Looking at doing Ironman France, but as am unable to train on hills, living in the world’s flatest country as I do, am slightly concerned by the hills on the bike course. Has anyone done the old Triathlon de Nice, and can comment on the hills?
Did IM Western Australia last year - Loved it, not a hill to be seen!
“living in the world’s flatest country as I do”
i give. what’s the world’s flattest country? denmark? holland? dubai or one of those emirate type places?
I’ve really got to go with Denmark or Holland. I really don’t think most of the citizens there have any concept of gradient.
-C
I did Nice. The climb is a category 2 climb in the Tour de France. A week before the race two buddies of mine- one a guy who won the Tour de France three times and the World’s twice and another who has finished nine Tours de France told me, in my store, the climbs were difficult and the descents were worse.
Obviously, I respect these guys opinions. Turns out, they were right.
My understanding is the Col de Vence, the primary climb in Nice, will not be part of the IM France race. Thatis why I did Nice last year. I wanted to be able to race over a Category 2 climb once before I died, and this is one of the few oportunities in triathlon to do so, and really the only reasonable one. EmbrunMan is just too tough to really “race”, you just survive it.
Check this out;
Thanks Tom, you’ve filled me with fear and dread.
With no hills to train on this will be hard work, but it looks too fun to miss.
Thanks, this is the guy you have to thank:
.
Maldives!
No point higher than 2 mtrs above sea level.
It’s gotta be the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The lowest point is 0m above sea level, and the higest point is 5m above sea level. But maybe that shouldn’t count- it’s only 14 square k)
Here are some pretty darn flat non-island nations, from the CIA World Fact Book (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html). If you leave the Pope and his buddies out, looks like Qatar is pretty hard to beat, although I didn’t check every country. Denmark is almost twice as flat as Holland (although neither will require a compact crankset)
Country (lowest elevation/highest elevation)
Qatar (0m/103m)
Denmark (-7m/173m)
Vatican City (19m/75m)
Netherlands (-7m/322m)
Sorry buddy!
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Wilingili island in the Addu Atoll 2.4 m
During the Tsunami broadcasts they kept refering to this, like every 10 minutes.
The bike course has been seriously downgraded in IM France; original 2002 race generally accepted to have been the hardest MDot Ironman ever and was reduced slightly for 03 and 04 when I did it - altitude gain about 2130m on bike according to my Garmin 201 last year(710m per lap). According to website IM France 04 is 1500m climbing and looking at the course it misses the major climbs that were an integral part of Nice Triathlon - so it is really a “new” bike course. Wim or Francois, who know the roads better in this area, will be much better versed to comment.
I think that it is a shame on both counts that Nice Triathlon has been sub-sumed by Ironman France and that Gerardmer has been lost as a venue - it was the perfect host town for an ironman with great lake, excellent (but challenging - I guess that that is the reason!) bike course and well supported town/ trail run. Nore 2xstages of Tour around Gerardmer and Vosges Ballon this year (13 and 14 I think) - will be good to see the real climbs in the area riden by the pros.
I’m doing the ironman in France this year. Living in Denmark, we have no mountains. So what I’m doing is going on a training camp in the German mountains of Harzen. It is not too far a away. If you can find some mountains within a six hours drive, it is worth going there on a training camp. Besides that, I do some mountainbiking and try to find some decent hills, that I can do again and again and again…
Good luck,
Henrik
Tom
I recognize Joop Zoetemelk. Who is the old guy on the right?
Rocketboy
Tom
I recognize Joop Zoetemelk. Who is the old guy on the right?
Rocketboy
tell me you are kidding.
From the Ironman France Race Information and Application brochure:
“The (bicycle) course is not very difficult - anybody could do it even on skates. The climbing altitude is about 1500m.”
I have no idea what “anybody could do it even on skates” means.
Yep, what used to be arguably the best bike course in Triathlon will now look like most other IM races. Too bad and thanks WTC !!!
P.S. And I’m far from being a good climber (in Swiss standards).
