Guys who have done this, where did you stay? Ideally I want to stay within walking distance and rent a small apartment from Thu-Mon around the race. I’ll have my family with me, so if there is stuff to do around the Lake, and cafe’s and restaurants to hang out in, then they should be happy. Walking proximity to viewing the run course might be good too. My son might also want to rent a road bike or mountain bike and do a few rides, so any info on that would be good.
Also, if anyone has some experience on the swim start and how it plays out, I’d like to know. I’m typically a 60-63 minute wet suit swimmer and hate being beat up. Is the start wide enough to just steer clear of the craziness. It’s a long day and I’ll sacrifice a few minutes if needed to have a more peaceful start to the day. Also how did you guys find the bike…how would you compare it to IMC, IMLP or Kona? Easier than all of these, or similar in degree of difficulty and times to IMC.
thanks
Walking distance is tough. It’s a long walk (well longer than you’ll want to walk race morning) from Zurich proper to the start. Much easier to take the train. It goes right there and they show up every 2 minutes.
We stayed in Oerlikon, north of downtown. Took a cab there the morning of and took our bikes back on the train. No problems. If you stay in the downtown area it will be even quicker. Either way, you don’t want to walk there in the morning. And if you are in the downtown, then there is plenty to do. The nice thing about downtown is you are RIGHT next to the run course (and the bike course). Go run by Lake Zurich and you’ll almost certainly be running on the run course.
The swim start was a bit of a mixup for me at least. We were all on the shore, and someone blew a whistle. I thought that was the start but really they were just having us get in the water. Then, once we were all in the water, someone blew a whistle again and then we went. I made the mistake of getting caught near the back (because I was so relieved that first whistle had NOT been the start) that when they blew the second whistle, I was in big touble. I really had to fight my way and damn near had a panic attack. I recovered enough to swim a 1:08 but I really had to fight the first 15 minutes
You CAN steer clear if you get on the edges, I just was dumb, that’s all.
The water is the cleanest I’ve ever swum in outside of a swimming pool. Hell it’s probably cleaner than most swimming pools.
I can’t compare this race to any other IM because it’s the only IM I’ve ever done.
Is the train you’re referring to a local type thing, or would it connect to the national system (SBB)? reason I’m asking is that I’m planning to do IMCH in 2012, and we have family in Winterthur. Hoping to stay there and take the train.
Joe, that is great input. Is there the possiblity of getting in the water for a warmup, or they allow no one in before the first whistle. Usually if I can warmup, I can steer clear of the panic attack since my heart rate is already elevated.
I assume the bike checkin is the day before but instead of transition bags, it is a “conventional transition zone”?
They’re all connected. The local lines run alongside the regional lines and some national lines. In the very least, it’s just a couple of stops on the local lines to the Hauptbanhof (main station) where all the major trains go. It’s just a matter of what level of pass you buy.
Seriously, the trains there are outstanding. After a day or so, my friends and I were all lamenting that we don’t have a transit system like that in the US.
Yes, they let us in the water for a bit for warmup. But eventually they pulled us all out. Get there a little early and you should have a few minutes.
Yes the bike checkin was the day before (perhaps the two days before). Your stuff goes right by your bike and you bring it on race morning. They give you nice plastic covers for the bike in case of rain.
When you walk in to check in your bike (as well as when you take it out afterwards) they take your picture for security purposes. You can even buy that photo. Seriously the bike area was always lit and very secure.
Pay attention to the swim-bike transition. Maybe it was just me but when I came out of the water I got confused. You could go left or right and I didn’t know which way. As it turns out it doesn’t matter (both paths lead to the bikes) and if I had been reasonably intelligent, I would have walked the route before the race even started. But in an oxygen deprived state I got a little confused.
Guys who have done this, where did you stay? Ideally I want to stay within walking distance and rent a small apartment from Thu-Mon around the race. I’ll have my family with me, so if there is stuff to do around the Lake, and cafe’s and restaurants to hang out in, then they should be happy. Walking proximity to viewing the run course might be good too. My son might also want to rent a road bike or mountain bike and do a few rides, so any info on that would be good.
