Haven't done Chattanooga but at IMC in Penticton, long time ago, I know...There was an area where you put your bike. Then there were two sets of racks, one for swim to bike and one for bike to run bag. We could hang our bags there the day before or the morning of. The bikes were left in the bike area the day before. Make sure of course to remember where your bags are. I then go down to the place where the swim exit will be and go to the T1 bag, then to the bike, then to the exit of the T1. Then I go to the entrance of T2, walk to the bike rack (unless you hand the bike to the volunteer who will rack it for you), then to the T2 bag and to the T2 exit. In short, the day before I go through the routine that I'll do on the race day.
In the morning, I pump up the tires, leave the helmet and sunglasess on the aerobars and shoes clipped in, walk the T1 and T2 routine one or two more times. Drop of the special needs bags whenever the instructions tell you to do so.
Have a good race... :-)

At IM you will get 5 bags: T1 bag; T2 bag, bike special needs; run special needs; and morning bag. You put your bib number on every bag. There is a predetermined spot to drop off your special needs bags; this is usually the first thing you do on the morning of the race. The morning bag is where put anything you're wearing in the morning just prior to the swim that you won't need until after the race. You dump the morning bag close to the swim start. After the swim, you'll come out of the water and grab your T1 bag, with all of your cycling gear, and jam your swimming stuff in the T1 bag. Volunteers will be there to help. During the bike, approximately at the 1/2 way point, you'll get a chance to stop and access your bike special needs bag. I use bike special needs to stash 2 bottles of my nutrition/hydration drink, along with a couple extra inner tubes and CO2 cartridges in case I've had to fix a flat along the way. Note: Don't plan on ever seeing your bike or run special needs bags again, so don't put anything in there expensive or dear to you. After the bike, your bike will be grabbed by a volunteer who will rack it for you, and you'll grab your T2 bag. Same gig as T1; bike gear goes in the bag, run gear goes on, hand bag to a volunteer and head out the door. Run special needs is same as bike; roughly 1/2 thru run. Might want to consider fresh socks and any food or drink that will motivate you for the second half of the marathon. May also want to consider something warm if you're gonna be on the course with the sun down and the temps dropping, but again, something cheap you don't care about not seeing again. At the end of the race, your T1 bag, T2 bag, and morning bag will all be tied together where you can claim them. If you have a significant other, they can claim your bags, although they may need a claim ticket. Your bike can also be grabbed out of transition with an appropriate claim ticket while you are out on the marathon.

There won't be anything near the bikes in transition; the bags are either hanging on racks or arranged in neat rows in a tent or room. You can access your T1 and T2 bags in the morning before the race. All I do in transition in the morning is pump my bike tires, make sure the bike is in the right gear, install my bike computer and turn it on, and get my nutrition/hydration on the bike. You will not be allowed to have your shoes clipped into your pedals for IM. Also, you can also have extra nutrition in your T1/T2 bags. I like to have a salty snack in my T2 bag like potato chips as I am a very heavy sweater and I need the extra sodium by the time I'm done on the bike. I also may have a small Gatorade in my T1 bag that I chug before I get on the bike to make up for the fluid lost during the swim.

Hope this was helpful.

Note: This is all based on IM Wisconsin, Lake Placid, and Mt Tremblant, but Chattanooga should be pretty darn similar.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Drop off bike, bike bag, and run bag the day before. Bags will go in numerical order, so study transition to know where to pick it up.
You have access to bike in morning to pump, and nutrition, Garmin, etc.
After swim you will run through and pick up bag (shoes and helmet in bag) and change in a changing area,, not at bike. Pick up bike in transition.
Drop off bike and run through T2 and pick up bag. Change in changing area.
Remember to put swim gear in bike bag, bike gear in run bag before you exit transition/changing area on you way out.
After race, when you can barely walk, pick up bike and bags.
You may have a morning clothes bag also.

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Team Zoot So Cal

Best description you will read. Thank you for posting

Yeah, good write-up. A couple of things to add:

Unlike shorter races, full IMs have changing tents in transition. One for men, one for women. You run through there right after grabbing your gear bag.

Blue bags for bike gear, red for run gear. The bags are arranged numerically, but except for the number, they all look alike, so it's a good idea to bring some colored tape or ribbon or something to put on yours to make it easier to find.

Good luck in your race!

Cheers,
Ginger

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https://www.instagram.com/gingerhowellracing/
If you find yourself thinking "What if I can't", instead think "What if I can!"

