I was hoping that some of this would get answered in the athlete guide but no such luck. Does anyone familiar with the race know the answer to these questions?
-There’s a football game on Saturday at 2:30, bike check in is from 10:00-3:00. Is there going to be parking anywhere close to transition, or should I plan on having someone drop me off?
-On Sunday morning, should my wife try to drop me off at transition then go park or is traffic going to be bad trying to get close to transition? Are we better off just parking at Alliant Energy Center and taking the shuttle in since it’s right off the highway?
-Is there any opportunity to warm up in the water on race morning?
-The swim course map makes it look like it’s an in-water start, but how would that work with the rolling start?
I won’t answer all your questions, but re: parking on Saturday and Sunday…
The government east parking ramp on the square is less than a block from transition and will be your best bet Saturday and Sunday for your wife if she doesn’t want to shuttle.
You are a few miles away from the stadium downtown, so while traffic will be heavier than normal, folks don’t generally park that far from camp Randall so it’ll mainly be you and others Checking in.
Sunday, they don’t close down John Nolan Drive southbound, so it’s easy to get out to the beltline from the square and then out to Verona with a car.
In terms of the swim warm up. Ironman is doing all they can to make sure the swim is safe and as a result, I am 99% sure there will be a warm up of some sort. The trick is, the ramp heading down from the Monona Terrace gets unbelievably congested and as a result make sure you leave to get down to the water earlier than you think you need to.
If I recall, last year they did in groups. You entered the water, could swim out to the start and then went…not sure I remember exactly but that is what I recall
In terms of the swim warm up. Ironman is doing all they can to make sure the swim is safe and as a result, I am 99% sure there will be a warm up of some sort. The trick is, the ramp heading down from the Monona Terrace gets unbelievably congested and as a result make sure you leave to get down to the water earlier than you think you need to.
If I recall, last year they did in groups. You entered the water, could swim out to the start and then went…not sure I remember exactly but that is what I recall
Parking is never as bad as you would expect.
Last year we were in a self-seeded coral, cannon went off, and we spilled like lemmings into the flooded lake. There was no warmup. Two years ago we were coralled by age group.
I know this isn’t on your list but it should be. Snakes.
-You shouldn’t have any issue parking within just a few blocks of the Terrace. I raced '17 and when I arrived on race morning I was only 3 blocks away. For check-in, we parked right down the street. As previously mentioned, if your wife is heading out on course, there won’t be any issue. John Nolen Dr. doesn’t get that busy.
-I saw many warming up in the water very early but plan on having to stand around a long time after as they made everyone get out prior to wave 1.
-See above. They say go and you walk over the mat into the water and, if memory serves, you have 2-minutes to line up with the start line buoys until they blow the air-horn for your wave to leave. I liked it because it gave you time to settle and calm down before you actually have to start swimming. When I walked into the water I thought my heart was going to blow out of my chest.
-Good luck
The snakes are HUGE this year. Since it got so warm, they ate of up the algea and WOW…they are bigger than I have ever seen them. Still freaks me out when I see them.
The snakes are bigger because of the flooding last year.
Please God read the Athlete guide. There have been 3 different swim formats in the last 3 years, so you are going to get lots of inaccurate advice on this board.
The 2019 Athlete guide says: Rolling start, self seeded. Time starts as you cross the timing mat.
I know that IM WI vets loooove to joke about the snakes in the swim. Sure, I get it, it’s a good way to haze newbies to the race. But the problem is that they have squandered credibility to the point that I can’t tell what’s real and what’s hyperbole.
So, and I know I’m going to be disappointed by the Slowtwitchers who just can’t resist doubling down on a joke, but could someone please provide a fact-based, non-exaggerated description of these snakes, where they’ll be, what species are they, and how dangerous they are?
Thanks all for the replies. Sounds like parking and traffic aren’t going to be as big of a deal as I was thinking.
As for the swim start, what was described last year is what I would expect for a rolling start; line up self seeded by swim time, cross the mat, and go straight onto the course. I’m guessing the map is just left over from when it was a wave/mass start and you started in the water.
Snakes… I guess there’s nothing you can do about it so I wasn’t going to stress about them. Either you’re going to get some nibbles or you’re not 🤷â€â™‚ï¸
I know that IM WI vets loooove to joke about the snakes in the swim. Sure, I get it, it’s a good way to haze newbies to the race. But the problem is that they have squandered credibility to the point that I can’t tell what’s real and what’s hyperbole.
So, and I know I’m going to be disappointed by the Slowtwitchers who just can’t resist doubling down on a joke, but could someone please provide a fact-based, non-exaggerated description of these snakes, where they’ll be, what species are they, and how dangerous they are?
Swim in a wetsuit or you might get bit in the nipple. I kid you not. First hand experience.
It also was (i think) '10 that a dead body floated up towards the end of the swim (not a competitor, body had been in the water a good bit). '10 or '13, so I’m going with '10 since that was a double-loop swim instead of the single loop format started in '13. Imagine running into that.
What does everybody else think of the bike ‘loop’ this year? I was on it in 2013, but don’t really remember it well enough to compare. I rode it twice Saturday and if it’s the same condition in two weeks, that section out of Verona is going to take a bunch of people out. The chip seal is ridiculous!
Or maybe I’m just sour that I didn’t break 19 mph on either loop in mostly race trim.
What does everybody else think of the bike ‘loop’ this year? I was on it in 2013, but don’t really remember it well enough to compare. I rode it twice Saturday and if it’s the same condition in two weeks, that section out of Verona is going to take a bunch of people out. The chip seal is ridiculous!
Or maybe I’m just sour that I didn’t break 19 mph on either loop in mostly race trim.
I rode it this past weekend and the weekend before. It had improved slightly between those two weekends just from people driving on it but it’s still not great. I imagine they will sweep the corners up because those were pretty sketchy. The straights weren’t too bad as long as you stayed in the strip that is flattened by cars, but that will get dicey in the second lap with more traffic out there.
regarding the roads, it’s still 2 weeks (just under) from the race so there’s still plenty of time for those roads to get swept. People are losing their minds over it and there’s really no point. Plus, there’s a simple detour should there still be issues and IM is able to get approval. Roads are MUCH nicer anyway with the detour and you take about half of County G out of the loop as well (which is one of if not thee worst stretche of road on that entire course). I honestly hope they don’t get it swept and the detour is used.
What does everybody else think of the bike ‘loop’ this year?
I rode it this past weekend and the weekend before. It had improved slightly between those two weekends just from people driving on it but it’s still not great. I imagine they will sweep the corners up because those were pretty sketchy. The straights weren’t too bad as long as you stayed in the strip that is flattened by cars, but that will get dicey in the second lap with more traffic out there.
I agree with the straights, but it’s the curves that may claim victims. Navigating the tire tracks becomes harder since drivers naturally straighten out their curves, especially when there are no lines. There were three people at the bike shop near Fireman’s Park licking their wounds on Saturday.
How long was the loose chip seal? It for sure ended at the left turn onto G. I can’t remember if it started right after the turn from 69 to Valley Rd or if it wasn’t until the turn from Valley Rd to Sugar River. The Sugar River section is about 1.5 miles and I was on the basebar the entire time. If Valley was also chip seal, it’s a solid 2.5 miles.
That Garfoot section will be fun on the 1st lap and not so fun on the 2nd.