I just returned from IMCDA and this was my 4th Im, so i’m not a newbie, but not really a vet yet. While this wasn’t my fastest, it is the one I am most proud of.
The swim was great. Water was 65 degrees and clear. Early morning had very little wind, but was already getting warm. I exited the water in just under 1:09 and felt great.
The bike course was a nice mix of flats and climbing, with some technical descents. It was a two loop course. By half way through the temp was really beginning to climb. On the stretch back to town, about 15 to 20 miles, some very big headwinds were coming up. Unfortunately we got very little benefit of tailwind because that was the climbing section in the mountains and protected by the pine trees. I saw a lot of drafting on the headwind portion. People were pretty blatant with 4 to 5 person pace lines. I finished the bike in 5:39 which was slower than predicted, but I was happy with it because of the conditions.
By the time the run started it was HOT. The high got to somewhere between 94 and 96 degrees. It was a two loop course with some hills and one moderate one. There was very little shade. I actually saw two people pass out at aid stations who were caught as they fell. I’ve never seen so many people walk. I finished with a 4:45 run for an 11:43. This was 35 minutes slower than predicted, but again with the conditions I was very happy to have had the mental toughness to finish.
Overall the course was good, the people were great and it was well organized for a first year event. The conditions were brutal with the heat and wind. I’m disappointed in the people who cheated. Several hundred didn’t start the race and over 200 DNF’d. Everyone who finished Sunday had lots of guts and iron will.
I did the race too, first IM, and LOVED it!! I’m from the area and getting to sleep in my own bed kind of felt like cheating. My times were dead on with my estimate, actually 7 minutes faster overall, so I was thrilled with a 12:23:11 finish. Passing almost 400 people on the run indicated 1) I’m a very slow cyclist, and 2) the heat cooked a lot of athletes.
I’m really curious what people thought of the course, the town, the crowd, etc. My personal thought was the first 1/2 of each bike lap was great, but the second 1/2 was boring and not as scenic as it could be. Unfortunately, the alternative would probably be to create a one loop bike course, and I think 2 loops is fantastic for spectators. The run was awesome, I can’t imagine a more scenic run course and the looped course made it interesting because there was always things going on around you. I think the town did a great job with volunteers and crowd support, a wonderful job. The crowd in town was crazy, and the spectotors spread out along the bike and run were enthusiastic and fun.
I saw the run aid stations running low on cups, chicken broth, and ice at a few. Not sure if they got re-stocked as the run went on. The other problem was the timing of the event. It was held on the same weekend as Hoopfest, which a Spokane event that draws over 100,000 people downtown to watch 3 on 3 street basketball. It is the largest 3 on 3 tournament in the world and it fills up almost every hotel room in Spokane. Between Hoopfest and IM, it was almost impossible to get a room or rental car I understand.
CdA…Great town for a race (better than Penticton, but not as quaint as Lake Placid)
–Good selection of hotels close to the race
–Adequate places to eat (a problem I found in LP)
–Solid Volunteers
–Decent spectators…Wisconsin owns the “best/craziest/hottest co-ed” spectator award;-)
Course…Loved it.
–Swim: Clear and clean water. 65 degrees was perfect, but the density of swimmers was a mixed-blessing…Fast due to the draft, but rough as people swam into each other quite a bit
–Bike: Well balanced to reward all riding styles…Not just big hammers like Florida or lythe climbers like Lanzarote.
–Run: More entertaining than Penticton, easier than LP, less entertaining than Madison…A good challenge particularly with the heat.
CDA was my 1st IM. This is a wonderful place and the community support is overwhelming. Everyone in town is fantastic. For the first time in an IMNA race, they actually had to turn volunteers away (hit the wall at 4000!).
Course: Spectator friendly which makes it very nice. A lot of opportunity for your loved ones to see and cheer. The lake is fantastic, and the run along the lake was great. The only thing I suggest for next year is to lose the crit course through the greyhound stadium. It was set up as a spectator area but it’s so far out of town that nobody bothered to go there. I’ll be back in '05.
I suck at the swim (1:24, 1344th place!!), but managed a 6:14 bike split (hey, not smokin’, but 45 min better than IM Cal '00) and moved up to 630th. So I passed 714 bikers on the course. I probably saw more bikers than Charlie Crawford did! Really didn’t see anything terribly flagrant - most people were taking care to keep their distance and moved right after passing and dropped back when passed. Granted, I wasn’t up with the uber-bikers like the previous posters, but I wasn’t bothered by what I saw - I thought it was a very clean race.
The Pros seem to have a new rule - read about it on Xtri in Petr V’s article. They stagger across the road in what would be considered a ‘position foul’ for an age grouper. This to avoid 3.001 meter pacelines. First saw this in the video they showed at the Awards Banquet, but didn’t know about the different rules for the pros. Couple of us were laughing at how they could put “such a gross violation” in the video. Pretty funny at the time, but I guess I did ‘miss’ the Pro meeting!
13:04 - PR by over 40 minutes! If I can talk my wife into it, I’ll be back next year.
I think CDA is a bit easier course than Wisconsin. The two hills are about the same grade but seem longer… there is quite a bit of flat… downhills are very fun. The greyhound track portion is a hoot. About 8 of the last 15 miles were straight into the wind. Overall a very nice course. The only down side was a couple mile strectch in front of the saw mill… pretty rough pavement - new asphalt in the early spring would make it very nice!