Dev
I live about 9 miles out of Zurich and am doing IMCH this year… I probably can’t help you with the ‘walking distance’ piece but can give you a view on some of the villages its worth looking at.
IMCH is in the Wollishofen area of town and there may be apartments to rent there, but I’d imagine that they are in short supply now, I know a lot of people from the UK who have snapped up a few - and short term apartments are difficult to find anyway. The IMCH course is right next to Wollishofen train station which is on the SBB network on the S8 train, which also stops at the next towns of Rüschlikon, Kilchberg, Thalwil and Horgen (where I live) which might also give you short term accomodation if you’re having trouble in Wollishofen. All of which have lakeside cafes, lake swimming pools etc. Brilliant triathlon and cycling shop in Thalwil btw, Tempo Sport. The S8 runs at early o’clock, and being swiss, it works. Link to IM morning timetable. http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en?seqnr=1&ident=g3.021477220.1294763918&OK#connection_C0-0
Mountain biking - not sure where you’d hire a bike from - try Tempo Sport, and there are good trails around the Adliswil and Uetliberg area, about 20-30 minutes ride from Wollishofen/Rüschlikon for most of your off road needs. If your son is happy travelling on his own in a foreign country then he could take a day out to Flims/Laax for top-end mountain biking, about 2hrs away by train/postbus.
The road biking around Zurich is great too.
Getting into town and everything that is available there is easy from any of these places. The public transport really works.
Regarding the bike course, it is 50% flat (real pancake flat - 2*30k along the lake with no undulations but can be a reasonable headwind given the prevailing winds come down the lake) and 50% undulating/hilly. I can’t compare it to the others but I’d imagine most other courses are more consistently bumpy/undulating.
I did Zurich last year and qualified for Kona, I wrote down some experiences below, maybe it is helpful. For accommodation I would take the suggestion of JoeO and rent something in Oerlikon. The city center does not offer much and is quite expensive. You can try www.zuerichsee.ch for apartements in the surrounding or search for “Ferienwohung Zurich”, although thursdays to mondays is difficult as most of them rent sat-sat and you are in the middle of European Holiday season. I ended up taking a caravan from home but I guess that is not an option for you. The http://www.youthhostel.ch/en/hostels/zurich might be also be an option if you are on a budget as they do rent rooms for families I believe.
The swim is nice and easy. The water is cristal clear and really flat, although the course is a bit long. If you pay attention at the start procedure (describe by JoeO) you should be fine. You are allowed in the water for a warm up. If you are a bit slow to get back on land and wait on the first row for the ‘whistle’ you are able to swim to the start line nice and easy. After the swim to the startline the real start will follow almost immediately so pay attention. I was on the first row (swam 57m) and had no contact with anybody at all (which for me is quite unique in a mass start triathlon). Transition is conventional, so with all gear at your bike, allowing for fast transitions (1:30 category with socks).
The bike is tricky. Everybody points out the flat part in the bike course but you have to remember that all the elevation will be in the second part. My experience was that the bike course is tougher than Frankfurt (which is probably one of the easier courses around) and less tough than Kona this year (mainly because of the wind and heat, based on just the elevation I would rank Zurich as harder). There are 2 small climbs and 2 medium climbs (4 to 5 km) which slow you down to appr. 20 km/h (4:52 bike time) and you do not gain a lot in the descends as they are steep and narrow, not allowing you to take full benefit or allow you to rest a bit. On the parts between the climbs it can be windy (was last year). Definitely do a training lap the week before, it helped me a lot on race day just to have done the lap once and know the hills (which were steeper than I had expected). I do come from Holland so I am used to pancake flat (:-P) but I thought it was harder then I expected based on the elevation profiles on the website.
