Yesterday I rode the IM Lou course with a friend of mine from Lexington. I made one error on the course and added about 6 miles.
Some thoughts on the course.
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I didnt think that it was a hard as advertised (though as you can see from the data I didnt ride that hard). It is very similar to the “normal” riding around KY. Rolling hills. There are one or two short hills that are very steep. The 1694 section is long but not that steep.
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The 17 mile section of road from the start to the turn on 1694 is deceptive. It seems flat but is generally uphill
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The pavement was beautiful the whole way and in fact seemed mostly new.
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There was a lot of shade on the course
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The locals are getting really really pissed off about all of the riders on the loop. I saw several dozen riders. Three times people sat on the horn while they were passing. Twice I was flipped off by people in the oncoming direction (that was a first for me). I stopped in the gas station at 52/153. In that I was approached by some guy who asked where all the crazy bikers had come from. He said that he had almost hit “three of those idiots already today” He was clearly angry. Not good. I passed one older lady (on a p3) who was riding in the middle of the road who appeared to be intentionally slowing down traffic - nuts.
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My road bike has compact and 11-27 on it. That was not enough gear. There were several downhills where I spun out. For the event I am going to ride 11-25 and 53/39 on my tri bike
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The section of road from Ballard School to 153 is great
I collected data with my Garmin… and a Saris Powertap SL. Here is a link to the download of the Garmin data.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=3494913
If you want the WKO file from the PT send me an email arh @ elkhorn - creek . org and Ill send it too you. Here is the summary
Entire ride (182w):
Duration: 6:44:19
Work: 4409 kJ
TSS: 577.7 (intensity factor 0.927)
Norm Power: 222
Distance: 118.306 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 851 182 watts
Heart Rate: 64 186 147 bpm
Cadence: 21 141 88 rpm
Speed: 0 40.3 17.6 mph
Torque: 0 586 78 lb-in
I was riding a Trek Madone, open pro wheels. I am 5’10" and weigh about 205 so that should give you a feel for what you might do.
Good luck
Alan
I am from “FLAT” Northern In/SW Michigan & a few of us rode the course on Sat. I agree w/ Alan’s comments.
-Given our fairly flat training area, the rollers were “challenging”. Normal KY riding is definitely not normal northern Indiana riding. No one hill was bad, but the fact that there was just one after another pretty much the entire course was new to us. I used a 53/39 & 11/27 & probably could have done fine w/ an 11/25. By the end of the second loop (we also did 393 3 times) my legs were definitely feeling it.
-We thought that the section from Ballard School to 153 seemed more difficult than the stretch on 393…don’t know why because the elevation charts seemed comparable.
-The stretch from 393 through LaGrange seemed to have quite a bit of traffic & that’s where we encountered the least hospitable drivers. Not an overly warm welcome there.
All-in-all, from a flatlander & somewhat inexperienced cycler, the course was doable - however, I’ve never shifted so much in one ride. With the traffic eliminated & hopefully a more friendly reception on race day it should be great. The scenery was just beautiful.
We also drove the run course & yippee, it is flat!
Hi Alan,
Thanks for your input. I have some unsolicited comments for you:
You REALLY need to update your threshold in CyclingPeaks. In short, riding 6:44 with an IF of .927 is impossible. You desperately need to test or analyze your data to determine your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) and update that in CyclingPeaks.
You say you spun out on a compact with 27-11 gearing. What is your definition of spinning out? I’m ride a compact with a 25-12 and at 40mph I’m spinning about 120-125rpm. However, I’m generally coasting above 34mph and you should to. These days I recommend a compact crank to everyone. I looovveee my CC. In race shape I’m 156lb and 300w+ FTP, likely higher w/kg than you. I would absolute race KY on a 25-12, even if I had a compact. You can never have enough gears in an IM, I believe.However, very unusual that you have a compact crank, 27-12, AND your Variability Index (VI) is so high. VI = Normalized Power/Average Power, a measure of how steady you rode. Yours is 1.21 (!!!). You need to ride MUCH more steadily, with fewer power spikes and surges.
In general, looks like you gots lots of learning to do, with regards to racing and riding with power. Lots of information here and in my forum at CrucibleFitness.com.
Finally, I was taken to the woodshed in June after leading a camp on the course and posting to the board about the potential for the local drivers to become pissed at cyclists. Great to see I was proven wrong…
Unsolicited… yes I think that should be the new name of slowtwitch. But thank you for your thoughts.
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Yes on the FTP. I believe you to be correct. I have improved a ton this year and I am not really sure what the right number is. What I probably really need to do is get a real coach. I have ridden and mostly trained entirely by feel. I read the training with power book. The “look at your data and pick off the FTP” isn’t so clear to me. I surely need to do a field test.
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I said 11-27 and that is wrong I meant 50 and 12-27. There were several places (3-4) where I couldn’t comfortably pedal faster. I am sure that you are correct about w/kg
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I need to think about some and I am not sure what to make of it. I think that some of the vi issues came from me riding with another person. Three times I stopped to get turtles off the road and had to chase back on… I wonder if my friend yo-yoing contributed to me not riding as smoothly.
With regards to your comments about the locals. I thought that you were full of it when you originally wrote about it. That had never been my experience in KY and I have ridden 1000’s of miles in Central KY. So I was definitely surprised at how hostile it was on the road yesterday.
Alan
I am from Louisville, and we rode 120 on Sat on the course. I will say that the drivers were especially courteous, even on the bad stretches of 42 and 146. I have been buzzed on the course a few times, but have never experienced the hostility you did.
Maybe the could tell I am a UK fan?
I was out there on Sat and Sunday with 200miles on the course and didnt experience any hostility. I got buzzed by 1 SUV but I think that was more of the driver not paying attention than doing it on purpose as after he was past me and a ways up the road his wheels went off the road and in the grass briefly. on the out and back section on 1694 at the bottom of the hill was the only section that was bad and everyone we saw had a story about it but I think this picture says a thousand words.
So am I, but I ride a red bike. Maybe that is the secret.
Maybe my “f*** Pitino” jersey tipped them off?
Alan
p.s. I actually think UK owes a great debt to Pitino for what he did here.
Where can I buy one of those?