The specifics for I'm Choo-Choo...

Out of swim you go up a ramp and turn left. That is where your T1 brag is located. A volunteer will hand it to you usually, depends on the crowd you come out with. Separate tents for men and women. Outbound the other end of the tent you hand that bag back to a volunteer and go get your bike.

Bike in is the same as bike out. Rack your bike, volunteer hands you your T2 bag. Into same tent. Out the other end, hand off your bag again, and off you go.

It is all clearly explained in the booklet and at the brief. They won't let you screw it up. The only mistake you can really make is not loading the bags correctly and forgetting something. The actual logistics is forced by the setup and volunteers.

Last year was not wetsuit legal and the current was slow. The temp today was 84, cooler than this time last year, so who knows.

Make sure you get a Little Debby poster.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

This was very helpful! Thank you

Everyones response has been helpful. Thank you for all the info.

So if all there is really to do is turn on your Garmin, check tire pressure, set up nutrition, why are so many people getting there at 3hrs before the race starts?

So they can get in the swim line early......ahead of faster swimmers.

Pink? Sadly....no.

Hmmm...I don’t know about getting to transition 3 hours early. I’m usually up about 4am for a 7am IM start. I spend an hour just waking up and getting a decent breakfast in me (my go to is a peanut butter and honey sammich washed down with Gatorade). I try to arrive in transition roughly at the time it opens at 5, get body marked, check my bike, and then make my way to a spot where I can sit and sip fluids until about 45 minutes before the race starts. This also gives me time to do a last minute porta-potty stop. Then I put on my wetsuit, get my morning bag situated, and make my way to the morning bag drop off and the swim start. I like to be in the water for a deep water start about 20 minutes prior to the gun going off to do some nice easy stroking and then seed myself appropriately. For certain venues like IM Wisconsin, the chute to get to the water can become very crowded and if you wait until the last minute, you can actually be still trying to get into the water when the gun goes off (at least, that was when IM Moo was still a mass start). I’ve never dealt with a river swim where you may have a single swimmer jumping in every few seconds, but some folks like to get in line for that super early, so that may be a reason to be in transition as soon as it opens.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

You want to wake up 3 hours before race starts. You want to get to race area 1-1 1/2 hrs before race starts.
If this is your first gig I'd do 1 1/2 hours.

You'll be surprised how long it takes to get around with everyone else doing the same thing and you want to start getting ready to actually go (wetsuit on etc.) about 30mins before the race (they get you all lined up and ready to go at least 10-15mins before gun time). If something goes wrong ( I pumped up my tire at IM Nice and it blew out the morning of the the race) you need time to deal with it, and you don't want to be panicking for time.

Good call. I have witnessed this on a couple of occasions at 70.3s. Like you said as well, there a lot of people doing the same thing and congestion just takes over. Thanks for the reassurance in my thoughts of getting to transition early.

See you in Chatt at the end of the month!

5 bags

1 morning - since choo swim is point to point, you have a bag you can drop any morning clothes in and they will collect and return with other bags at end of race. I would not put keys and phone in as they sometimes don't make it back.

1 swim to bike - all bike gear + helmet goes in this bag. Grab it after the swim. Change gear and all swim gear must go in bag and get tied up to get it after the race.

1 bike to run - all run gear goes in. Grab after the bike. Change gear and all bike gear + helmet must fit in bag and get tied up.

1 bike special needs - you never get back what's left in it. Typically available halfway through run. If you don't grab it, they trash it. You you only take a few items, they trash everything else.

1 run special needs - you never get back what's left in it. Typically available halfway through bike, two chances to grab it at Choo since it's on a loop. If you don't grab it, they trash it. You you only take a few items, they trash everything else.

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Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans

Also....take photos. Give yourself plenty of time.

That time between being dropped off at transition — until you get in the water — is magical. Soak it all in, and good luck.

+1 Chatt is pretty darn similar, only thing to worry about is getting to transition, dropping off your bags and doing that once over on your bike before loading yourself onto a school bus.

The one thing I hated about Chatt which I hope theyre fixing for this year is the 'first come, first serve' swim start meaning you get in line as you arrive at swim start. I guess if you cut you may be seen as an asshole. I got there very early and was on the 3rd school bus so I didn't have to cut but they really need to change that to self-seed, otherwise to me, it defeats the purpose of having a rolling start.

