how would those of you in the know compare the hills and climbs in harriman to those on the lake placid course?
if you are talking about the half iron in harriman, it’s harder. You would have ride 8 loops and 8 hills to reach the full ironman distance.
The hill in harriman is steeper and you climb for about 20 minutes. Lake placid is a more gradual uphill, but it will take you longer than that. You also have flat(ish) parts between the hills to “recover”. The disturbing part about LP is that the wind going back into town is usually coming against you, which makes even those flat parts challenging. Perhaps you are lucky and the wind comes from behind. Never happened to me though.
Stefan
Harriman is harder than Lake Placid.
Rode LP twice last week for the first time. Rode to and in Harriman this afternoon for the 20th+ time in the last two years. Harriman is definitely more hilly. You spend half the time riding uphill on the tri course, the remaining half seems equally divided between downhill and flats. However, Harriman is more honest in the sense that you can detect and gauge the uphills more accurately. My main perception regarding LP is that I had a hard time recognizing the grade, both up and down. In part, I think this is because of two reasons. First, there is a tendency for the whole region to move up or down, in particular, I am thinking of the climb out of Lake Placid, a couple of miles past the run turn off/bridge. In most places like Harriman, the road is usally winding up a hill and you can look down or up at the elevation change and clearly gauge. In LP, the fields/ground on both sides of the road often are rising equally with you. Second, in LP, you are constantly surrounded by serious mountains rising several thousand feet above you. The dilly-dallying the bike course seems to do just doesn’t seem to measure up, until you snap out of it and wonder why you are only going 6 mph at a 52 cadence in your 42/19. Long story short, I think LP is a classic case of significant home court advantage for those who have ridden it a lot and know the true nature of the hills and the proper gearing, and therefore also the proper pacing. My 2 cents, plus a nickel on the house.