I am typically a 5:45 rider at Iron Man however with the Bike course in Penticton being pretty tough (my first time their) I was considering a 12/25 as opposed to my usual 11/23 - advice / comments would be appreciated…
You might appreciate the 25 on Yellow Lake and Richter. What IM courses have you done in the past?
i wished and wished and wished for a bail out last year on that course…ran a 12-23…i would have killed for a 25 or 27 on the back…going back with a 27 this year (hopefully)…
also…bike shop guy said that is the #1 IMC Cassette used (12-27)
I used a 12x25 in IMC 2002 (5:31) - don’t think I ever touched the 25 BUT I am glad I had it - anything slower and I would advise a 27 - it’s nice to have the extra gear even if you don’t use it.
Mike
Mike,
how hard is it to go 5:30 on that bike course?
That is kind of where i want to be this year (between 5:30-5:40), but i don’t really have a real idea of how fast that is? (well…it’s like 32km/h, sustained…but with the hills, what does your average speed really have to be?)
Thanks,
-kevin
Kevin
I used a pretty conservative pacing schedule for the race - I read Gordo’s tips and have had numerous friends do this race as well:
First 40 miles are flat and took them out easy ~22-24mph. Richter Pass - climbed this 4 mile stretch pretty conservative as well - once I got over the Pass I went hard through the rollers (not LT or anything just a pretty steady effort) - go to the out/back and it was too crowded to pass - so I sat in my aerobars and just spun easy - got on the road back toward Yellow Lake and I suffered - I just lost it - guys started passing me back and I had a tough time through here - once I got to the bottom of Yellow Lake I was ready to go again and I hit 100 miles at exactly 5:00 and just hammered the rest of the way in - probably not smart - but it was all downhill (with some headwind that year). I got off the bike at 5:30:59 and was genuinely happy.
The advice I would give you would be to take it out easy - you will be ahead of pace once you get to Richter Pass, then climb at a steady pace (you’ll be behind pace at the top) go steady through the rollers, ease up a bit in the out back as it’s more uphill then you think and then keep your mental focus on the road up to Yellow Lake. Once you crest Yellow Lake, it’s all downhill.
I don’t ever race by ‘how fast’ but more like by ‘how strong’ or at ‘what effort’ (this can be HR or Power) - I think that training yourself to ride at these efforts over the next few months will allow you to replicate the effort on race day. In training do some steady flat riding, followed by some solid climbing and then add in some rollers etc - just like the course. This should help you on race day.
Mike
thanks mike!
i went out last year till about richter around 37-39km/h…then as i was climbing richter…i realized that my pedals didn’t have a lot of float in them…that was pretty much the end of any hope i had on the bike… (damn ITB!)
ended up stopping @ special needs for a massage for 20-30 minutes. grr…
oh well…experience right! 
(NB: 1/2IM split last year on no training was 2:41…so a decent IM split seems reasonable…going to spend some time in BC this year climbing too…should be good!)
-kevin
Kevin
I think with a 1/2IM split like 2:41 (that is where I am out of shape usually) - 5:30 is well within your reach. Just put the miles in, mix up the training (big gear, tempo, etc) and get the recovery you need every few weeks and you will get that 5:30- good luck!! And I hope you got the ITB taken care of too.
Mike
awesome!
thanks again for the advice,
-kevin