Oh and do yourself a favour and make sure you take the shortest lines on the swim course, ignore the buoys in the first bend and stay as far right as you can (sight off the kayaks and boats) until you hit the first bridge.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

I know at IM Texas this last year, there's a relatively small entrance to transition. My wife was waiting in the car for me to bring my bag back to her (pump and other stuff I didn't want to leave in a morning bag). I got there right when it opened and had no issues and headed back to the car. But forgot a bottle and had to make one trip back in. This was probably 30 minutes after. The people piling up at the entrance was quite annoying. Especially the spectators just waiting for family and friends. There was no reason to all be piled up at the entrance when 2500+ people are trying to get in and out. I hate dealing with all that. It took just as long to drop that one bottle off as it did to pump tires, confirm bags were in same place, calibrate, etc.. I'd rather get there first and get out before it gets congested.

Last year was screwed up because of water temperature. Wetsuits were optional but not eligible for any awards and had to start last. The problem was there were more people wearing wetsuits than not and they were all there very early. You couldn't really tell in the dark who was sitting on a wetsuit. When they started the swim and everyone stood up and starting putting on wetsuits is when I realized I was way too far back and had to push my way around all of them to get to the water.

Hopefully they will not have that option this year, or if they do they will stage the wetsuit users in a different line.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

Not much to add to some of the good posts below. But, I have done IM Chatt before and just be aware that it takes a long time to get from transition to swim start in the morning. I remember there not being that much time between when transition opens and when you need to get on the buses. Make sure thar you can survive not getting tp your Bike/Run bags on race morning and prioritize just getting your bike ready. If you’re delayed for any reason, you may not have time to double-check.

Also, take your time in the change tents. The volunteers are always wonderful and will get you liquids, towels, subscreen, and will even help change you if necessary (one year on AZ mg hands were so cold I couldnt pull off my own shorts). BUT, keep in mind that the volunteers don’t know what you in your bag and what specifically you need. One time the volunteer didnt realize my sunglasses were at the bottom of the bag, piled my swim stuff up on top of them, and, in my rushing stupidity, left without them. Biked the whole thing with no glasses. Just practice, take your time, and know what you need. You’re better off losing a minute in transition than being miserable the next million hours.

Not much more to add, lots of good info.

Swim start, the line moves pretty darn quick, so whenever you get there will not make too much difference. In 2014 I lined up pretty much in the back and was in the water in 15 mins.

On SN bags, the bike you will pass the SN area twice, once at 50 miles, and again at 100. You can take your bag either time, but not both. The run SN is closer to dead center of the run, so while you do pass it multiple times, I'm not sure what good it would do at ~1/2 mile in, or ~1/2 mile left in the race.

The changing tents will have rows of chairs to use. Do yourself a favor and only look at your stuff or the floor, there are things people do that you can never unsee.

One thing I wish more IMs would do... LP had a trough right as you walked into the tent for a quick relief instead of forcing everyone into porta-potties. Was awesome.

If I remember correctly from Choo '16, you hand your bike to a catcher and they'll rack if for you. Am I remembering that wrong? I don't think I've ever racked my own bike in T2 at a full IM.

Regardless, transitions are easy at Choo.

To be safe, assume you'll have to get your own bike and run bag. So make a point of remembering where it is (e.g. what row), and I suggest lining the top of the bag with bright colored duct tape (e.g. yellow or neon green) to help it stand out.

I was hearing over the weekend from multiple Choo veterans that bike special needs is only available on the first loop.

Not that I particularly would stop a 2nd time, but curious more than anything else.

Can anyone confirm?

Great Write up.

There will be people helping you strip and people that will slap sun block on you.

When you sit down in the tent dump everything in front of you.

Get there early enough to handle any last minute emergencies (tire blows have been mentioned) walk the transition areas chill out and get your head straight before the hectic day starts.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

I was curious as well.
Seemed like we could get it either loop in 2014... but that was 4 years ago.

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Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans

True,

Unless you are BOP and come through Bike SN very late, not sure how they would know what lap you are on.

I'm not terribly fast, but when I was rolling through on my second lap, the volunteers were still handing out SN bags to riders.

I do know for sure, you cannot get at it twice though, they are not put back in order when you are done.

something minor to add to the already great writeup above. there are usually plenty of volunteers there to help you. if there aren't a ton of athletes coming into transition at the same time you are then you will usually have good luck if you yell your number. the volunteers will relay it on and there's a good chance an awesome volunteer will find your bag and have it waiting for you as you reach the area. this helps shave off a few seconds off searching around while you try to catch your breath