Don't sweat Richter pass. It is a cakewalk. The rollers on the other side and the climb up Yellow Lakes is really what you need to get ready for. While long, Ricther is relatively early in the race and you'll like be surprised by how easy it feels. Feel free to hold back on Richter though, because the ensuing 60 K of riding will kill you if you are not fresh. I've done this race 5 times, and only once did I have the legs to "attack" Yellow Lakes. Most of the other times, my legs were pretty blown by Yellow Lakes and the marathon suffered as a result. A good plan would be to do some around 140K of rolling riding and then do a sustained climb of 15-20K for the final 20K or so of you ride. Then you can turn around and go back down and you'll have a good IMC bike course replica...

Richter Pass and Yellow Lake are the two significant climbs on the IMC bike course.

They can seem daunting, but in reality are not that bad.

Richter pass is longer ( about 10K), but you should be relativly "fresh" at this point as the course to the base of the climb looses elevation from transition and often there is a tailwind. The climb itself is not that steep and there are a couple of stair-steps, with even a little downhill slope in the middle. There is typically a good crowd as you approach the summit.

Yellow lake is shorter( about 5K), and a bit steeper towards the finish. It feels much harder because it comes after the 100K mark on the course and people are starting to hurt at this point. The crowds as you near the final steep section can be huge - lining the roads, two or three deep on either side of the road, yelling, screaming, honking car horns, ringing cow-bells and banging on pots and pans. It's as close as you will get to the "Tour de France feel" in a triathlon.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I will echo the other two postings - train for Yellow and Richter, but don't worry too much. Richter has, I believe, an unearned reputation. It is long-ish, but overall gentle. You get "breaks" as there are flat sections going up. I was literally up and on the way down before I realized that I had summited it.

Yellow is a bit tougher, but shorter. And if those crowds won't get your arse up that hill, then nothing will.

I didn't find the rollers between the two climbs that difficult, but the out and back right after picking up special needs seemed to drag on a bit mentally. For me, the toughest part was the few miles of flat/rolling right after Yellow. I nearly bonked there but a banana and the following downhill back to town saved me.

You will love this race. I was lucky enough to grab a lottery spot, so I will see you there.

Alan

Torrey Pines (on the coast highway, not the winding route up through the park) is about a 5.5% grade, and about 1.4 miles (it climbs 410 feet). I have not been to Canada, but from the course profile maps, it seems to me that only Yellow Lake approaches that steepness for any long-ish periods, and only for a little bit. The rest of the course is not nearly that steep.

Those are relatively short hill repeats (8-10 minutes), so you might want to seek out some longer grinds later in the summer. Find your way out to Mt. Palomar in June and July a couple of times so you can ride uphill for an hour.

For this time of year, 3-4 repeats of Torrey Pines at a good solid effort is a great workout, and will help raise your power output at all effort levels when you start adding miles later in the year. I would suggest sticking to the coast highway; the park route is too steep and short for the kind of benefit you're looking for.

Richter is about like going up Torrey on the main road 5 (five) times with no breaks. Yellow Lake is like going up Torrey on the main road twice followed by once through the park - maybe not quite that steep but at 90 miles into the ride it feels like it - lots of people out of the saddle and going slow. The lead in to Yellow Lake is also a fairly nasty false flat that saps your legs. Repeats on Torrey Pines are a fine workout but relatively easy due to the recovery you get going back down. Some better simulations would be Del Dios, Lake Wohlford, Scripps Poway Parkway/67, stuff like that. Also Highland Valley (steeper in spots than anything on the IMC course), Wildcat Canyon, Champagne Blvd, old 395, Couser Canyon, the Lilacs, and of course Palomar. There's a lot more out there, some of it described on Dan's site. The point being that your true preparation for the IMC course is going to come from your long rides inland, not your hill repeat session.

wb and the other posters have it right: Neither Richter nor Yellow Lake is all that tough by itself but each can be tough in the context of the race. I struggled with both: Richter because I hammered the downhill/tailwind section before it and I was just flat ass tired for Yellow Lake. If you want to get ready, go inland and find real, sustained hills. If you insist on staying by the coast, do a 70 mile ride and then do your repeats. Doing repeats when you're fresh may make you a better cyclist but it will not get you ready for the climb to Yellow Lake.

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Anyone who tells you they're as fast now as they were when they were 18...
sure wasn't very fast when they were 18.

(Note, no IMC experience here so I can't speak to the Richter question)

I found the Lilacs, Couser Canyon etc. to be exceptional riding last year while training for IM Swiss. I think Torrey Pines is a fun hill, but I also think it's too short. If you prefer to train near the coast, I find Mt. Soledad to be a better and longer climb. I'm talking about the less steep approach from the South/East. There are some pretty good Coast loops you can do that take you up Soledad, up any of the hills in La Jolla Shores, and you can work in Torrey too.

For a really nice training climb that's not too steep, head out to Borrego Springs and do the 12-13 mile climb out of town.

What's the URL for Dan's site?

Mike

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TheBikeRacer.com

The entirety of the Couser Canyon route is, IMHO, one of SoCal's better hill workouts. One idea, however, would be to reverse the route in order to ride up Cole Grade Road. Woof...that would hurt.

I haven't been out to Rainbow/Pauma Valley since the fires. I wonder how it is.

Now you've got me thinkin....

Re: What's the URL for Dan's site?

By Dan's site I mean this site you are on - slowtwitch.com...Dan Empfield is the purveyor. There are morsels worth digging for throughout, for example:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/lifestyle/centuries.html#sunrise

I just started riding up there last summer and thought it was great. The first time I did the full Lilac / Couser Cyn route (starting from Solana beach) it was in the high 90s and I thought I was going to puke and die. It didn't help that I missed a turn and headed up a monster hill near Deer Springs Road. Uggh. It was nice riding back down in the high 50s mph though.

Anyway... I was thinking about getting up there soon but realized this weekend that I'm really out of shape. :(

F This!! I'm going home tonight and going to work on my bike.

There ya go! The only way to get back into shape is to get back into shape. I used to ride that route frequently, although I used to start from the old mission in Rainbow rather than from the coast. After moving to New Orleans for two years and then returning, I got ambitious and rode it this summer shortly after I got back into town. Yikes....pain, pain and more pain, but it was "cleansing." OK, not really, but it motivated the hell out of me to get back into the hills. ...And I have. Fortunately, living in Carlsbad means that there are hills every which way until you actually get onto the Coast Highway.

Like I said, though, I'm wondering how badly the route got scorched last October. I sincerely hope the fruit stand in Rainbow (just prior to the climb up Couser Cyn) survived.

Scott

I drive up that way quite frequently, but I only just shoot up the 15. Everything looks great. Most of the fire damage that I've seen on my rides is all around the 67 South of Ramona and some up through Julian. (And of course Scripps Ranch) But again I haven't ridden through Rainbow but I suspect that things are OK.

As others have said, don't worry too much about Richet or Yellow Lake. Be conscious of saving some energy for the out and back between the two though, and depending on the wind the rollers after Richter can be tough, not much free descending. In 2003 I actually found the last 10k the hardest, if there is a headwind the road in town is actually quite long. Many people start sitting up and getting mentally ready for transition as soon as they turn away from Lake Skaha. But it is still 10k to the finish there, so plenty of time to lose.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle