Just an update some buddies and I “discovered” today while doing sone course recon for July 4th weekend: the beginning of the bike course has been repaved. Last year the first mile or so was awful and rough and a lot of bottles were lost. Not the case anymore.
We’ll be riding the course tomorrow so I anything else has changed I may or may not let y’all know.
Yes let us know. I would love to get an accurate number on total climbing for the route.
I’ll be wearing the 310 so hopefully my numbers will be accurate. We will be doing the course pretty much straight up. One store stop. Close to race pace effort. It’ll be epic.
Epic? Slower than IM race pace, which should be your easiest ride of the year? Sounds slow and painful to me.
Epic is Epicman at Lake Placid. Whiteface Hillclimb TT Thursday, then 4000m swim/112mi bike/13.1 run on the weekend.
Ok maybe it won’t be epic in your book but if race pace is 4:55 and we bike a 5:05 that’s a decently hard rde in my books.
FYI I use epic to describe a great many things, which may dilute the meaning of the word but doesn’t disincline me to use it.
I think posting any info at all about the course for those of us who can’t go see it first hand is “epic”.
Well, what did you end up with?
We ended up at 5:01. It was hot as hell. Jkhayc will post more when he can download his Garmin. Right now our focus is on wings at Hooters!!
do they have the course marked at all on the road like in Madison? If not how tough is it to follow the course with a course map? Thanks
We ended up at 5:01. It was hot as hell. Jkhayc will post more when he can download his Garmin. Right now our focus is on wings at Hooters!!
5:01 with no drafting and including stops? Damn that’s fast unless it’s really flat. Great job.
It was 4 guys but we didn’t paceline it the whole time. The problem was it was RIDICULOUSLY hot. Probably the hottest ride I’ve done all year and living in Charlotte we experience some pretty hot ones.
The course is definitely not flat, not by any means. More on that to come.
Alright, so the official bike course synopsis.
Heading out of T1 you turn left and get on River Rd for appx 8-9 miles. This road is very flat and fast and for the most part well-paved. As the name suggests, you bike along the river before encountering a short (but pretty steep) hill at mile 9ish before turning left onto 42. 42 is a mostly uphill road during the busy (4 or 6 lanes of traffic) section until you get to the 2 lane highway-ish part where it’s very rolling. At about mile 17ish you take the right turn to get on the out/back section that is mostly flat at first before a sharp and decently long downhill before bottoming out and making the climb to the turnaround. These are probably the two steepest climbs on the course. At least they’re out of the way early.
After the out/back you turn right to get back on 42 for about 2ish miles before turning right on 393 and beginning what is basically a gradual climb up to 146 (and the loop section of the course).
It’s a deceptively difficult section that can really wear you out if you go too hard on your first loop. Once you make the left hand turn it’s a flat and fast road to La Grange. This section is well-paved and very fast. There is one decent climb at miles 40/70 but it’s not long. Once you make the left hand turn onto Ballard School Rd it is a pretty difficult set of climbs that appear as though you can ‘power’ over them but they’re actually pretty difficult. Definitely small chaingring climbs. After several decent uphill intervals on this narrow road you come to a dead end and turn right on Old Sligo Road. This road is rolling but fairly fast and you then make a right turn on L’esprit Highway which is more of the same. Rolling but fast. No sustained climbs on this section but still some hills. Then you turn left on 153 and I honestly don’t remember much about this road but that tells me that there’s nothing too crazy. Once past that (1-1.5 miles) you turn left on Hwy 42 (same road as before) to get back to the beginning of the loop. Very soon on this road you see a sign that says “Louisville - 32 miles” which can be a real skullfuck if you let it on the second loop. 42 is very rolling but pretty fast. It’s between 8-10 rolling miles to get back to the beginning of the loop (393). During the second loop you just continue on back the way you came (no repetition of the out/back thank god).
Summary
Overall
Time: 05:01:35
Distance: 111.51 mi
Elevation Gain: 3,622 ft
Calories: 3,949 C
Timing
Time: 05:01:35
Moving Time: 04:59:44
Avg Speed: 22.2 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 22.3 mph
Max Speed: 40.4 mph
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 3,622 ft
Elevation Loss: 3,621 ft
Min Elevation: 423 ft
Max Elevation: 906 ft
Thanks for the eval.
3622 is the least amount of climbing I’ve heard for this course. Was this with a Garmin, Polar, or other altimeter?
For instance, this guy claims the course has 7000 feet. http://kentuckyboundironman.blogspot.com/2007/08/louisville-course-info.html
and this one claims 8400. http://www.trimaven.com/Ironman/ironman-louisville/Bike-Course
Those high numbers are probably using the Garmin software which gives crazy high 100-300% higher than what the online Garmin Connect does with elevation correction. At least this in N=10. The downloadable soft is garbage for elevation.
The course is not marked, except the turn around on the out and back. I think you would be fine following the course with a course map. That is how we did it last year when we rode it the first time.
I did see the “No Ironman” painting on the road on Hwy 42 between the out and back and 393. Hate to see that.
"Then you turn left on 153 and I honestly don’t remember much about this road but that tells me that there’s nothing too crazy. "
153 is a nice little section that is fast and rolling…unless you are like me a picked up one of the tacks in the road last year…sigh
I’ve seen some numbers that show Louisville as an avg of 58 ft/mi of ascent/descent. If you add the two numbers together (3622x2) and divide by 112 that’s pretty close. The course is different than it was 2 years ago (mainly the getting onto 42 part) although I’m not sure that change makes that much difference.
Also the construction on bridge is supposed to finished for the race this year. So the course should revert back to the original course
That would be nice. That little hill on the “alternate” road to get to the left turn onto 42 is a real PITA. Although you have to make up the elevation at some point on the “normal” route I suppose…