Looking for pros vs cons of doing IMAZ vs IMCDA.
The pro’s so far:
IMAZ - close enough to drive, can stay with friends (more afforable)
IMCDA - established race, better time of year (long Sunday rides will be warmer and won’t have to start in the dark)
Mike Donia
IMAZ pro for me - I can roll out of bed and be on the start line in 25min.
con - it could be 105 or 85 that time of year.
You will qualify easily at either, so choose which you would rather do.
I’ll ride with you thru the winter as I am gearing at CDA myself, but am counting on a good race at Cali to get me an entry.
For myself AZ is just not an option. I live in Montana,Saturday I was riding in 50 degree and rain. My big weeks for AZ would be in Jan with temps near 0 and plenty of snow.
I think the draw of IMAZ is that it is an early season Ironman. It sort of sets up a different type of schedule for the season, you will be coming off an ironman while others are still working off their winter fat. But it does leave the door nicely open for another peak in the late season. Other than that I would probably chose based on which place I would rather vacation at.
The website says over 1200 signed up so far, although it only lists just over 1000.
AZ!!!
computrainer anyone??
a good point before about being able to do 2 in a year–you could to az and Fl
Hey Kenney - where in Montana do you live? I am from Missoula. I was contemplating AZ and live in South Texas and I was concerned about OUR winter - unless you wanted to do all your training in spin class - forget it…Montana falls, winters AND springs can be brutal. I did CDA last year and it was wonderful.
az doesn’t go on daylight savings time, so while days will be shorter in april, it will be light much later than most other states. gives incentive to go fast…
The bike should be pretty scenic–Tempe Town lake is a manmade lake–no wake, waves, no taking in salt water(CDA shares that)
I think the only reason why this thing didn’t sell out in 2 days is people comming from cold whether cities might have a tough time, or will have a tough time training through the 4 or 5 months leading up to the race
CDA I believe by the way had the highest DNF of all the races when a heatwave moved in including 95 degrees and extrememly high humidity
Apr 9th this year provided a beautifull day for a long bike ride
like I said before though–do AZ in apr and then you can do another one later in the year–pretty sweet opportunity
there are plenty of hotels in the area that aren’t hooked up with IMNA and don’t have minimums
.
Coming from Austin, getting to Tempe is CHEAP on Southwest. I agree, tons of hotels not associate with IMNA. For me, it could be a cheap, in and out weekend. Get there on Friday, leave Monday am.
But then there’s that threat of 100F…which is nothing but all bad.
Just outside of Billings. We just formed a tri club here(Beartooth tri club) to compete against Team Stampede from Missula. I am a transplant,originally from Cleveland then all points till here. I did CDA last year and am leaving Thurs to do again.
NORMAL MAXIMUM, MINIMUM, AND MEAN BY MONTHS
1961-1990
Month MAXIMUM MINIMUM MEAN
January 65.9 41.2 53.6
February 70.7 44.7 57.7
March 75.5 48.8 62.2
April 84.5 55.3 69.9
May 93.6 63.9 78.8
June 103.5 72.9 88.2
July 105.9 81.0 93.5
August 103.7 79.2 91.5
September 98.3 72.8 85.6
October 88.1 60.8 74.5
November 74.9 48.9 61.9
December 66.2 41.8 54.1
Annual 85.9 59.3 72.6
.
Well Good Luck Kenney - I will be in CDA watching!
the dnf rate at imaz certainly won’t be higher than cda was last year…