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Amica Rhode Island 70.3
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Is anyone familiar with the new bike course? what can I expect re: pavement, elevation change, etc.?

Thanks.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nautorious] [ In reply to ]
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Not yet... But I plan to ride it on monday to check it out.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nautorious] [ In reply to ]
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Well... I TRIED to ride the course today... had a major navigation issue with my edge 800 ( a bike computer with GPS that I had loaded the course route into ) not liking the fact that the course starts on park roads and bike paths for the first 7 miles. So without me noticing it rerouted me around all that nonsense (I can't say I blame it) and before I knew it I was way off course. By the time I figured out what was up and got back to the start I had already put in 17 miles. (Yep... that far off course, I'm used to blindly turning where the 800 tells me to go and its never failed me). Anyway... I didn't have time at that point to ride the 56 mile course, plus the ten miles to get back to the car (its a point to point).. so I rode the first 20 miles of the course, and then doubled back.

So my initial impression (of the first 20 miles) is that this is going to be a quite challenging bike course. You're pretty much either climbing or descending. There is very little flat or slight uphill/downhill to the first 20 miles. 1800ft of climbing in the first 20 according to my computer. If you like shifting a lot this is the course for you!

I'm hoping to try and ride the course again in a couple weeks when I'm back in town and I'll post my impressions then if you like...

Sorry... meant to have a real report to post... but the day had other plans apparently!
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nickwisdom] [ In reply to ]
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Nick, I think you may have rode the old version of the (new) course. I rode the one that is now posted on the race website yesterday and the bike goes directly out of the park and over rt 146. From there it takes a right on Louisquisett (sp) Pk. It does not appear to follow the bike path as in previous version...either way you are right in saying there are a lot of ups and downs in the first 20 miles.

Overall it is a really nice, fair course. Most of the decent hills are in the beginning. The rest of the bike is a mix of rollers and a few nice flats but it is a bit more challenging than the course that started in Narragansett. A few sections provided a decent amont of shade. The road condtions are fanstastic (for RI) with a couple of notable exceptions...Central Pk in Johnston and the final 2 miles into Providence. There is a 1 mile section of road on Central Pike that looks like it got shelled. I truly hope the road is repaired because it is an awful stretch. The approach to providence is a mess...nothing new there.

Traffic: the entire route was fairly quiet until you got back into Providence. Should not be as much of a clown-show at intersections as it was really light on Sunday morning.

VM
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [vmac] [ In reply to ]
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Doh! Thats exactly what I did! I definitely rode an older version of the new course. One I saw on Tri-NEs discussion forum. Thanks for the info!
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nautorious] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah. like the others have said, lots of up and down. Some "tough" climbs but mostly rollers. RI is famous for short and steep climbs, really tough to stay consistant with the watts. The roads are New England roads, never know what to expect and unless someone gets a envelope with $$ in it, they aren't getting fixed before race day. I ride the route weekly so I am very familiar with it, some of it will be tough be doable. Oh, and with the epic start from Lincoln Wood, it will be fun to see how they keep race morning smooth...

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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nautorious] [ In reply to ]
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hi- i rode the first half as an out and back. very hilly! not all that scenic and the road was quite chewed up. i see from the website that the last couple of miles are the same as last year- bad, bad road conditions unless they have done some work on it. i used my training wheels last year and am planning on doing the same this year- just not worth wrecking the race wheels.. have not seen the last half though as it was not on the website when i was in provid
ence. good luck!
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Need4Speed305] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for info. Any guess on total elevation for the course?
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [triphish] [ In reply to ]
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Mr. Garmin says approx 27xx or so...
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [triphish] [ In reply to ]
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Estimate probably around 1500-2000ish, not too sure on the exact total. Nothing really sustained, mostly up and down. You will find that getting into a good steady pace will be tough and keeping watts consistant is not too easy. Plus, as stated before, some of the road really sucks. Unfortunately they don't put road conditions at the top of the list of maintenance items for the year and instead to half assed patch jobs. Though once you get into the Scituate area the roads can be quite nice, Providence downtown will suck pretty bad.

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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Need4Speed305] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks to both for the total elevation estimates. Really looking forward to my first half!
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [triphish] [ In reply to ]
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so the beach at Lincoln Woods (the swim start location) has been closed yesterday and today for high levels of bacteria already....

not a good sign this early in the summer, and can't say it makes me thrilled about potentially swimming in it a month from now.

Ugh.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nickwisdom] [ In reply to ]
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Any sense of water temp?

Can't find online record of lake temp and want to know whether this is likely to be wetsuit legal or not.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [slimfast] [ In reply to ]
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My GUESS is that it won't be wetsuit legal.

