Had a thought while riding my trip bike.

Is this course better suited for a tri or road bike?

3000 feet / 900m over 30 miles / 48km is pretty borderline for me.

FWIW, I tend to ride HIM @ 250watts / 3.3 w/kg

TT if you have it. Shifting from aero extension on the major climb is admittedly a bit unideal, but it's just the one climb. The rest of the course is no issue. And bonus for you if you've got Di2.

ETA, that's my POV from many fewer W and W/kg.

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

People use both. People are often dumb.

TT bike all day, and twice on Sunday.
With all the go-fast, aero goodies you own.

In all the years of AmZof, there have only been maybe 2-3 racers who got on the podium w/ a road bike.
One was Jim Stafford, who has a pimped out Venge VIAS that is probably more aero than 90%+ of TT bikes (or their riders), and the other was a women's winner who probably just wasn't confident on a TT bike.

There's no reason you can't climb as well on a TT bike at AmZof, and then there are oodles of places where you will absolutely, positively be faster in the aerobars on a TT steed.

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float , hammer , and jog

^ x2. For three laps (LC) my tt was about 45 minutes faster than my road.

Thanks.

P3 with disc, deep front, and aero helmet it is.

How is the road surface? Any nasty potholes or cracks to worry about? Had a nasty crash 18 months ago that has scarred my "grey matter" - physically and psychologically.

What about the run, as in running shoes? Fast and furious trail runners or slow but cushy Hola Clifton's? Or both and change depending upon how the legs feel...

And what is it that I get from the ML prize closet if my ‘reign of terror’ continues???????

Your name on the trophy. Again.

And this laurel and hardy handshake. 😂

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float , hammer , and jog

As far as I can tell from Strava, Rich moved his bed into his paincave a while ago. Unlike us mere mortals who walk into the dreaded basement once in a while ... he only pops up from there to restock on the bare essentials. Killed everyone by more than 20 min in Galveston last weekend and moved up into Superman category. Since he doesn't seem to be tempted by Irish Car Bombs et al .... perhaps we form a relay?

Yeah, I don't even follow Rich, since I don't need yet another old doode showing me on the regular how weak I am.
You, Phil, & Jim are plenty sufficient in that regard.

< checks Strava >
He's been doing double my weekly (weakly) run mileage the past 4 weeks, and has more than TRIPLE my bike mileage/time YTD.

And it shows....
DAMN, winning your AG at an M.Dot 70.3 event by 20 freaking minutes??
1:21 off the bike? DAMN.

Did I mention? DAMN.

related: DAMN.

I don't think even a relay would be sufficient - maybe if we had FIVE guys, one for each leg of the GCG?

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float , hammer , and jog

Roads are mostly pretty decent.
The worst part is the dirt road going in and out of transition from the main Spring Farm entrance station.
It can get pretty rutted, so I’d make sure to eyeball it on the way in (it’s how you drive in and up to the back “lot”, which is a grass field).

As for the main loop proper, the only kinda bad choppy sections are from the West Trapps lot (this is just down the hill from the Steel Bridge overpass at the top of the famous switchback climb past the cliffs) up to about the Peterskill lot.
On the plus side, that’s mostly flat or up, so you won’t be flying along so fast it’ll surprise you.

There are a few stray potholes and cracks on the Minnewaska descent, mostly at the very beginning, and the far part before the sharp 180 turn onto Upper Granite Rd.
Just keep your eyes open - it’s your typical post-winter road riding conditions in the Northeast.

The ripping Mohonk descent is in excellent condition. Super fun.

For the run, I know of quite a few folks who have used normal run shoes, and lived to tell the tale.

I have always worn light trail runners.
Prefer having that extra grip for the few sections it’s handy.
YMMV.

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float , hammer , and jog

Damn

You can say *that* again. 😂

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float , hammer , and jog

Was up riding yesterday and hit a nasty pothole about 13 or so miles from the Spring Farm parking lot. It was in shadow and I didn't see it till I was upon it, hopped the front wheel, creamed the back. Hed Belgium rims are pretty tough- slightly crushed rim up atop brake track but still serviceable after a quick tube change, will have to true it later today. The hole was on the fast lead in to the last short climb into the overlook just before the Minnewaska drop. If I had hit it front wheel head on that would have been a rim crusher. Planning on going up again next week, if I do I will spray it orange.

I do believe I hit that same pothole when I rode it on Sunday. Hiding in the shade until it was too late, hopped the front, flatted the back (and ejected a bottle). Careful boys, that one may have gotten a taste for us.

OK, so the dip before that last roller that leads to the Million Dollar View descent??

