My bike came with compact cranks (50/34) and a 12/25 cassette. It’s been working well for me in training; however, I have not done much hill work. I wouldn’t consider myself a climber and I like to keep my cadence in the high 80s to 90 on the flats. I read where some people were hitting 40-50 on the downhills at louisville. I’m fairly certain that I’ll switch to an 11/23, but I wasn’t sure if that is all that I needed to do. Any advice?
Thanks,
Mark
I’m training for this race as well, and from your profile I see we have the same bike (along with 1,000 others, I bet!). Personally, I’m more worried about having low gears to climb than having high gears to spin out on the downhills, so I was thinking I’d run the 12/25. Anyone who’s ridden the course care to chime in?
There are no hills on the course that will present you with that great of a challenge.
There is one out and back section with a decent climb but its mostly rollers.
I raced (or at least tried too) IMLOO in 2008 and will be there again in 09. I used the same set-up, as I did in 07 at IMFL. The only thing I plan to change this year is spending more time on the bike, as I cut my bike training to the bare min. if not less. Given that, I still did not feel I was struggling with what I had. I used a 54/42 with 175mm cranks and ran a 12x23 cassette. Presently, I have been driving down and riding 40-60 miles of the course, different sections, once a month since Dec. I will continue to do so, thru July and build up to 80-90 miles of the course. Not hard or race pace, but simple time in the saddle.
For those interested, Cardinal Habour HIM Triathlon is on July 18th in Prospect, KY and takes on much on the IMLOO course, including the river swim.
But, that was me.
Kevin S.
www.roarkcycle.com
Mark,
I’ve done Louisville twice. I was 6:58 for the bike in '07 (first IM) and 6:24 in '08.
In '07 I used a compact 50/34 with a 12-27. Turned out I didn’t need the 27, there is nothing that steep to need it. The long climb on the out and back section is the longest and last year I switch to a 12-25 and it was perfect to spin back up the hill. Reviewing my race notes from last year I though that the 12-25 was perfect. I’ll go with the same this year.
Good luck, it’s a great race, you’ll really enjoy it!
Chris
I rode 50/34 and 11-23 to a 5:35 bike split. I would use the same gearing again.
I did IMLou in 07 and doing it again this year. I also ride the course almost every weekend since moving back home. I will be riding it with a 11-23 and a 53/39 up front. I am expecting to do the ride in 5:10-5:20.
If you aren’t a good climber I would stick with a 25 in the back just to make sure you are fine.
I ran std. cranks in 07 and went real easy to try to have something for the 90 degree humid marathon after (5:29 split). 53/39 with a 12/25. Didn’t need the 25, but nice to have. With compacts, I’d leave the 12/25 so that you can maybe stay in the big front (50) and just power over the MANY rollers. No reason to put on an 11/23 - if you are spinning out a 50/212 at 90 rpm (30 mph), you should be saving the legs for the run.