The run is flat but narrow, so after 1 or 2 laps it gets crowded and extra meters are necessary to get around everybody (3:10 run). There are a lot (180 degree) turns and you constantly get knocked out of your rhythm. A lot of good aid station though. Overall the race was well organized, I liked the pre-race welcome diner (4 courses, served to you instead of buffet) and award ceremony (brunch style buffer) and was bummed i missed out on an award (4th place) but did qualify for Kona! Overall a great experience and I liked the race better than Kona (from a pure race organization perspective).
The course is considered fast, but I really struggled on the descents. I found them to be very technical. But I’m from the US, and most of the courses are in rural areas and not technical, most of the fast descents go through towns - roundabouts, sharp 90 degree turns etc. So yes riding it once would be very beneficial. I lost tons of time on the downhill sections.
Things…how technical are the downhills. Are we talking IM France technical, or south side Grimselpass technical (to use a swiss comparison)
…or are we talking somewhere in between Almere technical and an alpine descent. I did IM France without having ridden the course and even on a tri bike, I was passing lots of people on the technical descents, so I’m somewhat comfortable with the tricky stuff. I don’t plan on showing up in Zurich till a few days before the race so would rather avoid having to ride a lap of the course. Thanks for the insight on IM Switzerland vs Kona times. Seems like Karin Thurig was within 5 minutes of each time.
JoeO, I’ll take your advice and use the train. I assume after the race, I can just put my stuff in my backpack and ride back to wherever I am staying (I know if I did that, I raced safely, and well outside medical tent zone) and they will let us get our bikes after 6 pm. I don’t really want to ask my family to head down to the finish line mayhem…ideally then can just pop out of our accomodations and get a few glimpses of the bike/run course. Let’s face it, on the balance, it is pretty boring for families to be standing out there for 10+ hours on end only to get say 4x30 second viewings of spouse/dad. Better that they do whatever they want and just hang in the cafes, restaurants, lake etc (and do what normal families do when travelling in Europe).
Also to the posters above offering mountain biking options, realistically, if I can just rent a mountain bike that my son can use for some rides, that’s perfect. There is no need for nice technical mountain biking trails.
Finally, if anyone has any recommendations on suggested places to “vacation” in between landing in Geneva 8 days prior to race and arrival in Zurich 2-3 days prior. I’m thinking about taking everyone to Interlaken, because then we can head out, do some hikes etc while I can also get some taper rides and swims in and my son can likely rent a bike and join me for some of that. If I’m really mean I can send him up Grimselpass from Meringen with a 42x21 like I did back in 1990…wtf was I thinking???
Didn’t know you were racing IMCH this year Dev! You’ve already got some good advice so far. The downhills aren’t that technical, especially if you’re comparing them to IMF. One thing I’d mention is be prepared for all types of weather. I did it in 08 when there was torrential rain (same day as IMA and Roth) and it was pretty cold. The crowd support in Zurich is awesome, too!
Just switched from IMFrance to IMCH on Dec 31st before the IMCH deadline for increased fees. Due to work and some family constraints, IMF timing was really really bad this year. I’ll miss France course, as it suits my tolerance for hills and heat, but it will be nice to do a new course . I think racing in CH will be like racing in Eastern Canada in June…here we can have 5C and rain or we can have 34C and humidity in the same month.
I do have the Alpe d’Huez Tri and Mont Ventoux Tri as two events that I’d like to tackle in the next few years. I’d also like to do the Tristar Monaco course…I really have to find an excuse to work for a summer out of the Milan or Munich office, so I have easier access to all these events.
Paul, it is not as technical as IM France, it is more that they seem to have but a sharp corner (or roundabout) somewhere in or at the bottom of every descend. There definitely are some fast bits but in for example Kona (or Frankfurt) you can use your speed of the previous hill to get half way up the next. In Zurich you first have to take one of the corners first so you do not benefit as much from the descend as you (or at least I) would like. There is one steep descend at the end of the large lap where they redid the road just 3 days before the event last year. Forcing you to descend through loose small stones (split, as we call it) on a 15% descend. That does not allow you to blast past there.