I've been thru there a bunch of times so far YTD, and I guess I've just been lucky that the light has been good there.
Was just thru there yesterday afternoon, but the light was perfect then, so not an issue at that time.

(conversely, on the return trip back down from Minne towards the W Trapps lot, it was a goddamn minefield, and also on Clove Road, which had perfect shadow camo for all the potholes on it)

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float , hammer , and jog

Yes, after the hole there is a bit of fast road then up the short hill to the overlook.

OK AmZof peeps!! Less than 4 weeks go to!!!

Hope you've been getting your hills on.
No time like the present.

I had a bit of a setback this weekend, calf pull/mad calf disease acting up again, so my run training is TBD for the moment.
Will just have to get my bike on that much more.
Hope I can bring enough run game to be competitive at the CWD this year.

The GCG F1 is shaping up to be a helluva battle!!
Defending Champ (many times over) Rich Burke will be facing stiff challenges from Duathlon National AG Champ Jim Stafford, and our very own baliman, who has also been crushing it in training.
Game on!

I'll be heckling and drinking (not necessarily in that order) in the Pavillion for the back end of that.

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float , hammer , and jog

That's really a bummer with your calf. You were just getting into your AmZof speed groove. Little break now and then back to running might not actually be a bad training strategy. You will kill it as always. It's your playground.

Thanks for the honorable mention. First time in many many years that I may show up in shape at this lovable early season extravaganza. Looking forward to racing F1 ... but Rich and Jim are in their own league. Run and bike rockets.

As we know, the beauty of this race is that once you cross the finish line, the previous hours of pain are all forgotten and your actual placing doesn't matter any more ... since it's all about drinking beers in the pavillion. Can't wait.

Yup - the apres festivities at AmZof are second to none!!

While SOS has a more posh setup, I think the chill vibe of AmZof, and the fact that you can cheer/heckle racers as they literally run right by, makes it the best.

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float , hammer , and jog

You do realize you are promoting the 'competition' between three 50+ year olds as a featured event at AmZof. Somewhere a millenial duathlete is looking on amused and bored by this development.

Then that millennial duathlete should show up...

... and get his ass kicked by three 50+ year olds, just like the entire rest of the field is going to.

There have been a coupla fast young’uns at AmZof over the years, but they’ve only really done well at CWD -
Justin Harris & Dave Roche are 2 prime examples.

Age, experience, and treachery seem to win out at the longer distances. 😂

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float , hammer , and jog

It is true that SOS has become such a smooth production over the past 10yrs (as opposed to 20yrs ago when it didn't even fill up) that one could accuse it of being somewhat overproduced (for the better or worse). AmZof has more of that raw grass roots feeling that is very cool. It probably comes down to whether you love swimming in lakes for choosing one over the other. For me ... it's still SOS > AmZof but I can see why you would choose otherwise.

You raise an interesting discussion topic. There are epic races with the kind of recognition that get people to ensure they are sitting in front of their computers as the minute ticks over to when registration for something opens (Norseman, Roth, SOS; not meant to be an exhaustive list), and then there are epic events for which I’ve begged / badgered people to consider signing up, and maybe they do but they then back out for various reasons (shinier events come along, travel / life conflicts). I can’t think the answer is, raise the entry fee to AmZof by a couple hundred dollars so that the smooth overproduced feeling can be applied to it, to generate the interest we maybe wish it had.

I’ll say this: I’m a bit jealous of those that seek something like the Boston Marathon as a goal, because when they achieve their goal accolades pour out over how great it is someone achieved a goal they set for themselves. Meanwhile, equally challenging alternate goals – no one understands them, no one cares, and someone out there says – you should really aim for Boston.

Anyway, I just think it’s a really small group of people who are interested in a difficult thing purely for the sake of the thing, versus for the recognition it gets them.

<Pardon me while I now untwist my undies>

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Totally agree - it’s so odd that SOS (as awesome as it is) sells out in literally minutes at like $600 or whatever the hell it is now
vs.
AmZof is at least SOS’s equal in terms of challenge and beauty, and it has only ever sold out a handful of times in its 14 years.
For $100-something bucks.
And with WAAAAAY better beer.

AmZof GCG F1 is harder than SOS, and any HIM other than maybe Savageman.
AmZof LC is harder than any M.Dot IM.

So, it’s certainly not for lack of being a challenge.

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float , hammer , and jog

My money is on Colin Martin to take back his rightful Long Course crown this year.

I'll never forget 2014 when he finished his LC race, then after being 2-3 beers deep, proceeded to run another loop with me since I still had 2 loops to go...