Anyone doing the Who Tri’s Harder Quarter or Octomax next weekend in St. Louis?
I am not doing the race because I ended up doing the Hy-Vee race this weekend instead but if you have not done The Tri’s Harder race you will really enjoy it. The location is excellent especially if you are able to stay on site and the course is challenging yet very fast.
Good luck!
I’ll be there, but only spectating & taking pictures.
Steve
I’m in…will be taking it easy since I’m doing the Effingham 1/2 the next day…
After working it the last few years I’m looking forward to racing out there again finally! Though I’m going to go short and fast and do the Octomax course.
Kind of funny, I came up with the Octomax bike course as a “surprise” bike course during Max O Mania in 2005, the course they were supposed to do was much flatter, and it was only the morning of the race everyone found out about the “new” course… now I get a little taste of my own medicine, though fortunately it isn’t a surprise…
I am doing the Octomax as with everything going on in my life I figured the extra $20 could be spent on better things…like my dog’s shots or food for me, etc. Anyway, what temps do you think the lake will be? How would you rate the bike course on hilliness? Mickstar take a lot of pics of the guy in the Mom’s Lasagna kit!
bump for answers to my questions and to let Mickstar know I will get a hold of him.
I was out there last week and the water was ~76. I swam without a wetsuit and it still felt a little warm. We have had a bout of hot weather last week which should only warm it up more. Getting some rain today and suppose to get a bit this weekend as well, but I don’t think enough to cool it down. I would be prepared to swim w/o a wet suit.
I’ll be there this weekend, but volunteering, spectating and tapering lake side 
Tony, the bike course design there is superb. You definately did a great job every year that I raced there. What I want is the name and address of the fellow who came up with the blasted run course 
I rode a 100 out there last week while staying down at a friend’s A-Frame, got up the next morning to do a little run and had to walk up the first hill I encountered 
Damn run there is humiliating.
I was out there last week and the water was ~76. I swam without a wetsuit and it still felt a little warm. We have had a bout of hot weather last week which should only warm it up more. Getting some rain today and suppose to get a bit this weekend as well, but I don’t think enough to cool it down. I would be prepared to swim w/o a wet suit.
I’ll be there this weekend, but volunteering, spectating and tapering lake side
I figured it would be warm and expect to not use a wetsuit, but I will bring it just in case! (got screwed by not having it once before and don’t want to deal with that again!
sorry house, my old email address was in my profile so I wasn’t notified you had replied, I finally fixed that this afternoon… I see that j3kyl has already answered the question about the water temps, I haven’t been out there this year but I would have to guess not wetsuit legal as well. But a good solid rain can change things, they’ve had races on Saturday and Sunday before out there where on Saturday it wasn’t wetsuit legal and then a storm rolled through and cooled the lake off, so I would come prepared for either… probably not the answer you wanted to hear!
Regarding the hilliness, I would definitely consider it fairly hilly, the Octomax course more so than the Quartermax. The first 5 miles of the course are the toughest, you’ll be on some windy and hilly roads as you go through Innsbrook Resort. Once you leave the resort you’ll have about 5 or 6 miles fairly flat sections where you can get in the aero bars and hammer, and then the last 3 or 4 miles will have some more hills.
It has actually been about a year and a half since I’ve ridden out there and I can’t decide for sure if I’m going to take my tri bike or my road bike.
I have a hard time believing you “had to walk”, especially after seeing your performance yesterday at Rec Plex! Great job!! It’s kind of a tough place to have a run that isn’t hilly, I’ll be interested to see what people think of the Quartermax run course this year, it’s going to be two loops of the Octomax Course… Should make it better for spectators and maybe a little less hilly… I’m surprised you aren’t doing Quartermax, personally if I thought I could challenge for the “Best of the US” MO title I would be signed up… I think you would have a pretty good shot, but I guess you’ve chosen to do well at AG nationals instead…
Tony,
I don’t know how doing the “three sisters” hills on that St. Gallean Loop can be ANY fun!! Either way it’s the same for all and by leaving out that most dramatic hill we might keep folks from getting too banged up!
For those wondering about the bike course…do not be intimidated, it can be ridden with some speed! The hills are short and sweet for the most part (like Tony said - inside the resort) …once outside the resort, it is time to get aero and go! There is two longish “climbs” (not real bad but they go on for a bit) one is right before we get back into the resort coming up Hwy F…
See any and all of you out there on Sat…
Paul
Appreciate it. Yeah too close to Nationals and Portland is my old College stomping grounds so I feel compelled to put on a respectable show. Rec-Plex fortunately told me that my bike legs need some recovery this week. I guess that’s what tuneup races are for though right
I look forward to seeing Daniel Bretscher and Ted square off. Should be a good race. Good luck this weekend. I’ll see you out there. Hopefully we get to stay dry on Saturday.
I’m racing Saturday in the QuarterMax (40-44). I’ve been riding out the area and it isn’t too bad with the areas I can get to (Innsbrook is gated). I’m just approaching the run like a trail race (throw time out the window) with lots of hills. Try the Pere Marquette Trail race just outside St. Louis in December if you want to see a brutal run course (advertised as the toughest race in the Midwest and I agree with it). Another one of my Tri-Club member (Momentum Cycles Tri Club) may be racing in the 35-39 age group (Barro).