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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [PJC] [ In reply to ]
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I’d die laughing if I saw people walking their bikes up a hill at an IM event. Sorry, but very few hills if any exist on I IM courses. I guess I’m fortunate or perhaps unfortunate that I live in an area with only hills. I just can’t believe people can’t climb a hill on a course. Unless it’s a several mile climb there’s really no excuse to be that gutted come race day.

PJC wrote:
desert dude wrote:
IMAZ on the Beeline.

For the life of me I can't understand the desire to train on the course.


To no one in particular and lots of triathletes in general:

People just go do your fucking workouts. Having race specific fitness matters 100,000x more than riding the course. If you're fit you'll be able to ride any course.

A high level of fitness flattens any hill, reduces every headwind, lowers the demands of any extreme temps or weather conditions.

There is no substitute for increasing your fitness.

Its more when you travel a long way and are there leading into the event, if you can ride it once, you know what to expect. I don't want to go and train on it every weekend.

I just don't want shocks on race day.

For example, Ironman Australia surface in areas is potholes that have been patch over and over. If you ride on aerobars through these sections, you will crash. There is also a dirty big f'ing hill that if around a blind corner. If you aren't really hitting that corner hard, you'll most likely walk up the hill.

So that's the desire to train on the course.
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [desert dude] [ In reply to ]
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desert dude wrote:
IMAZ on the Beeline.

For the life of me I can't understand the desire to train on the course.


To no one in particular and lots of triathletes in general:

People just go do your fucking workouts. Having race specific fitness matters 100,000x more than riding the course. If you're fit you'll be able to ride any course.

A high level of fitness flattens any hill, reduces every headwind, lowers the demands of any extreme temps or weather conditions.

There is no substitute for increasing your fitness.


The reason why I train on a nearby course. I am training for IM VA 70.3 on Sunday. I live close by the course, there is about 1500 feet of climbing. Where I ride in Virginia Beach I ride it would take me 15 or more 100 milers to get 1500 feet of climbing. I have met some good people on the course.

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Last edited by: Billabong: Apr 30, 19 7:45
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [mwanner13] [ In reply to ]
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mwanner13 wrote:
I’d die laughing if I saw people walking their bikes up a hill at an IM event. Sorry, but very few hills if any exist on I IM courses. I guess I’m fortunate or perhaps unfortunate that I live in an area with only hills. I just can’t believe people can’t climb a hill on a course. Unless it’s a several mile climb there’s really no excuse to be that gutted come race day.

PJC wrote:

Um, have you ridden Lake Placid? It is ALL hills. What do you mean by "very few hills if any exist on IM courses"? Makes no sense. Granted, there are zero hills on the LP course that require walking, but there are definitely hills!
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [PJC] [ In reply to ]
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I have a cabin in Jay, NY. I basically have the Ironman Lake Placid course as my backyard (my place is only 3 miles off the bike course). I can train on it any time I have the weekend free to get to my place. The best part is the swim course is always set with a buoy line and you can go swim it whenever the lake is liquid.
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [uptown423] [ In reply to ]
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uptown423 wrote:
Um, have you ridden Lake Placid? It is ALL hills. What do you mean by "very few hills if any exist on IM courses"? Makes no sense. Granted, there are zero hills on the LP course that require walking, but there are definitely hills!

What are you talking about? The Lake Placid course has only ~5 relatively minor hills. The course is challenging, for sure, but not because it's hilly. All of the elevation gain on that course is due to the false flat upgrade for 25 miles from Wilmington to Placid to Cascade.
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [uptown423] [ In reply to ]
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LP really isn't *that* hilly. You've got three real climbs on the bike - the one by the ski jumps, the one when you turn onto 86 in Upper Jay, and the one coming out of the Whiteface Ski Area (assumes they retain that little bundle of joy). And then on the run, it's really *just* Mill Hill. Granted, it goes on forever...but it's one hill.

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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [PJC] [ In reply to ]
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Chattanooga. You can swim the river, ride the rural roads and run the course pretty much anytime you wish.
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [beachedbeluga] [ In reply to ]
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agree, you can ride on just about the entire santa rosa course pretty easily and safely
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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g_lev wrote:
I have a cabin in Jay, NY. I basically have the Ironman Lake Placid course as my backyard (my place is only 3 miles off the bike course). I can train on it any time I have the weekend free to get to my place. The best part is the swim course is always set with a buoy line and you can go swim it whenever the lake is liquid.

You left out the part about how much the LP locals LOVE having lycra-clad triathletes up there training all the time!
/ end pink.

