ring. The course has a lot of elevation gain, but it's all low angle false-flat type stuff. There are very few real "hills" on the course.

You will gain about 1000ft on the run course. It's almost all in two hills that you do twice each.

You train for it like any other race with hills. You run up hills. If you don't have hills, a treadmill works. The two climbs are not THAT bad, but they will hurt. They are obviously much worse on the second lap especially if you crushed yourself the first time. Also the run course starts with 3 miles of mostly downhill running (that yes you come back up later). Don't go out thinking you are a superhero early in the run.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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As mentioned before, I think the 1X question is best answered by knowing power output, what you typically ride on currently, and how strong you ride hills as is. FWIW I rode a 50/34 in 2017, FTP 290, weight 178, and was fine with an 11/25 outback. Only used the granny gear on the second lap after I fried my legs with some technical issues earlier in the ride.

The bike course itself - the worst part of the course is the opening series of miles to the Keene descent. It's easy to superhero the first time through. You won't want to do that. The other steepest climb is the left turn to head toward Wilmington - that sucker hurts. Otherwise, most of the climbing is really either false-flat to 3% grade.

The run - you have two sizable downhills in the first four miles. Then River Road rolls. Be forewarned - do NOT look at the ski jumps on the way back on River Road. They don't ever get closer. The hill into town is just torture - you climb from Lisa G's all the way up past the Brewery. It's cruel and unusual punishment.

In terms of training for them - more so than most courses, the run is a strength test, not a speed one. Every hill you can find, run up it, and probably run down it hard, too, just to prep for the leg smashing that comes with the trips downhill.

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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Everyone's said it already - not that much steep climbing, mostly long and sustained efforts. Even the "infamous" mama and papa bear hills weren't as steep as people were freaking out about it to be. Still a tough bike don't get me wrong.

Running hills are real and suck, especially the one going back into town where you run up, make a left thinking you're done, but then it's just more uphill. Lot of crowd support by that point though which helps a lot. Did a lot of incline treadmill running to train. In my opinion the out and back section past the ski jumps is worse than the hills only because it's curvy and endless so every turn on the way back you think you're just about done but nope, you're not. Don't underestimate that section.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [trifit] [ In reply to ]
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trifit wrote:
What 1X size ring?
How much do you weigh?
What power do you plan to ride at?
How long do you think the bike course will take you?

For me on that course I would need a cassette with at least a 28 so I would probably have one with a 30 to be safe.

50 or 52
5"11 155ish
Only have power on my trainer
Don't no
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Unfortunately I have nothing to offer but am interested in what people have to say as well. I'm signed up for LP. Never done it and being from North Florida I have plenty of hill that are 3-6% but the issue is they are only like 400m long. I'm a bit concerned about training for the hills.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Aaronr312] [ In reply to ]
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Aaronr312 wrote:
Unfortunately I have nothing to offer but am interested in what people have to say as well. I'm signed up for LP. Never done it and being from North Florida I have plenty of hill that are 3-6% but the issue is they are only like 400m long. I'm a bit concerned about training for the hills.

The "hills" on the bike shouldn't concern anyone. The bike course *is* challenging, but the reason for that is not the handful of short hills that are on the course. The main challenge of the bike course comes from the long stretches of false-flat upgrade. You are basically climbing for 20 miles from Wilmington to Lake Placid at a 1% average grade. You will look down at your computer wondering why you are going so painfully slow on the relatively high power output you are making. Oh and that 20 mile stretch is almost always into a stiff headwind.

Also the Keene Descent is no joke - be prepared to descend for 7 miles. I cracked 50mph there tucked into my aerobars, not pedaling because my 53x11 gear was spun out.

If you have 400m long hills in the 3-6% range that would be a great place to run repeats to train for the hills on that run course.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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I'd plug the course into Best Bike Split along with your estimated power numbers and see look at the speed ranges you expect to see. Give yourself a little breathing room up above and below what it says, then find gearing to match those speeds.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Sikedsyko] [ In reply to ]
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Sikedsyko wrote:
I'd plug the course into Best Bike Split along with your estimated power numbers and see look at the speed ranges you expect to see. Give yourself a little breathing room up above and below what it says, then find gearing to match those speeds.


