Try again, maybe? I got a sold out message, but went in again and got registered.

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Munq

Yes it finally came through.
I was scared for a moment.

I had the opposite reaction. I was scared when my registration went through.

Coming back to the course, is this an Aussie exit or are we doing 2 loops in the water?

I believe you exit run over timing wire and then dive in. That way there are no one loop heros who fake they have done two loops

An Aussie exit would be fun, but even if we don’t hit the beach, the water is very shallow near the shore so it would be dolphin diving for the entire turn around.

I am in! Excited.

Also did Ironman finally cut active.com out of the registration loop? I registered entirely within their site, and it worked pretty well except for the stripe integration part - it was flaky as always. Progress!

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Good to hear - I always wonder how many people get caught/don't get caught on 2 loop swims.

I'm curious if there's going to be congestion on loop 2 given how close it looks to the shore.

If the swim typically ranges from 1h-2h for most people, and it takes 30 mins for everyone to file through, then it might get tricky on the back half.

One of the things I find odd with the run course is that we only do Wellington 1x. Per the course description we do Wellington, then hit the canal, and then don't do Wellington again for the 2nd loop. They could easily turn around sooner at Dow's lake (or even just skip it and turn around at Bronson), or turn around sooner on Col. By.

It seems to me that if you're looking to show off Parliament, Supreme Court, etc, you'd do it for both loops since you need it closed for most of the race anyway.

The only thing I can think of is that if you only have it for 1 loop, you can re-open that section sooner - but I don't think they're closing Portage anyway.

It looks to me that you will in fact run that section twice. The first time is starting your loop 1 (a short out and back, i.e. km 0 to 3), and the second time is finishing the run (the same out-and-back, km 39-42.2).

That section of road will need to be closed until midnight, but the Portage bridge would not need to close (it wouldn't be accessible from westbound Wellington).

Placid is two loop swim and personally I did not noticed any issues.

the thing about the course mapping, maybe at this stage they're just showing the idea of the course and as time progresses they'll sort out the specifics, bc totally having both run loops in front of parliament would be awesome... i'm pretty sure they have openly noted they aren't sure of T2 or the finish line locations...

I think you're right that we do it twice, but the image is confusing.

There's both a 2km and a 40km marker on Wellington (near Bank?), which would mean we definitely do it twice. But there isn't enough distance between there an the finish line unless the 40km marker should really be on the north side of Wellington - signifying we pass Parliament and then head out for our final few kms.

Seems odd that you wouldn't just do 2x of the same loop - that's going to be confusing when everyone's at their lowest mental capacity.

My interpretation was we do 2x20km loops and then do the 1km Wellington out and back ONCE at the end of second loop after bike course is effectively closed for most people (bike course typically closes at 5:30 pm which is 10:30 into the race, so you don't have hoards of people on the run out and back until all the cyclists are off there).

I personally think that the grind up and down wellington from 40-42 km will be a massive slog that athletes won't really like, but let's see.

In any case, in keeping with the theme of my brain writing cheques that my body can't cash, I signed up to secure a spot. Now I have to ignore that I signed up and just train for swimming and olympic tri like I do (10km runs, 1 hrs trainer rides etc), and then see if my "normal plan" of scaling to half IM length rides in the summer and some 15km runs can scale to more like 4.5 hrs rides and 2 hrs runs for 3 months in 2025 and I get to the start line to finish my first one of these fulls in a decade. Its probably not the brightest idea given everything going on in my life....worst case I pull the plug using Flex90 or downgrade to a half IM next summer.

Hell, I haven’t laced them up since Timberman 14 years ago, 35lbs ago, and two kids ago and I’m thinking about it with the bike goin right by my front door and the run a 10 min bike ride away !!
Ok, I just thought about it and i’m good to just watch and cheer ..:)

Welcome to Ottawa. You will enjoy the trip

Dev, I think when you head back via Queen Elizabeth you take Pretoria over to Colonel By for the second upper loop, then back downtown the next time for the finish (look at km 20 then 22 on the map)

When leaving transition for the run just before the 2km mark, the first runners will be crossing the last loop bikes who will be turning left onto Lyon. Maybe a foot bridge there?

Question for the locals: is the bike course suitable for a group to come up and do a pre-ride this August? I saw in a post earlier that certain sections are even closed to cars on weekends, is that right? This assumes we’re not a-holes and ride single file, etc.

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .

These are the parts they have closed to cars on weekends:

https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/events/weekend-bikedays

Thanks!

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .

type-B wrote:

Question for the locals: is the bike course suitable for a group to come up and do a pre-ride this August? I saw in a post earlier that certain sections are even closed to cars on weekends, is that right? This assumes we’re not a-holes and ride single file, etc.

Yes, a good chunk of the course is closed to cars on Sundays up until either 4 or 8pm, depending on the road. There's a section in the middle where you'll need to take the Multi-Use Path (MUP) along the river/canal to get between the parkways, but most of the kms of the course are closed to traffic. The exception is Col By parkway on the east side of the canal, and the parts downtown. If you take the MUPs as a go between, I believe that you can do the route without traffic (though its been a while since I've done the Rockliffe part so someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

The only catch is that the parkways are generally well used by families and non-athletes out for a Sunday ride. The stronger cyclists tend to move to the much more hillier Gatineau side. I tend feel awkward blasting through at any kind of speed if its busy. I wouldn't do it at race pace, but if you're looking to recon the course and you're courteous to those also using the parkway, then its good to get in a course recon.

If you really want to scope out Col By, there's a MUP parallel to the route - but this might be better as a run recon (it's on the run route too) - it can also get busy with lots of walkers and runners.

More info: https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/events/weekend-bikedays

ETA: One thing I should note is that the route marked as "Sir John A MacDonald Parkway" in the Ironman route is the same thing as the Kichi Zibi Mikan in the NCC site. Ironman is just using the old name.

Thank you kindly!

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .

While you're out on the parkway, head into Quebec and ride a lap of the loop

General reply to the thread. Watching IM Texas livestream had me thinking about the bike course at IM Ottawa. It looked like a total cluster at times on the loops of Hardy toll road. With a 2.75 loop flat bike course in Ottawa, is this a setup for a similar situation? I know the course is closed to vehicular traffic, but how many car lanes are available to cyclists- would it be one or two lanes in each direction?

Kitchi Zibi Mikan is 4 lanes wide, but often only 2 are closed (one direction) for bike days, and it is currently under construction for the LRT (and may still be), so might only be 2 lanes total
Col By, Queen Elizabeth and George Etienne Parkways are all 2 lane roads (1 in each direction)

Etienne has a paved shoulder so is fairly wide, Queen Elizabeth varies in width but is usually quite wide.

Col By is more narrow but should be wide enough to support passing. Its often used for local tri and hasn't felt congested when I've done that race.

The only catch is if they also include the run on parts of it, rather than using the parallel MUP for the run on Col. By / Queen Elizabeth, but there's no reason why they wouldn't use the MUP.