The profile of the bike course does not make the course appear particularly difficult. But the November 08 bike times indicate otherwise - at the top there is crazy speed but after the top 10% or so of the field the bike times are considerably slower than IM Florida. I know Florida is flat but I figured AZ would have similar bike splits. Is the course harder than it appears?
Edit:
The bike splits for IM AZ in November 2008 are significantly slower than the bike splits for IM FL in November 2008. I compared the bike splits ranked 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1000 in each race, and the splits were 7 minutes slower in AZ at 100 and steadily stretched out to 12 minutes at 1000. The temperature and wind were comparable for both races, so the weather didn’t cause the differences. I know AZ has 5 turn arounds, but FL has multiple turns and 1 turn around, so the turn arounds in AZ should not have caused the differences.
Basically, I have read dozens of posts talking about how the AZ bike course is flat/relatively easy, but the times don’t reflect that. And I am curious why.
Not sure if the course is exactly the same as the 07 course (3 loop out and back on the Beeline). However, in 07 the out portion was up a slight incline for 15 miles or so with the wind at your back. On the return portion back into town, you had a slight downhill but an absolutely brutal headwind.
Elevation profile-wise, though, there’s not much to report. Without the wind it’s really not a very difficult course.
The bike course profile at IMAZ is not a big deal … the problem is high winds that are common on the Beeline Hwy and heat, although November race date has made that much better than the April dates until last year. The road surface is also rather bad in several areas. The wind has been 30 mph + some years and I believe April 07 was the one where it blew so hard that you had to struggle going downhill and the temp was mid-90s. I suspect it is possible with the November date that one might actually see a year of moderate temp and mild winds … if that happened, you could really put down a good bike time … much like IMF.
Dave
I remember a couple years ago comparing the top pro women’s times at IMC to those at IMAZ and was so suprised how similar they were. Maybe it’s the wind and the constant corners.
I’ve done IMAZ twice and IMFL once and biked the canada and placid courses and I think the IMAZ is by far the easiest. The first year I did AZ the winds were super strong (2005) but as the course constantly changed direction it really didn’t bother me at all. Plus you’re constantly riding thru town with lots of great spectators. Someone posted on here recently that they had repaved some of the roads taking care of the only complaint I would have had about the course. Also since its an out and back 3 times you constantly get to see other racers, which I find inspiring. I don’t recall seeing any packs the two years I did it.
I actually love the IMAZ bike course and I’ll definitely be signing up for it next year!
There are a fair number of corners. It’s also - as others have mentioned - very windy. Even on a “calm” day, it’s still very windy. In April, it felt like being in a blast furnace with the heat and wind. It’s not a difficult course, but it’s constantly challenging. It’s especially punishing if you leave your aerobars a lot (as many people do). The false flat is hard enough that you want to sit up, but it’s faster than you’d think. It’s a course that, relatively speaking, requires a lot of mental focus. If you got lazy, I could see losing a LOT of time without ever noticing it. Andreas Raelert (last year’s winner) lost about 6min or so in the last 20miles of the course - which is basically all slightly downhill. But if you go through a roughspot and just coast it because of that, you will lose a lot of time as you can certainly stay on top of your gearing.
It’s not 3 loops. It’s 3 out and backs so if a Marshall did nothing but stand there, he’d see every participant 6 times.
Uhm…
How do you do 3 out and backs on the same course without it being a loop? I mean yeah, you don’t turn around for the “out and backs” at the start/finish line, but 3 loops on the Beeline is 3 loops on the Beeline.
Too windy for disc/deep front?
I used a disc/606 combo in Apr 07 without problem. I did see a fair number of people getting blown around, though (that year I heard reports that there were sustained winds at 35mph, gusting to 55).
Question for you…If you ride your bike down the street, turn around and ride back on the exact same street, would you call that a loop? For someone not familiar with the course, a loop implies a circular course. IMAZ is not a looped course (like IMLP). IMAZ is out and back 3 times on the same road.
My Garmin data from the April 2008 race shows only 1,650 ft of climbing so in that respect it is not a challenging course. As others have said, the wind and heat conditions are the key factor. That year, the winds were the exact opposite from '07 so we had the wind in our faces going up the hill on Beeline (sustained 15 mph with 30 mph gusts). That made things a bit of a grind…plus it was 95+ degrees. That combination accounts for why that race had the 3rd highest dropout rate of any Ironman to date (~400 total). Either way, it’s still 112 miles so “easy” is pretty relative.
Question for you…If you ride your bike down the street, turn around and ride back on the exact same street, would you call that a loop? For someone not familiar with the course, a loop implies a circular course. IMAZ is not a looped course (like IMLP). IMAZ is out and back 3 times on the same road.
Are you really arguing about this? Who gives a crap and how is it relevant to the OP’s question? By the way, the course description on the IMAZ website says, **“After completing 3-loops” ** http://www.ironmanarizona.com/course.php
You’re probably one of the people who gets all pissy when someone refers to two lengths of the pool as a lap.
Question for you…If you ride your bike down the street, turn around and ride back on the exact same street, would you call that a loop? For someone not familiar with the course, a loop implies a circular course. IMAZ is not a looped course (like IMLP). IMAZ is out and back 3 times on the same road.
If I do it multiple times, sure. A loop is an ovoid structure. I knew you’d argue about it, even tho I included the potayo, potahto statement.
