I live 100 meters from the transition area on the Marina Green and while I have done two other Alcatraz triathlons (through Tri-Cal), it looks like the Escape bike route is only 18 miles instead of 25.
The part that got cut off was an out and back stretch along the great highway. I rode the tri-bike the last two times and didn’t think too much about it. I figured any time I lost climbing would be made up on the Great Highway stretch. Now I see that Andy Potts won last year on a road bike and I’m all thrown off.
While I am not planning to win, I much prefer riding the course (I’m local, so I’ve ridden it a bunch) on my road bike than my tri bike. But since it is a race, I was wondering which bike would be FASTER. This is fairly specific, so I guess I would be looking for n=1 examples.
Road bike or Tri bikeIf road bike, disc or no? (enve 1.45 v-shaped tubulars or 2005 zipp 404/900)
Sweeping around the curve at by the Cliff House, I feel fine staying in Aero, but most of the part by the Presidio/Legion of Honor and through the park has me sitting up.
Follow-up question would be how Fred-ly would I be with a disc on a road bike (if that’s the right choice). Jack says the disc is faster, but I don’t want the cool kids laughing at me in Transition.
I think it depends when you get off the boat and your swimming skills. If you wait and have a slow swim you may be better off with a nimble roadie as you will be dodging tons of athlete traffic. If you get off the boat fast and are a decent swimmer I think a tri bike is the way to go. The park is tri bike friendly. So are the descents. The only slow part is through the neighborhoods. No disc needed.
I think it depends when you get off the boat and your swimming skills. If you wait and have a slow swim you may be better off with a nimble roadie as you will be dodging tons of athlete traffic. If you get off the boat fast and are a decent swimmer I think a tri bike is the way to go. The park is tri bike friendly. So are the descents. The only slow part is through the neighborhoods. No disc needed.
Someone told me HALF of what you wrote last year so I road my Tri Bike. I probably rode in aero for 3-4 total minutes. What I wasn’t told was that you have to be VERY assertive about getting off the boat as quickly as possible. By the time I got in, there was probably 800 people in the water already and this was only 4-5 minutes after the pros dove in.
If you aren’t in this race to win your AG, I wouldn’t bother with a tri bike. And heads up: if you aren’t a very good swimmer, you have no shot to win your AG unless you jump off the boat with in the first 30 seconds. Whatever you do, don’t go to the 2nd deck!
It’s certainly a good question. 1-2-3 on the men’s side were all on road bikes. I finished 7th and also chose to go with a road bike with ITU-legal shorty aero bars, but I made my decision based mostly off of comfort, rather than which was faster. I was in the middle of an ITU season and had ridden my TT bike very sparingly. I am leaning toward riding a TT bike this year, but I’m not really convinced it will be faster just yet…
Yea, funny that your placement on the boat matters most at that race. I was around the 75-100th person off that boat and I still ran into some traffic on the bike and even more on the run with that skinny trail.
I’d also recommend this strategy on the run: fast first 2 miles, you are going to hit some traffic on the trail going up around mile 3 that slows you down, fast descent and beach around mile 4, modest stair effort, you will hit the trail traffic again here around mile 6, then all out last two miles.
A time trial bike is better… when you are riding in the time trial position. If you are not riding in a time trial position, then a road bike is better. You seem to have an idea of what the course is like. If, like one of the other posters, you don’t anticipate spending a whole lot of time in the time trial position, then you should ride your road bike.
Thank you and with any good answer, it starts with “it depends”. I’m a 30-minute 70.3 swimmer, so I would consider myself mediocre - unless I’m being compared to other triathletes, which makes me “very strong”.
That said, it seems like you don’t lose much with a road bike over a tri bike. Seems like it’s close to a wash any way you slice it, so I’ll err on the side of safety in my drafting pack and convenience of shifting on hills (no Di2) and pick the road bike.
Thanks all for the input and looking forward to seeing some of you out there.
last year: road bike with Zipp 606 set up worked fine because of all of the climbing/sharp turns/some crappy road conditions/people dodging. I was quick into the water and had a very strong swim and came out well, but horrendous transition meant roads were already filling up during the first leg of the bike course.
Another note: decide whether you are going shoes/no-shoes out of the water and whether you are stripping wetsuit right away or just to the waist for the run over to transition. I stripped suit entirely and went with shoes and it wasnt pretty. If it’s cold (as it likely will be), you might consider no shoes because jogging over to transition may help get the blood flowing back in your feet slightly more quickly (albeit, uncomfortably). Also depends on how many people you’ll be running there with - harder to go no shoes if you have to dodge a lot of people and that might mean you are more likely to step on stuff you dont want to.
I’ve done it on both tri bike and road + clip-on aero bars and I don’t think it made a big difference. I wouldn’t do it on a road bike without clip-on aero bars, though. And, a disc wheel would be fine as long as you’re used to handling it in the rain and wind – which, since you live right there, I assume you are. But, I don’t know how much faster it’d be since so much of the course is climbing? I rode my 404s, I think, and thought that was a good combo.
First time I did the Tri-Cal Alcatraz Triathlon, they built a platform right on the Marina Green. Last time, we swam in to the St Francis Yacht Club (same as Escape) and I wore Vibram Five Fingers for the swim. While I didn’t love swimming with them, it was fantastic to run past everyone at the shoe mess.
This year, I am planning to wear neoprene booties and I have no problem running in them. The Big Kahuna 1/2 Ironman in Santa Cruz also has a long-ish run to transition (with better pavement, but they are redoing the path right now) and I like stripping down to the waist and running in 1/2 my wetsuit. The stride is a little unnatural, but hey it always is when I get out of the water.
I have surfed in the booties, but never actually swam in them. I should probably give that a test run. Also hoping the neoprene helps my toes thaw out a little sooner. The first two times, I regained feeling in my toes on the sand ladder.
/kj
I will be racing it on my cyclocross, I’m far from being a contender so I don’t care. I don’t have insurrance on my good bike so I don’t want to risk it by travelling with it.
I was wondering if you (or any one else) have rode the escape course on a computrainer or velotron and how the wattage compares to real world times. I had some one do it on the Velotron and the times seem really slow for the wattage he was producing.
I don’t have any power data. Got a Quarq at the end of last season and haven’t ridden the exact course on my tri bike. That said, I have decided to ride my road bike w/o power. While it may be interesting to look at the data post-race, I don’t think it will be that helpful day-of for pacing.
And yes, I would expect this to be a “slow” course. Lots of ups and downs and many of the downs are twisty. Not the best if you like to grind out a wattage target, but damn fun to ride and beautiful views.
Early season race, atypical distances (1.2+ mile swim, 18 mile ride, 8 mile run) make this a day to enjoy the experience rather than an A race. Also the field is too deep for me to be competitive!
Thanks guys, he did 193 (AP) watts on the Velotron and came out with a time of 1:08, this was in the context of a longer (2:30) tempo or sweet spot workout. He doesn’t have a power meter, so will be racing with RPE etc. I think if he had one he could hold 210-220 watts on race day, so if I had to guess (lots of variables and assumptions) that on race day he might be closer to the hour mark.
Like most of the other posters he will be riding roadie style with clip-ons.
First time I did the Tri-Cal Alcatraz Triathlon, they built a platform right on the Marina Green. Last time, we swam in to the St Francis Yacht Club (same as Escape) and I wore Vibram Five Fingers for the swim. While I didn’t love swimming with them, it was fantastic to run past everyone at the shoe mess.