I have never done Lake Placid, but based on my experience at Hawaii, Canada (X2) and New Zealand this is what I would say:

1. Yes, they give you access to the transition area on race morning for tire inflation and putting your bottles on the bike.

2. From my experience there is some water and garbage facilities in close proximity to the transition area. It is best to be self-sufficient though. Bring your own water and maybe a ziploc to put trash in, one less thing to stress about race week.

3. The strippers kind of seem to be catch as catch can. It is minor controlled bedlam. Usually about the time you think, "Oh, I need to take my wetsuit off..." two sorority girls already are tearing the thing off you. Or maybe that was a dream I had last night :)

4. Special needs zones can be a little chaotic too, especially if you hit them with a group of other athletes. Be certain you know the location of the special needs bag pick-up zone. If possible, go there and physically inspect it prior to the race. With five minutes inbound to the target area begin to position yourself relative to other athletes to facilitate easy retrival of your bag. Don't assume they will hand it to you: You may actually have to stop. This is not a disaster. You will realistically only lose a bit of time. The key thing is, don;t let your bag wind up in your spokes- guaranteed trip over the bars. Also, you pretty much handle it like a feed zone you see on TV in Tour de France: Get your bag, empty it, throw it away within a reasonable distance of the zone so volunteers can retrieve it.

5. Be careful about planning your race nutrition plan. Use good common sense. Remember, you spent a lot of money to get a nice light racing bike and the course in LP is hilly. It doesn't make sense to add 3 pounds of gel, fluid, food, etc. to your race load and lug it up all those climbs. Try to make a wrokable race plan to limit your on-board load and maximize your use of resources on the course. Off course, there is risk in that since an aid station may not have exactly what you need when you go through it- so be flexible. Look at the pros bikes- you never see 16 gels taped to their top tubes. There load is always light and they rely on the aid stations. Of course, they get there first so they are fully stocked and their arrival is generally a big affair at the aid station.

Planning is the key, and it sounds like you are doing a fine job of that right now.

Good luck my friend, I hope for fine conditions for you and an excellent race.

-Get r done!

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

oops answers got chopped off -sorry. Looks like Tom has it covered well. Good luck

Thanks for the answers, and the encouragement. Relative to last year, this is is me lightening up huge. Last year I was riding with a camelbak and four bottles for 1/2 IM's, not using aid stations at all. I know it sounds like a lot, but I figure that I'll rely on the aid stations for water on the bike and gatorade on the run, but will use my own nutrition, which will be a combination of Powerbars, Accel Gel, and Gu.

I figured that I would try to eat one Powerbar, 1 accel gel, 1 Gu per hour, along with all the water and Acelerade that I can stomach for the first three hours on the bike, then go to just the gels and Accelerade for the last X hours.

My reasons for thinking I'd carry it all from the start are: 1) Uncertainty about Special Needs. Was thinking of putting minimal stuff in them, and not picking up if I don't need it, and 2) I'll probably drink most of the Accelerade on the first loop, which will lighten me up by a few pounds on the second loop.

This being my first IM, and me being a mediocre cyclist, I figured it was better to be a little heavy but be able to stay on top of my nutrition than to risk getting into trouble if I don't have what I need when I need it.

(On a related note, I'm still down 4 of the 5 pounds I lost when my Dad passed away three weeks ago, so that cancels out the gear, right?)

BTW, thank you very much for the spare kit article. Thanks to that, I was finally able to comfortably stow the Camelbak. It's a neat little setup. That, plus an extra tube and CO2 cartridge in a jersey pocket, is all I carry these days(although, I haven't had a flat, so I don't know how well it works out.)

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I've done 3 ironman races so far and have never used a special needs bag and don't plan on it in Kona this fall. I use a Bento box which holds my power bars and then I tuck 2 gel flasks of Hammer gel in my jersey which is moe than I will need during an IM. In Florida last fall I alternated 1/2 power bar and a squeeze of gel every 15-20 minutes on the bike and just got water and gatorade from the aid stations. I figure that it is enough of a pain to find your transition bag when you run up out of the water that taking the chance that something that I really need from my special needs bag is not there if it gets misplaced (plus the slowing down or stopping to get it) is not something that I want to do.

Good luck in Lake Placid.

Those are all good questions and have been answered well. Couple things I'll add. This year, for the first time, I'm going to skip the wetsuit strippers and do it myself. I've been practicing gettiny my new T1 off and I can't see anyone helping making it faster. In fact, I plan to have my wetsuit off well before i reach the strippers. I'm using Gatorade and Gu exclusively on the bike and I plan to bring all of my GU with me. I'll start off with 3 bottles of Gatorade and refill from aid stations as needed. This way, I'm set for the first 2 hrs of the bike and can just put my head down and ride. I don't like to rely on aid stations as too many things can go wrong. Hope this helps. See you in LP!

That is part of my thinking as well. I figured I'd bring 2 bottles of concentrated Accelerade and mix it into my Aerobottle with water from the course. I will get water from the aid stations, but I was grossed out at Tupper Lake last year, when I opened up a bottle to find that the water they were using was brown. It tasted okay, but if anyone looked at it before drinking it, they probably wouldn't have drank it.

See you soon.

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Last year in wisc. they gave us bottled water. Regarding the bike special needs, I had to hop off my bike and get mine, nothing earthshattering but if the SN's is busy that may happened to you also, just a heads up.