For those of you who have done timberman and mooseman, just wondering how you’d rate the run and bike courses with respect to eachother in terms of hills. I’m debating whether or not to change my gearing.
Thanks.
ok here it is … mooseman and timberman are SO different … im guessing you did mooseman so i will describe the timberman course for you … as soon as you get on the bike there is a hill - its not bad but its good to know so you get into the right gear when you start out … mile 2-4 are pretty flat … then from mile 5-11 there are three or four hard hills - 1 in particular is a real b**** as it is really long and it hurts! Right before you hit 106 there is a long downhill (mile 11 i think) then you have a pretty flat and slightly downhill ride all the way to the turn around … on the way back it is obviously pretty flat but slightly uphill …the problem with the way back is the wind … i have rode the course 3 times and 2 of those times the wind was unbelievable … and 1 time it was just bad … so my guess is that its going to be windy race day …then for the last 12 miles you have the long uphill on Leavitt Rd and then lots of downhills and a few climbs that arent that bad. Its not as bad as mooseman because there are a lot of flats but it is almost as tough because you dont have time to ease into the bike - you have 12 miles of hills that hurt right from the start. I used a 27 at mooseman and i might do the same at timberman although i am thinking about using the 25 … i have been riding with a 25 and have survived but im wondering if the 27 would allow me to have more energy for the course after the hills. If you are a decent climber and arent concerned with a few tough hills you will want to 23 or 25 at max. I finished the bike course in 20 min less than i did mooseman with a 25 instead of the 27 i used at mooseman but i suck on the hills so mooseman was torture for me. Hope that helps!
She forgot to mention she rides 650’s…
2fast4u covered the bike course quite well, but I’ll just add that of the three times I’ve ridden Timberman (pre-race '01, race '01, race '04) the wind along the route 106 return was not bad at all, and that’s a great place to gain back some time. (The REAL place to gain back time is 106 heading to the turnaround!) As for Mooseman, I’ve now ridden the course five times - 3 times when it was single-loop Granite Ledges, and in June at the 1/2iron. It is a great example of how the basic nature of a course can change when it is doubled. As a single-looper, it was challenging but approachable; as a double-loop, it was just plain tough - especially the ??% climb at the north end of the lake! (I was using a 27 at T-man last year and M-man this year, and very thankful for it!)
You asked about the run, and to my mind M-man is much more difficult than T-man. The latter has one kind of long, kind of gradual climb, done twice. M-man has two steeper climbs, each done twice, plus a very tricky , more gradual climb that doesn’t look like much, but hurts a lot; this is also done twice. The M-man 1/2way turnaround is also a bit problematic, hitting that damnable beach again, but overall I love that the M-man run skirts the edge of the lake for so much of its course.
The venues for both races are stunning, however, and both races are challenging but fair – there are lots of places on both the run and bike of both races to gain back time lost elsewhere.
forgot to tell you - the run is super easy compared to timberman - it is flat minus 2 or 3 very minor hills
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Sounds like we have a difference of opinion on the run. I think I would rate the Timberman run slightly tougher, only because that hill at about miles 4 and 10 at Timberman kills me every time.