my girlfriend and i will be racing 30-34 male and female divisions. from sarasota. we have a group of 6 coming from this area of florida including pro heather gollnick. hope its windy....

http://www.saveourlake.org/water_quality.asp

sections #3 and #4.

Looks like we are good to go according to water tests. Do you really think they would post a bad result and cancel the race? I m sure the water is not that bad, the worst thing I hear are the 6 foot long garr pike. Can't wait to get in and race. Anyone going for a dip on Saturday?

Forget the water. Whats going on with the weather down there? One day its rain the next its fine then today rain is back on and the temp has jumped to 85. My in-laws live down there so I visit at least twice a year so I know how the weather can be and when it rains its like a monsoon. Lets just say there drainage isn't the best. Also accuweather says wind gusts up to 33mph out of the west so along the lake it should be real fun with 2500-3000 of your great bike handling triathletes. Should be interesting.

I'm in 35-39, everyone I know is doing this race. SO cool to have one in our back yard. Cool surprise, yesterday Natasha Badmann came for a dip at the facility I run. She is so kind and gracious, what a class act. If only all sports icons could be like that!!!

So excited to go to my home state for a 70.3!!!! W40-44.

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The race is no longer going over the VI bridge. It is going down and back on HWY 11 to I-10 instead. HWY 11 was just repaved so it should be nice.

Read the previous posts, I was explaining why the course had been changed to eliminate the VI bridge.

JJ

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

Yeah I should have read it first.

Anyone know if we will be able to swim at racesite on Friday or Saturday?

I would love to get in for a dip on Friday. Haven't been in wetsuit or open water since last year.

Go to gnotri.org and post the question. I'm on the list and have seen 50 emails about pre race swims but as a stonefish I haven't paid any attention to the times and days.

JJ

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

any locals know about "alligator gars" in lake pontchartrain?

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Wow, that was unnecessary. Hopefully the wife won't see that.

You should see the big ones!!! But don't sweat it, they only take a couple swimmers a year in that area. Plus with a few thousand other athletes your odds are really low.

JJ

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

My bad, it's gnotri.com and it looks like they're doing a pre-race swim at the swim hole 8:00 saturday morning.

JJ

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

Just got back from driving the bike and run course. Don't plan on having a fast T1 time. First you have to run over what looks like some type of shells, then there is only one way in/out of the parking lot. T1 is set up at the farthest point from the entrance plus there are speed bumps. The roads are not that great until you get on to hwy 90. Careful riding in right lane.
I hope they have people at some of the turns because it would be way too easy to cheat. It is flat once you get approx 5-6 miles from T1. I believe there was 2 or 3 bridges you have to cross(If I was on the right route, they had some of it shut down so I had to detour) The run was nice and shaded for most part. If it is windy watch out on bike, it is all open once you get on 90. Best of luck

Maybe things have changed since I raced there ~'01-'03 but in every race the draft control (lack of) was disappointing.
The athletes seemed to show no concern for the rules and the officials seemed to have no concern for enforcement.
It seems to me that there must be a large number of NOLA area / Northshore triathletes that also do USCF races as some of the groups were riding as if they had pre-planned the organization / drafting and seemingly had worked together before.
I still have a distaste for the racing in the area and this is the main reason I didn't get excited about returning to NOLA to do the race.

I wish everyone a safe, fast, and draft-free event, and I look forward to some race reports regarding the no-drafting enforcement.

-KLG

Typically the rock or shell section after you cross the levee barrier is carpeted from there to the paved parking lot but it's a bit of a haul from the water to transition. There's some rough spots on lake shore drive but we ride it every weekend and the city is supposed to be patching a few spots on Haynes that are flat magnets. But for the most part I'd rate the roads better than 70% of the races I've done. (of course a lot of them are semi local races). We never ride the east side of Paris road where 510 dumps off on to it which the race actually uses, but the west side is pretty bad in that little stretch between the lakefront and the bridge over I-10. I haven't actually ridden on Hwy 11 yet but because of the the terrain with the levee along Haynes and the trees along 90, this course always feels like the winds are head or tail and I don't remember too many rides feeling like the cross winds were a problem except on the bridges. The wind on Hwy 11 is a question mark because the road direction is different from 90. The hardest part of the run will be early, crossing the Bayou St John bridge twice and no shade out on the lakefront. It'll be a lot better once you leave the lakefront if, "god forbid", the sun is out at that time of the day.

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

don't worry about the garr fish - they don't eat large mammals. here is an updated water quality report:
unfortunately from the heavy rains the "fecal coliform counts" are off the charts - poor. this is from a few days ago, but the weather lately has been heavy rain. hope the next two days allow it to dry out some and lower these #'s.

sections #3 - #4
http://www.saveourlake.org/water_quality.asp

Anytime you put 3000 bikes on two lane roads, drafting is going to be problem. That and the fact that the percentage of stone cold rookies in this race is probably higher than you'll ever face in a 70.3. My concern isn't so much keeping them off my wheel is being able to get around them.

JJ

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

Yummy yum yum.......350 is pretty darn high! And, we got a huge rainstorm here today so that number from 3/31 is going to probably skyrocket! Go ahead and get a script written for some penicillian before you leave for New Orleans!!!

http://blog.nola.com/...ironman_organiz.html

Good article on the race. Sounds like they are going to have their sh*t together at least.

My friends just had there race meeting and they said that no paceing devices allowed on the run. I will have my meeting tomorrow and ask exactly what is meant by that. I use a Garmin 305, will that be allowed? I do use it for my pace but also for my heart rate and time.

I didn't hear "no pacing DEVICES allowed on the run." I heard "no pacing" allowed on the run - specifically speaking to friends or family who are not entered in the race riding or running alongside you. If they allow you a spedometer on the bike, I see no reason why a GPS on the run would be forbidden. The point of the rule, as they explained it, was getting outside help from other individuals - they emphasized it was an individual event.

Where's the swim hole?