I'm basing that guess off the fact that other lakes we swim in around the same area are already warming rapidly into the low 70s. By raceday I'll bet it will be just warm enough to not be wetsuit legal. It will be close though.

Of course all this assumes that its even safe to swim in there at all... or even if it is technically safe whether we'll want to swim in it.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nickwisdom] [ In reply to ]
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Has anyone checked out the run course? It appears that this is a new course also. I tried to get elevation on gmaps pedometer, but it isnt coming up.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [backcountrysnow] [ In reply to ]
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bikeroutetoaster.com is fairly fast and gives you cumulative gain (unlike gmap). But it doesn't take enough points and tends to underestimate total gain by about 20%, especially if there's lots of up and downs along the way.

runpartner.com is better, but a little slower, though it gives you a closer estimate (probably about 10% low).

Most websites simply don't collect enough data points to give you an accurate estimate. Though if we're talking about 1500-2500 ft of climbing over 56 miles total, it won't be too far off. When you're trying to map epic 5 figure days though, you get a huge range of estimates across different sites.

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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [backcountrysnow] [ In reply to ]
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The run course is new this year... I have only run a few small sections of it as part of other runs, but from looking at the route there are a couple of decent hills in it but nothing as bad as the hill up Angel st from a few years ago. I plan to run the loop next week and check it out. I certainly wouldn't call it flat by any means, but its nothing to worry about. There will be pretty much zero shade on the course so if its hot on race day its gonna hurt! If you want to see an elevation map use one of the popular mapping tools such as mapmyrun.com and draw the route in and then look at the profile.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nickwisdom] [ In reply to ]
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Nick - do you have a Garmin or another instrument that would allow you to track your run? I'm interested. Last year was brutal
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [backcountrysnow] [ In reply to ]
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I do... but rather than wait for that... why not just draw the route in mapmyrun.com or mapmyride.com? Very quick and easy, and instant elevation profile.

I probably won't run the course till maybe this weekend or wednesday of next week.

I've never understood why all races don't include elevation profiles in the course maps... but that's another thread.
Last edited by: Nickwisdom: Jun 22, 11 10:39
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [backcountrysnow] [ In reply to ]
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I'll probably run the course tomorrow as part of my long run for the week. I'll have my Garmin on me so I can probably give you some data.

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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Nickwisdom] [ In reply to ]
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Nickwisdom wrote:
I do... but rather than wait for that... why not just draw the route in mapmyrun.com or mapmyride.com? Very quick and easy, and instant elevation profile.

Both the new bike course and new run course are already available for viewing in mapmyride.com and mapmyrun.com.

Bike: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/36750230
Run: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/36766010

If I screwed up the links, let me know and I'll take this post down, so I don't give out bad info. I checked both of these routes against the listed course descriptions from the race website, so should be correct.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [Need4Speed305] [ In reply to ]
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thanks need
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [backcountrysnow] [ In reply to ]
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I actually ran it yesterday.

I screwed up a bit as it was pouring rain and street signs are somewhat non existent. (rain made it so i didn't bring my phone and thus couldn't pull up a map).

Anyway.... there is about a 1 mile hill starting at mile 1 to mile 2. about 200 feet in elevation. Then another short hill at the end of the lap. The rest is coming back down the hill or very flat.

Here's the elevation on the garmin site. As I said, I screwed up a bit (particulary around brown university) as well as at the end over the river because the road didn't have a shoulder or sidewalk and it was sketchy with cars. But that whole last section is flat.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94473507

I will try to run it again on Tuesday, now that I know the correct route. to get an exact profile. Aside from the one big hill, and the short steep bit at the finish, it's fast. Good thing is by the 2nd lap (about 8 miles in), it'll be easy going terrain wise.

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Last edited by: mrtrik: Jun 24, 11 5:51
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [mrtrik] [ In reply to ]
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This is a great recon and good news. Now let's hope for decent swim conditions and some nice weather. Thanks very much.
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Re: Amica Rhode Island 70.3 [mrtrik] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for this info. Tried to ride the bike course on Sunday but didn't know how to get turn by turn direx on the garmin. Built course in biketoaster from mapmyride and loaded onto garmin. Anyway, made it to snake hill road and then wrong turn at albuquerque and ended up in sketchy-ville and then on a frickin 4 lane highway! Hope to try again on Sunday morning. The pond and transition area looked ok. Lots of swimmers and no flesh eating bacteria that I could see.

This will be my first HIM. Have done a few shorter races, but never done one that requires day before registration, bike drop off, bike/run bags, shuttles, etc (read last year's guide). Will read the new guide and attend a pre-race meeting, but just wondering if there is any good IM race planning article/wesbite to help with getting one's shit together before getting down there. Thanks!
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