Good idea
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Ok. I'm 155 but only 5'8. Your numbers shouldn't be far off mine for climbing.
I run a 52 1X. I didn't have my 1X when I did IMLP but probably go with my 12/30 cassette.
Best Bike Split shows my dropping to 9.8 mph at 220 watts for a couple of minutes. with the 52/30 I would drop to a cadence of 72. If I go with a 12/28 cassette my cadence would drop to 67 in the 52/28. Or I might just not care and power up that short section at 300 watts and walk the run lol.
I should note I run a 155 mm crank so going much under 70 rpm's starts to get tough.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [trifit] [ In reply to ]
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I also run a 155 at the moment.
At least no one is say it's a horrible idea:)
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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The false flats makes sense. As does the other info. Thanks for the info.
I will probably try to ride rolling courses and as others have said, run a lot of
hills
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [trifit] [ In reply to ]
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dont forget the "new course" has the out/back up whiteface... the turn out of the resort and onto "the notch" is a pretty nasty climb i wasnt expecting in 2018
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Viper966] [ In reply to ]
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Viper966 wrote:
dont forget the "new course" has the out/back up whiteface... the turn out of the resort and onto "the notch" is a pretty nasty climb i wasnt expecting in 2018


What % grade are we talking? Length of climb?
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Also be aware of the price of lodging and minimum night stay involved with Lake Placid. Main reason I did IMMT over placid.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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I've never actually done one of the races there but have been up there a handful of times and put in probably 500 miles on the bike course (zero on the run - whoops). This past year I rode it with a 1x setup and was completely fine (granted I wasn't racing). I had a 54 up front and an 11-32 on the rear. I'm 5'10, ~145lbs and would race that course around 250NP.

For the descent into Keene, send it if you can. There are going to be people riding their brakes (especially the second lap) so be careful, but you can really make up a decent amount of time on there. Just make sure you have hit 50mph before race day so it isn't the first time. My old bikes would whobble over about 45 - its always good to know that beforehand.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Based on g-maps, it's 6.3% average for 0.6 miles. Totally forgot about that one as it's a much easier climb when you're not having to haul your ass out of ski area parking.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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You'll be shocked at how many flat sections there are on the Bike. And the Run only has 2 short "climbs", rest is flat or rolling.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [BT_DreamChaser] [ In reply to ]
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I would not use quotes for the ski jumps nor Mill Hill. They...are not fun, even when you live in an area where you get 1000+ feet of climbing on a run under 10 miles.

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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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g_lev wrote:
I can't help you with 1x gearing. However I'll say there are only 2 short places on the whole course that I would consider using my small ring. The course has a lot of elevation gain, but it's all low angle false-flat type stuff. There are very few real "hills" on the course.

You will gain about 1000ft on the run course. It's almost all in two hills that you do twice each.

You train for it like any other race with hills. You run up hills. If you don't have hills, a treadmill works. The two climbs are not THAT bad, but they will hurt. They are obviously much worse on the second lap especially if you crushed yourself the first time. Also the run course starts with 3 miles of mostly downhill running (that yes you come back up later). Don't go out thinking you are a superhero early in the run.

I don't know what course this person was riding, or how fast of a cyclist, but I am a MOP female triathlete and this course definitely has hills! It is a LOT of climbing! The first stretch out of town after the ski jumps can ZAP you if you don't take it easy. It's a beautiful course, but there are definitely hills!
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [rrheisler] [ In reply to ]
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rrheisler wrote:
I would not use quotes for the ski jumps nor Mill Hill. They...are not fun, even when you live in an area where you get 1000+ feet of climbing on a run under 10 miles.

Agreed, they are legit hills. That's why I put climb in quotes to emphasize it. Both are steep and nasty.
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Re: Talk to me about Lake Placid... [BT_DreamChaser] [ In reply to ]
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BT_DreamChaser wrote:
rrheisler wrote:
I would not use quotes for the ski jumps nor Mill Hill. They...are not fun, even when you live in an area where you get 1000+ feet of climbing on a run under 10 miles.


Agreed, they are legit hills. That's why I put climb in quotes to emphasize it. Both are steep and nasty.

Also agree, plus lodging rates go up about 3x the normal price, if you look at the week before and after the race. Most places have a 4-5 night minimum. Family did love it though, said best vacation they ever had.
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