Can somebody comment on the bike course for Ironman Switzerland. Is it hilly? Is it easier or tougher than Lake Placid?
Thanks
Can’t compare it with IMLP as I haven’t done IMLP.
Can say that it is generally a pretty quick course with some hills but not too many. 2 lap course, first 25k or so is basically flat and alongside the lake. Next 30-40k involves going up a couple of decent hills (Beauty and the Beast) which are long but nothing too steep, and then a long quick descent back to the lakeside. Think total climb on this section is about 700-800m vertical. Rest of the lap is flat back along the lake again, with a very short and sharp hill (Heartbreak Hill) involving a vertical climb of ~100m about 10k from the end.
Road surface is extremely good quality throughout and the course isn’t too technical so it’s quick. Some of the descents are 50mph territory and I saw some people losing quite a lot of time by hitting the brakes too hard on these sections.
I did it two years ago. It was three loops then. There are basically two hills on each lap.
One is just shy of 10 miles long and the other is less than a mile long.
The shorter one goes up to about 10% grade.
The longer one is generally between 6-8% with some steeper and some flatter.
The cool thing about the shorter hill is that it is in town and therefore jampacked with people. It is what the Tour de France looks like - you cannot see the road through the crowd. Somehow they instinctively move out of your way. It was a rush.
The run is very flat.
sounds like a disc is in order?
IMCH has more noticable hills but they aren’t that long, whereas IMLP seemed to really be mentally draining the 2nd half of the course. The descents in Zurich are more technical though. Both courses would require the same preparation and both are apt to be equally sunny and 25C or rain and 15C on any given day. Lots more crowd support on the CH run course and it’s flatter than LP, completely flat in fact.
Definitely.
Joe would second Scott’s description and has done both courses. Especially on the downhills in Switzerland being a bit technical for this flatlander.
(Hi Scott)
run course and it’s flatter than LP, completely flat in fact.
I realize that the thread is about the bike course… but if you are thinking about doing IMCH, even so the run course is flat, this is certainly not a fast course. There are four loops with each four 180* turns (16 total), countless 90* turns, overpasses, underpasses, some gravel, some grass… you get my drift: it definitely wears you down.
IMCH is one of the best organized races I have ever been to. Awesome four-five course seated pre-race and post-race dinner. Swim in a very clean lake, beautiful bike course, and well stoked aid stations (I think they even had Red Bull at one of them).
Cheers,
Alex
sounds like a disc is in order?
I did it about 3 years ago, and used a roadbike with disc, which worked well. Almost the same setup that Olivier Bernhard used to win it for several years.
Does anyone know how similar the older 3 loop course is versus the newer 2 loop course? The reason I ask is I recently signed up for IMCH for 2009 and was looking at the Computrainer to get
some bike simulation but it looks like the course they have available for download is the older 3 loop course. No hills in Miami…
Keep the training simple…if you do a computrainer for the old course, you’ll be just fine for the new course.
Switzerland is definitely an easier bike course than LP. Did Switzerland this year and there are really 4 climbs per loop and nothing is really difficult. Heartbreak Hill is not an easy climb but it is pretty short and there are a ton of people out there cheering you on. If you have done Placid recently think of it as about equal to Papa Bear and the turn and climb to the top only about 4 times more people lining the road, amazing. The other climbs are really just grinders and not really very long. The descents on the other hand are very technical and quite steep. What makes Placid harder is that the climbs are longer and there is always wind somewhere that is going to kill your legs.
Definitely a disc course or whatever you have that is deep as it is a rocket ride around Zurichsee.
As far as the computrainer course, same just with 30k more flats in there.
I loved the race just bring a lot of money because Zurich isn’t cheap and as with Placid prepare for all conditions because anything can show up on race day. This year 12c and rain.
You can get all the info from ironman.ch - they have good pdf maps, plus an interactive thing with google earth.
My impressions (take them as that): nice course, mostly rolling with 2 “climbs” per loop. “Is it hilly?” … difficult to answer, since that depends on your definition of hilly. It isn’t IM-FL, but it’s not Lanzarote. The first (“the Beast”) climb is longer, but is really not bad, unless you’ve never encountered climbs before. Coming from a climbing background, this was lots of fun and the highlight of the bike for me. The second (“heartbreak hill”) is steep, but very short and lined with spectators. The rest of the course is flat. Road quality is better than North American venues overall, support is good.
Off topic, but maybe you’re concerned: the run is flat, save for a few pedestrian over/under passes. The swim is in beautiful, clean water.
Can somebody comment on the bike course for Ironman Switzerland. Is it hilly? Is it easier or tougher than Lake Placid?
Thanks
I have ridden the course several times, as a host for Ken Glah’s EST group and shown dozen of athletes around the course. If you are not used to ride hills, better train a lot. Heartbreak hill is short and steep and makes you feel like a Tour de France racer. The Beast is longer, not quite as steep, but then it hits you when you have the next, longer hill towards Egg. And then, don’t forget that you need very good downhill bike handling skills. Around certain bends you get a penalty when you stay in aero-position. I have put together a short clip from the 2006 race, you can view it here: http://www.eurocycler.com/forums/messages.aspx?ForumID=22, click on Ironman Switzerland 2007 to see it. Back then it was three laps. As of 2008 it was only two laps, a bit longer ones though. But at least there is fewer climbing. It was simply very tough up to a year ago.