The large lap is only about 70 km as you also have to go down to heartbreak hill (1km at 10%, feels nice at 170km) in the race. For the training lap I left those out, allowing only 67 km (I was on that side of the lake) for a scouting lap. I did the lap thursdays before the race in about 3 hrs (nice and easy) and was fine on raceday but just do what suits you best. You will be fine with the course if you are ‘used to’ things like IM France or the Alpe d’Huez tri.
Karin Th. was 5 min slower but Heleen BijdeVaate was even faser in Kona (5:02 vs 5:08 in Kona), I looked up some other names (pros and fast agegrouper) and it seems like the times between Kona and Zurich are quite comparable with Zurich being a bit faster. I just wanted to say that I was a bit fooled by the ‘it is a flat and fast course’ that everybody seems to find and everybody points out the 2x30km totally flat. I think that this underrates the course as the rest of the 60km are not as easy as they look on paper. I also found some comparison site stating that Frankfurt, Zurich and Kona are the three easiest courses around so I might be ‘lucky’ to just have done those three :-p.
The bigger problem in Zuruch are the large groups that form on those flat parts and the hills are not always selective enough to get rid of all the drafters. I was of the front and did not have a lot of ‘encounters’ but at part from Heartbreak hill you could see all the large groups rolling in.
JoeO, I’ll take your advice and use the train. I assume after the race, I can just put my stuff in my backpack and ride back to wherever I am staying (I know if I did that, I raced safely, and well outside medical tent zone) and they will let us get our bikes after 6 pm.
That’s what we did except we took a taxi there and came back from the race on the train. Bike in hand, big bag over the shoulder with all my stuff. Just walked it on to the train and got off at our hotel in Oerlikon
I don’t really want to ask my family to head down to the finish line mayhem…ideally then can just pop out of our accomodations and get a few glimpses of the bike/run course. Let’s face it, on the balance, it is pretty boring for families to be standing out there for 10+ hours on end only to get say 4x30 second viewings of spouse/dad. Better that they do whatever they want and just hang in the cafes, restaurants, lake etc (and do what normal families do when travelling in Europe).
The nice thing is that right from the path by the lake – right at heart of downtown, they can watch you go by 4 times on the bike and 8 times on the run. Much better for them to be there than at the start finish area
Finally, if anyone has any recommendations on suggested places to “vacation” in between landing in Geneva 8 days prior to race and arrival in Zurich 2-3 days prior. I’m thinking about taking everyone to Interlaken, because then we can head out, do some hikes etc while I can also get some taper rides and swims in and my son can likely rent a bike and join me for some of that. If I’m really mean I can send him up Grimselpass from Meringen with a 42x21 like I did back in 1990…wtf was I thinking???
There is this awesome train trip called “Jungfrau, Top of Europe” that I desperately wanted to do after the race. Takes you up to the Alps to some incredible height by train. You get to walk on the glacier and all that. Spectacular views. Unfortunately the only day I had free was Tuesday and that was the only day it didn’t run. But my friend did it and said it was well worth it.
I live a mile from the transition in the middle of Zurich and will be doing the race too. (sorry, our spare room is already booked!) Mail me if you have more questions re: race and area. Happy to have you over to our place for pre-, post- chow.
Scott and others. Thanks for the input. I was in Zurich for a short stop (like 45 minutes) last month connecting from Tel Aviv to Heathrow! I’m finally getting down to business trying to reserve something in the Zurich area etc for the trip this summer. I hope to hook up with some of you race week. Maybe we can organize an ST gathering. Sesel, my watts per kilo were up to 4.16 for my FTP test yesterday…they are always highest during XC ski season. The engine is always in its best condition at this time of year. Maybe one year, I need to escape and do a tri mid winter to see what shakes out.
i live in zurich; hit me up. might be back in canada this summer, in which case you can go ahead and house-sit.
train system is outstanding (www.sbb.ch) - for 12 francs (currently 12 CAD) you get a day card that’s valid on the entire network for 24 hours. if the weather’s anything close to pleasant, just being by the lake/river is a treat. surrounded by parks, cafes, etc - tonnes of fun for all. lake is also wonderfully clean and swimable, so your family could even bring their own bathing suits.
