As the subject says, looking for any insight I can get for Galveston on April 8th would be much appreciated. Elevations appear to be minimal at best. I fly on a Felt IA3, w/Jet 6+. Thinking about a rear disk, not sure about the wind on this race. Full sleeve? Sleeveless? Disk? No disk? Cassette size? etc…etc…
Thanks!!
I have done the race twice and competing again in 2018. I ride an IA4 with a Hed Jet up front and a Hed Disc. No problems. Swim can be choppy and with sun coming up the glare can be an issue. Run has a lot of 90 and 180 degree turns, also can get congested. One of my favorite events, enjoy!
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Can be strong crosswinds on the San Luis Pass bridge (few miles before the turnaround). Might want to consider getting out of the aero bars if you’re running race wheels.
Had a good race there last year winning my AG. Bike is flat but can be very windy. Last year the wind was 18 to 20 mph with higher gust. I rode 80mm deep rim planet X wheels with only a few harry moments. Seemed like half the field was setting up on their tri bikes due to the strong crosswinds but the more competent riders were able to stay aero. The run was flat with lots of turns. Can be be hot and humid in April. Overall a good event
hot windy early season race. consider heat training to prepare for humidity. Definitely a disc rear wheel. Normal cassette. Full sleeve wetsuit if wetsuit legal.
As the subject says, looking for any insight I can get for Galveston on April 8th would be much appreciated. Elevations appear to be minimal at best. I fly on a Felt IA3, w/Jet 6+. Thinking about a rear disk, not sure about the wind on this race. Full sleeve? Sleeveless? Disk? No disk? Cassette size? etc…etc…
Thanks!!
I do the race every year as I live in Houston, just 45 minutes away.
Swim is in water start, and can be choppy, and the sun glare is bad on the first leg, then after first turn, the sun is at your back for rest of the way. Salt water, so you float quite well. Typically cold enough for a sleeveless, maybe a full suit (has sometimes been in past years). This year, I wore just a swim skin and was fine. Water is murky brown at best, maybe 3 feet of visibility. Nothing to see in the water anyway.
Bike is very flat, only “climb” is over the San Luis bridge which is flat. Winds are manageable, usually headwind on the outbound, and slight tail-cross on inbound. But, winds have flipped in years’ past, and also been calm. Just don’t know until morning of. I have always run a disc, and tri-spoke front. Can be a few gusts to make it twitch, but very ride-able. Usually the gusts are just that, and not really sustained for any length of time. Air is hot, very humid, and dense. Sweat a lot. Road surface is good to excellent. The bridge is crappy grooved concrete, but its fairly short. Couple of aid stations with bottle exchanges on the road. Seen a few flats, got one 2 years ago. But nothing terrible, as road surface is good.
Run is a spaghetti maze of loops. Only “hill” is a small bridge, maybe 1/8 mi in length, otherwise, a very flat course. All on pavement except about 200 yards. Hot, sunny, humid. Water and ice are used a lot.
If you stay outside of Moody Garden, the morning traffic line to get in is bad, get there early.
Depending on your bike handling ability if you have a disc run it. This it the race to bring that 11-23 cassette we all have stashed away for “when we get stronger on the bike”. As mentioned the roads are immaculate and it’s pretty much a straight out and back with gusty winds. Twisty loopy run course can get kind of tiring but it does give any spectators you may have with you several chances to see you.
I signed up for this one as my first Tri (although looking like i might do a local sprint in march as practice).
anyone else going? i’ll be in 35-39 AG. hoping ill be able to do 2:00/100yd in the swim ( might be closer to 2:30/100 based off my currrent ability), i would like to hit 2:30 in the bike, and 1:30 in the run.
im doing about 10 solid hours of practice a week right now. have some more equipment to procure before the event, but overall super excited!
You’ll have a great time. The atmosphere is really good. Those are solid bike and run splits, would be a pretty impressive first tri! Have fun!
Is the swim still a wave start? I know it has been in years past but it seems like most of the IM races are moving to a time trial start.
As far as I know it still is a wave start, has been the last several years I’ve raced it. Love this race, fast and flat but still has its challenges with the heat, wind etc. Best of luck to you, Ken
Disc wheel all the way, even with a strong crosswind I had a good ride with my disc (back in 2013 I think).
Also, there is a tall communications tower at the bike turnaround that you can see from a long way away. I like to use that as a reference for how close I’m getting to the turnaround point. Not sure if that helps anyone else, but it helps me mentally to know I’m getting close.
I ran a disc wheel and trispoke front last year. If I could go back I would keep the disc wheel but run a shallower 40-50mm front wheel as the crosswinds were strong on the way back and sketched me out a bit. I feel like I could have kept the power down more consistently if I hadn’t been blown around as much.
More heat preparation would have been wise but besides that the race is flat and fast and a good venue!
As others have said: Disc, 11-23, Its a well run event, in the you may have to park a little farther away then you would like.
Bump, as we get closer to the date!
if anyone is looking to bail on hotel rooms at the moody gardens please PM me. I have a room Friday night but need one for Saturday night still. would love to take it from you!
How is the road surface along the beach? From what I can tell it’s decent but I’ve read about an unusually high number of flats at the race as well.
On a side note, anyone local to Houston or Galveston willing to host me and another racer the night before? We’d be happy to cook dinner on Saturday evening and do all the driving on Sunday if you want!
the road surface is excellent except for a few hundred meters on each side of the toll bridge. There it is horrible. Unless they’ve fixed it since last year.
This will be my first 70.3 and looking forward to it. As I live south of Houston, I’m planning to drive up that morning. How early would you recommend arriving to the Moody Garden’s area, given the traffic to get in?
Also, slightly related, but what do you with your transition bag? Seems like there won’t be enough room to leave it in transition.
This will be my first 70.3 and looking forward to it. As I live south of Houston, I’m planning to drive up that morning. How early would you recommend arriving to the Moody Garden’s area, given the traffic to get in?
Also, slightly related, but what do you with your transition bag? Seems like there won’t be enough room to leave it in transition.
Just checking that you’re aware you need to do athlete check-in and bike drop off on Saturday.