I’m thinking of doing the full Vineman 2008,The course looks fine,but It seems like it gets hot in the afternoon.Ive done IMLP twice,IMUK ,IM Switzerland,mainly because mild temps.Anybody have experience from this race? Maybe the full aqua bike?
Several threads from both the half and full Vineman floating around here recently…do a quick search.
I did Vineman 70.3 this year, and the water temp was around 73F. I don’t know how hot it was during the bike since it did not affect me either way. But by the time of the run it was above 90F, which did affect me.
California, that time of the year, hot. But, it is dry heat, no humidity
Dave
I agree with the recommendation to search the forum. With that said, I will add my 2 cents. I completed Vineman this year as my first IM. The swim is in a narrow river so navigation is not a problem. The bike is a 2 loop point to point on rolling terrain. Based on searches of Vineman threads, I expected road conditions to be less than ideal. I thought the roads were fine. Aid stations (with porta-potties) were every 13 miles and well-stocked. The run course is 3-loop on a mildly rolling course with some (but not a lot) of shade. Aid stations were closer than 1 mile apart and well stocked. There were lots of people on the run course as there are other races run at the same time (relays & a half-iron race). I always saw competitors on the bike course but it was never crowded and definitely NOT a draft-fest (which is a big plus for me). There were changing tents at T1 and T2 but they were out of the way (I didn’t use them). There were special needs areas on the bike and run. However, the pre-race communications about changing tents and SN were inconsistent.
In short, I highly recommend it. You won’t have the fan support of an M Dot but that was not important to me. The race T-shirt sucked (it looked like it was designed by a 13 year old fascinated with Marvel Comics) and there was not the atmosphere of the ‘athlete’s village’ that you see at IMLP. It’s great to sign-up whenever you feel like it and not have to deal with 2000+ at the swim start and draft packs on the bike.
What exactly do you want to know?
This year was HOT. Other years it hasn’t been as hot and maybe even a year or two when the fog didn’t clear until very late. It’s really hard to say how it will be. I’ve been at the Half Vineman 9 years in a row and at either full VM or Barb’s Race (same day) 5 years (or however many years they’ve been doing BR). Great race. A couple folks here did the full Aquabike and enjoyed it.
clm
I have been doing Vineman fairly consistantly since '91. The water temp will be warm, but usually wet suit legal. The air temp will start off cool, but not cold. You never know how hot it will get. This year both the 1/2 and the full (two weeks later) were quite warm-low 90’s. I have done it were it is in the high 70’s. Train for the warm weather and appreciate if it is cooler.
Obviously, I enjoy the race. But there are others that do not care for it. Read the other posts.