hi all -
on a whim i’ve signed myself up for 70.3 rapperswil. anyone done it recently? any insights into the course or the day?
thanks!
-mike
I have done it 3-4x actually. What do you want to know?. In strava you can find the track.
But let me know what do you want to know 
all kinds of things!
-i guess i’ll take the train on race morning, and set up transition then. will that work OK?
-i don’t have my tri bike here in CH at the moment, so i’ll be riding on a road bike with clip-ons. it seems like there’s one big climb per lap, and then the rest is flat? how’s the descent? i’m hopefully going to pre-ride it this week.
-bottle hand-ups on the bike?
-the run seems weird in terms of surfaces - gravel? boardwalk? pavement? what shoes would you race in? is grip an issue?
-the stairs on the run (2x) seem fun. i usually don’t mind stairs (and prefer them to hills), but am i underestimating them?
-finally, i’ve been racing tri since 1995 (!), but this will actually be my first M-dot event. what’s the atmosphere and organization like? how would things be for my family to come and watch?
any tips from your experiences appreciated!
I did the race a few times…
swim: uneventful lake swim. Nice short run into transition. A few years back (2015 maybe?) the swim was still a water mass start. The lake was quite refreshing… so there was this pontoon from which you would jump in and then head to the start line to tread water. The motivation was so high to get into the water that the pontoon was packed to the point of it starting to sink, a few motivational words of the speaker resolved the situation…
bike: first part is kind of rolling, then you have two climbs broken up by a short segment. There are some steep parts, so riding it to get a feeling for what gearing to use is a good idea. The descent from Goldingen is quite steep at first, you can easily hit 70-80km/h, then there is a 4k ish stretch from Diemberg which is straight and a few % of descent, so super fun to cruise down. In the last part of the descent from Eschenbach to Schmerikon you will get into a small forest. It is nothing really technical, but there have been a few crashes over the years here it seems. Start of the section Especially the 180° bend and the S after that seem to catch some athletes by surprise. After that it is back to Jona where you turn around for the second loop.
run: the stairs are actually not that hard, the challenge is running down the subsequent “descent”, while looking light as a feather, on the second loop! The long straight drag along the railway can be tough especially if it is warm. Race with whatever shoes you usually race with.
Previous post is pretty good, I’ve done the race a few times as AG and pro.
all kinds of things!
-i guess i’ll take the train on race morning, and set up transition then. will that work OK?
Sure. Bike check obligatory day before but I’ve done the morning train as well without issue. Will probably do it again this year (from Zurich).
-i don’t have my tri bike here in CH at the moment, so i’ll be riding on a road bike with clip-ons. it seems like there’s one big climb per lap, and then the rest is flat? how’s the descent? i’m hopefully going to pre-ride it this week.
See above. Climb is in two steps, with quite steep sections. First two descents rather fast. Last one slightly technical (first corner tricky if wet, otherwise easy). Lake portion flat and fast (sometimes busy in terms of people/overtakes).
If you’re confident on a TT you’ll be faster than on a road bike.
-bottle hand-ups on the bike?
Always at low speed rather uphill. No issue.
-the run seems weird in terms of surfaces - gravel? boardwalk? pavement? what shoes would you race in? is grip an issue?
-the stairs on the run (2x) seem fun. i usually don’t mind stairs (and prefer them to hills), but am i underestimating them?
Carbon shoes pretty easy. Mixed terrain but nothing bad. Take the stairs easy not because of the stairs themselves but to be able to flow back to speed on the downhill behind.
-finally, i’ve been racing tri since 1995 (!), but this will actually be my first M-dot event. what’s the atmosphere and organization like? how would things be for my family to come and watch?
Very well organized. A bit on the marketing side. I always know a lot of people along the route and they like to come and see it.
thanks for the advice! hope i see you there.
did a pre-ride yesterday in the beautiful weather. i’m glad i did - i’m both more confident and more excited about the course. the climbs aren’t as heavy as i expected, and the descents MUCH faster than usual in switzerland. i could definitely see how wind could be an issue along the lake. i also guess that people would lose time on the first/last few km of each lap when you’re riding roundabouts the edge of town. but overall i think it has potential to be fast!
did a pre-ride yesterday in the beautiful weather. i’m glad i did - i’m both more confident and more excited about the course. the climbs aren’t as heavy as i expected, and the descents MUCH faster than usual in switzerland. i could definitely see how wind could be an issue along the lake. i also guess that people would lose time on the first/last few km of each lap when you’re riding roundabouts the edge of town. but overall i think it has potential to be fast!
Average speed is not quite at the level of most 70.3, but on the other hand it’s only 83-84km total, so times are pretty good.
And it’s one where a bit of extra variability helps (kicking a little extra on the hills and recovering somewhat in the descents after pushing briefly to get to speed - play with bestbikesplit if you want… )
-i guess i’ll take the train on race morning, and set up transition then. will that work OK?
Yes. I used to go the day before but I donno if u can do it on the same day. I think it’s mandatory but I donno if there is a “last-call” or so
-i don’t have my tri bike here in CH at the moment, so i’ll be riding on a road bike with clip-ons. it seems like there’s one big climb per lap, and then the rest is flat? how’s the descent? i’m hopefully going to pre-ride it this week.
My first Rappi was on a road bike with tri-bars. you will suffer on the flat part but it^s totally possible.
About the climbs… it’s more like two shorts ones and one long.
-bottle hand-ups on the bike?
I had always one between tribars, one aero on the frame and one back with tools. you have if I remember well a nutrition point at the flat and before two hills.
-the run seems weird in terms of surfaces - gravel? boardwalk? pavement? what shoes would you race in? is grip an issue?
grip it’s not an issue. It is light gravel 70% and the nutrition point you would finde showers and asphalt… the time u go into the citiy, u will find cobblestones and the stairs.
-the stairs on the run (2x) seem fun. i usually don’t mind stairs (and prefer them to hills), but am i underestimating them?
it can be a pain as they brake ur pace, but afterwards it goes down, flat and shape
-finally, i’ve been racing tri since 1995 (!), but this will actually be my first M-dot event. what’s the atmosphere and organization like? how would things be for my family to come and watch?
a lot of people, quite good organized. for family there is plenty of bars, rests and the castle to have an overview.
I did Rappi in 2022 and 2023. I’ll be volunteering from my tri club this year, no race.
To add to above posts:
- the high-end tri bike beats a high-end road bike on this course by 2km/h average. I don’t know where you stack-up with clip-ons.
- there’re 2 sections of 12-13%, so 1x dinner plate isn’t advised.
- the road quality on the course is below Swiss average.
- fans are amazing, there’s even an orchestra (volunteers)