But yes - LP is a wonderful place to outdoor recreate.
Particularly NOT on the weekend that IMLP is in town.

Swim - Mirror Lake has to be one of the best legal o/w swim venues anywhere.
Bike course - is fine, but there's better riding to be had in the area.
Run course - I like going down to the big red barn on River Rd, and back - it's 6 miles total, and includes the money parts of the run course, the Ski Jump Hill, and the Village Hill.


float , hammer , and jog

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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [PJC] [ In reply to ]
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Chattanooga, but you've got to keep your eyes out for Billy Bobs with their shot guns. Last summer there were a handful of locals doing target practice on the day of the organized TriNooga ride. They thought it was hilarious to wait for cyclists to get near before shooting their guns and jumping out from behind bushes.
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [PJC] [ In reply to ]
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Boulder - It's pretty safe and plenty of shoulder/ driver awareness. That being said, due to how much I ride it, you'd have to pay me to do the full. But the 70.3 bike course is always fast and a mile from home so that is still a race I regularly sign up for.
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
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g_lev wrote:
I have a cabin in Jay, NY. I basically have the Ironman Lake Placid course as my backyard (my place is only 3 miles off the bike course). I can train on it any time I have the weekend free to get to my place. The best part is the swim course is always set with a buoy line and you can go swim it whenever the lake is liquid.

You can't train anytime in Lake Place. The roads are open but lake isn't always open, sometimes it is frozen over. There has been snow on the roads on Memorial Day.
That said, I think it is a great place to train and there are good brew pubs when the weather is bad.
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [Bifff] [ In reply to ]
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Bifff wrote:
g_lev wrote:
I have a cabin in Jay, NY. I basically have the Ironman Lake Placid course as my backyard (my place is only 3 miles off the bike course). I can train on it any time I have the weekend free to get to my place. The best part is the swim course is always set with a buoy line and you can go swim it whenever the lake is liquid.


You can't train anytime in Lake Place. The roads are open but lake isn't always open, sometimes it is frozen over. There has been snow on the roads on Memorial Day.
That said, I think it is a great place to train and there are good brew pubs when the weather is bad.

I did say you can swim it whenever the lake is liquid... I figured that was enough of a caveat! The lake is usually too cold to swim in (as in below 50 degrees) until mid June anyway. But you can usually swim in it just fine until mid October.

I was just there over the past weekend and it snowed on me. But then Monday AM was stunningly beautiful. Welcome to "Spring" in the ADK
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Re: Which North American IM course can you train on? [Murphy'sLaw] [ In reply to ]
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Murphy'sLaw wrote:
g_lev wrote:
I have a cabin in Jay, NY. I basically have the Ironman Lake Placid course as my backyard (my place is only 3 miles off the bike course). I can train on it any time I have the weekend free to get to my place. The best part is the swim course is always set with a buoy line and you can go swim it whenever the lake is liquid.


You left out the part about how much the LP locals LOVE having lycra-clad triathletes up there training all the time!
/ end pink.

But yes - LP is a wonderful place to outdoor recreate.
Particularly NOT on the weekend that IMLP is in town.

Swim - Mirror Lake has to be one of the best legal o/w swim venues anywhere.
Bike course - is fine, but there's better riding to be had in the area.
Run course - I like going down to the big red barn on River Rd, and back - it's 6 miles total, and includes the money parts of the run course, the Ski Jump Hill, and the Village Hill.

LP locals themselves don't mind us since we always bring money into town in the form of hotel/airbnb reservations and restaurant visits. But yea people not in the hospitality industry get frustrated with us.

There is SO much better riding to be had, but I am almost afraid to share my secrets! (OK fine I'll share a few)

But seriously 9N north of Ausable Forks is dead flat, along Lake Champlain, and is a stunningly beautiful ride all the way to Rouses Point at the Canadian Border. I was training for IMLou last year and rode from my cabin in Jay, exactly 56 miles to the border marker, and back (but ended up with 115 total miles due to stopping at Pt Au Roche state park for a bottle fill and bathroom break). Had to show my passport at the border station!

Outside of town, 86 out towards Paul Smiths is a fantastic ride with not TOO much elevation gain. And of course Rt 3 towards Saranac Lake/Tupper Lake is excellent.

Off of the bike course, north of the Black Brook out-n-back you can get out to Taylor Pond or Fern Lake. There is some actual climbing to be had out there, not like the lame "hills" on the IMLP course which barely register as hills to me.

And of course there is the climb up Whiteface itself. I have never done it, but plan to this summer.
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