I did Ralph’s last weekend and will be in lake placid in July. I thought the hills at Ralph’s were pretty tough especially the first one inland. I had a good race all things considered, but my legs were fairly well trashed for the run. Can anyone that has done both races chime in on bike course similarities/differences? I scheduled Ralph’s because I thought the bike course profile looked similar to IMLP. Any validity to this?
Well, I’ve never done Ralph’s, but I did do Ironman California in 2001 which was basically two loops of Ralph’s bike course. I also did Ironman Lake Placid that same year. I thought the climbs were tougher at IMCAL. They were shorter but steeper. Another difference is that each lap at IMLP finished with 10 miles of climbing and the last 10 of each lap at IMCAL were “downhill”. Thus the transition to run was a bit tougher at Lake Placid.