I am going to be vacationing in Tempe, AZ for about a week around Thanksgiving.
The IMAZ bike course…will i be able to ride this? How is traffic during the week?
Tempe Town Lake…can i swim there or do they have designated swim times/groups?
Thanks for the info!
No swimmy in town lake! Sucks but they wont let you.
Not sure about the ride. theres some good riding around south mountain. Where will you be staying?
I rode the ride last year. There are some busy streets but nothing horrible, especially if you went during weekend or non rush hour. The B Line highway is full of debris on the shoulder and the roads out there are a bit rough in spots (or were last year) so take tubes etc but it is rideable.
You don’t want to swim in Town lake, go to the ASU Aquatics center, you can get in for $6 a day or something & they have a nice short course pool outside. Wear sunscreen. You can find directions if you google Arizona State aquatics…
Yeah you can ride the bike course, it’s regular roads. Look at the ironmanarizona.com site for the map.
I’d suggest rather than running the current run course, do the old one from 2005 that goes up the canal towards Scottsdale, the path along the canal is nicer & it’s soft on the knees too.
I am staying near Lincoln Dr & Tatum Blvd. My hope was to head up Hayden to Shea and actually do the IMAZ bike course backwards…starting at the turnaround point. Thanks for the pool info!..too bad about Tempe Town Lake. I know the water is not the best/cleanest, i did Soma the last 2 yrs, but i was hoping to get open water swims in instead of pool swims.
Since you are staying in Scottsdale, check all of the city pools. You may get lucky and one of them will be set up long course. Right around that time, they usually set up Cactus Pool LC.
You can get to the Beeline from Shea/Hayden. Avoid Shea as much as possible by taking Via Linda/Mountain View, you might want to take the sidewalk along Shea if it is real busy. Hit Golden Eagle on the way back through Fountain Hills for some fun climbs.
You can also head south down 68th and hook up with the course at Town Lake. I start from Town Lake and ride the beeline/Shea/68th as a loop once in a while (a bunch of streets not included in that simplified description).