Just wondering what the total ascent is for the bike course, and how steep are the steepest hills (% grade)… and how long are they? Is three bears the hardest climbing section?
I looked at the course profile, but it doesn’t really answer the questions. I’ve looked around online some, but can’t find what I’m looking for so I thought I’d ask here and hope someone here knows.
Thanks
I am not sure about grade percentage but I would not category the 3 bears as difficult. The kicker for those are that the come at the end of the 12 mile (mostly) climb back into town from Wilmington. The hardest climbs are the first climb out of Lake Placid and the left hand turn at (Upper?) Jay. There are two shorter climbs in the return from Wilmington before the 3 bears that are kickers as well.
Great course. There are a lot of ups but you return to the same point so there are a lot of downs as well.
Just wondering what the total ascent is for the bike course, and how steep are the steepest hills (% grade)… and how long are they? Is three bears the hardest climbing section?
I looked at the course profile, but it doesn’t really answer the questions. I’ve looked around online some, but can’t find what I’m looking for so I thought I’d ask here and hope someone here knows.
Thanks
I’d say the steepest bit is probably a v short hill on Northwood drive coming into Placid. Next probably the road out of Jay.
The bears aren’t particularly steep.
We batted this around last year. There’s surprisingly little consensus on the # of vertical feet on the IMLP bike course. It seemed that most agreed that it is around 6200 to 6600 feet total climbing (3100 - 3300 per loop). There is not one particularly difficult climb on the course; I never got out of the saddle and I’m not a great climber. It just kinda wears on you all the way around. The bears are the most famous, but I agree that they are not the hardest. The left hand turn that someone else mentioned looks bad from the bottom and definitely slows some folks down. I think the climbs heading to the 3 Bears by the ski resort are the hardest. It’s a challenging course, but I did not find it as bad as its reputation. Bring the right gears, though.
Witout a doubt, the worst hill is the one coming back into downtown on the run on the second loop, but then you’re almost done!!!
I think the worst is right at the top of the hill, where you turn right and head back to town. Short, steep and at that point we all just want to go run.
I always hated that first climb out of town just after the bridge and the left turn to Upper Jay.
The Three Bears aren’t too steep but are tough given their location on the course, especially on the second loop. Just when you think are done and can relax at the top of Papa Bear, you take a hard right at the Cobble Mt Lodge and there is a short but steep hump in the road that absolutely sucks the second time around.
Would agree that the toughest hill is the 1.7-mile climb starting just after the ski jumps and going up towards the former Jack Rabbit Inn before the first aid station. You’ll see a lot of people who blast off too hard out of T1 struggle on this one. The climb out of Jay heading towards Wilmington is long as well but like anything else, proper pacing and gearing is key. I’ve run a 12/25 on the back and been able to get a good spin going on all the climbs; it is doable with an 11/23 set-up but takes more out of you legs for the run.
Hope this helps, good luck!
77 feet per mile
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OK, I will offer a different point of view.
I find that the worst hill is the big hill after going over the stream on the out and back on loop2. It is reasonably steep, and I always see my lowest speeds at that point. It is also 1 hour away from T2 and you just get hit with the thought, “Oh man, I flew up this on loop 1, and this time I am not even doing 7-10 mph and I have around an hour of riding to do!”
The Bears are not that steep and they are close to transition. The steepest part at the right turn after the Bears are close to transition.
The most demoralizing hills are the one I talked about on the out and back on Loop 2 and also the hills out of town starting loop2 as they actually feel really hard on loop2 after flying up them on a taper fuelled post T1 high on loop 1. This is my experience based on doing IMLP 9x and training on the course to the tune of another 40-50 loops. But if you go train on the course, you really cannot get an appreciation for the difficulty of the course by riding one loop. It would be like showing up in Newton and running the Heartbreak hill on fresh legs and saying, “What’s the deal about this mole hill anyway???”
X2.
Especially tough mentally the second time out of town. “shit, I’ve gotta do this again!?”
Agree with the others BUT I think the “back” part of the “Out and Back” at Wilmington is the most under-rated climb on the course. You don’t hear much about it but the 2nd time around it sux. Maybe it’s just repeating an out and back in general, or maybe it was just the rain 
See my post…I agree and it was not “just the rain” as I have done it all but one year. It is always that way, but the good news is that if you feel horrible on that climb it does not mean that you will keep feeling that way all the way to T2…just don’t let it mentally break you.
…just don’t let it mentally break you.
This year WILL be different! I did suffer getting back into town in 08.
Fortunately the rain stopped as I left T2. For about a minute!
I will try to check my Training Peaks data tonight. I used an SRM w/ PC VI, so, I have the total elevation. I want to say it was 6800 feet, but, I could be off a little.
Do you have Training Peaks? If so, I would be happy to e-mail my power data to you, which should give you an idea of the elevation at any given point on the course.
The bears are tough, but, I did not think they were as bad as I was told.
I have done IMWI 3 times and IMLP once. I still think IMWI is a considerably harder course. I feel this way even though my one time at IMLP was in a complete downpour.
Thanks
I just have some fear and a lot of anxiety over the unknown. Before I ride any hill for the first time I ask everyone how long, how steep compared to other hills.
I’m certain I’ll be fine and ready for them, I just always like to be able to compare parts of a course to parts of my training rides. Hopefully I can find someone local who’s done the race who can give me some comparisons.
I have to agree, the hill coming back from the “out and back” section killed me. Also, I didn’t like the hill at the start of the bike course when you are leaving town. Otherwise, everything else is manageable if you pace yourself right.
That’s why I shared the 2 hills that you need to be aware of from a mental perspective…the other hills are expected to be tough and well hyped. These two, not many consider, and I want you to know that they will feel hard for you as they feel for most and to not let self doubt creep in. As Mark Allen said, “self doubt is your worst enemy”. These two hills are hard for everyone, and while not so dramatic, can plant the seeds of self doubt…don’t let them get into your head.
Also if you want two great practice sessions, join us at Epicman on Jun 5th (3K swim-180K bike-21K run) and Irontour Jun 19/20 (day 1 3 hour ride with Whiteface climb+beach to beach to beach swim around 2.7K, day 2 beach to beach to beach with first loop reverse second loop forward, no out and backs, but 2 climbs to Whiteface toll road+30 min transition run)
Dev
Almost forgot about that one on the out-and-back, just as you cross over the river coming back towards 86. That one can be a bitch.
One thing that’s not obvious is to mentally connect loop 1 and loop 2 because thinking that you’re done for a while once you get into Lake Placid after loop 1, the climb back out of town will get to you.
Pirate Girl,
Gordo posted this on his website a while back.
I found it to be pretty accurate.