Yesterday I received my new bike, a used (2002) trek 5500 and decided to do a test ride. I’ve been training hard all winter so I was quite enthousiast about testing my new legs. Here in Montreal, we have a famous cycling course that has one major hill called Camillien-Houde. This hill is 1.7 km long with a 170m climb (a part of it at 9.5%). A cycling magazine once wrote an article on it with some time reference : 5’30’’ for a serious sport cyclist, 4’45’’ for a good provincial racer, 4’05’’ for the national elite and under 4’ for the Pro.
So I went with my pro bike(no excuses even if it’s not about the bike), beginner leg’s and…ouch! I did 5’45’’ which was what I thought I would be doing but man…under 4’, that’s crazy. I can train and shave seconds but more than a minute and a half!!! Wow!
Since I’ve been training most of my life, I always know there is a big difference with the pros but once in a while, I think it’s good to go out on the same route and compare myself with the best…it kinda put my feets back on earth and gives me the motivation to push harder.
rferron-
I see you’re from Montreal. I am doing the Esprit Iron Distance tri in Sept. Do you know anything about this race? Any info or insight that you can offer me?
By the way, I can’t wait to come to your city. It seems like an awesome place.
Pete
I’ll be there also! I dont have much more info than what the site offers since I never did it nor watched it. The only thing I can tell you is that there are not a lot of participants(maybe because it’s not part of the championship and that Kona is close by), which is good, and it’s great for the family to watch. They can wath you swim, walk a minute to see you bike (and stay at the same place) and return at the bassin to see all of your run from one point! make a search on this forum, a couple of weeks ago there was on thread on it. here it is :
That’s great news that you are doing it, too.
Are you doing the Iron distance, demi, what?
I am really excited abou this race and coming to Montreal. I picked this course because it sounded like a fun one and one that I would have family support all day long.
Do you know how hard it is to get from the host hotel (delta centre-ville) to the Ile Notre Dame? Also, how easy/hard will it be for spectators to leave the island when they want to go get something to eat, drink etc?
I’m sure I’ll be emailing you over the summer when training starts to get really hard. Hope you don’t mind.
I’m doing the IM distance. From the host hotel it’s very easy to get to the Island…the metro gets you there. Your family can either go to the island by metro, car or bike (20 minutes on a bike path) as easily but I guess that the car is not the best option since ther might be parking issue. I guess there might also be a shuttle from the hotel to the site but I’m not sure.
So dont worry, everything will be very easy on your family…easy to move around town and most importantly easy to watch you and find you back!
e-mail me as need be, I give it for that. Ask as many question as you want, I’ll answer as best as I can. It will be my first IM and I will be training hard too and talking with people that live a similar experience is always a good motivator.
I did the half there a couple of years ago; the swim might be a little crowded (you’re in a narrow baisin), and the year I did it there were no wetsuits (shallow water was v. warm). The bike is very flat - you race on the Formula 1 course, which I think is a little over 4 kms long… so you do a LOT of laps to get to 180 kms. This does make pacing pretty straightforward - you can tell at once whether you’re losing speed or whatever - but the one thing I’d suggest is a bullet proof way to count your laps. There is a screen which is supposed to tell you, but I couldn’t read it from the bike, and my bike computer died at either 14 or 15 laps. I literally had to look for someone whom I knew was 1 lap behind me to ask them what they were on before I could figure out where I was.
The run is also dead flat (come to think of it, this rivals IMFL as THE course for vertically challenged athletes) - a lot of times around the rowing baisin, so 2kms in a straight line, turn right for 500m, turn right for 2kms, turn right for 500m, and so on.
The really cool thing is that you’re never far away from spectators - and there was a lot of really loud cheering when I was there - big boost when you’re getting tired.
Hey Marlin-
Thanks for the info. I am getting excited.
I’d like to get in touch with you guys over the summer to see how training is going.
My email is haennp@christina.k12.de.us
Richard-
I have your email address and will definitely get in touch with you since you are a hometown kid.