IMSG Course Preview - This Weekend!!
Hey Gang,
As mentoned a few weeks ago, we are pre-riding the IMSG course this Saturday, 1/30/10, and will be doing the actual loop leaving out of Sand Hallow. The total ride is 67 miles.
Here is the agenda:
Sat - meet at the sand Hallow Aquatic Center at 9 a.m. for a swim. Then at about 10:30 a.m.'ish, head out to the Sand Hallow Reservoir and start the ride. We will keep some cars in St George so we can schlep people back to the lake to get our cars, while some stay in St George and watch the bikes. From there, I think a few people will run part of the course for those that are coming back on Sunday night.
Sun - meet at the run start in St George at 9 a.m.'ish to run part of the run course. I will probably only run 6-8 miles. Some will run 12 or more.
From iamTri.com, we have Carl, Jeff, Chris, Gary and Kevin going. And there are at least another 10+ people coming down from the SLC area that I have coached in the past, or are just fellow triathletes. So I bet we'll have at least 15-20 people total....great turn-out!
If you are not on the list above, and would like to hook up with us, please let me know.
Dave
801.573.7383
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Recker on -
Yep, that pretty much sums it up. My exact thoughts after I rode it in October. Especially that grind up to Vejo. There will people walking their bikes up that.
Thanks for the report Dave. Hope to meet you one of these days. A group of us from Grand Junction will be riding the course on Thursday, March 25'th, then driving down to Vegas for a Half Ironman, Showdown at Sundown, on March 27'th, as a warm up for St. George. If anyone wants to ride with us please let me know.
Jeff
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Permalink Reply by Van Deezy on -
Hey it was fun to see a few of you out there yesterday, hope that road part of the bike loop with the 25 mile an hour head wind in the "downhill" from Veyo to St George got ya reved up, fun course but power will definitively be something to keep a watch on the whole day!
Mahalo
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Permalink Reply by Brad Mastros on -
Did anyone do the whole run loop on Sunday? I did it, but my Garmin ran out of juice five minutes
into the run so I didn't get the elevation data and had no idea what my pace or heart rate was at.
All I know is that it took me around 1hr 35 min, but I didn't do the Pioneer Park loop because it looked
like a trail run. Anyone out there no what the total elevation gain is for the 13.1 loop.
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Permalink Reply by Coach Dave on -
Hey Brad,
I know Jeff did the whole loop so check with him. It was great to train with you the other day!
Dave
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Permalink Reply by Brad Mastros on
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Thanks Dave, I saw his report. Likewise, it was fun
riding with you and picking your brain a bit. Hope to see you in Oceanside.
Brad
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Permalink Reply by Marcia Foster on -
Hey Dave, thanks for all your input and posts. SGIM will be my first full IM, and I am getting pretty nervous! What kind of gearing are you going with? I live in TX and am concerned about all of the elevation changes, although I currently train up near Oklahoma and there are some pretty good hills.
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Permalink Reply by Shannon Koch on -
Can someone give details on Pioneer Park? It is just a loop that goes off the road? We drove the course and didn't see a road to drive there, so maybe a short trail section? Not that it matters, it's a short section, just curious I guess. I've never had this much tri communication before an IM, so this is fun :)
Shannon
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Permalink Reply by Amy on -
It's a pulloff into a park that has trails.....beautiful views over St. George. It will be nice to be off the pavement for a short while.
Did you guys find the loopty loops on the start of the bike loop?
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Permalink Reply by Justin Brown on -
Total newbie...just joined and first post. I appreciate the tips and ideas here. This will be my first full tri, and actually my first tri of any distance, so it's helpful to get some ideas on learning to be a triathlete from those of you who are veterans. I did go train on the course a couple of weeks ago, so i'll add a few tidbits if they are at all helpful from a rookie:
Bike:
Rode the loop twice on March 26th. The story of the day for me was wind (wind profile towards the bottom of the page). I don't know exactly where the weather station is that this pulls from, but it gives a general idea. I could hear the wind when i woke up (gusts around 6am were around 40 mph). Was going to postpone the ride till the 27th and run the 26th, but decided i better figure out the course in the wind just in case. For most of the day the wind was in the 15-25mph range with gusts into the 30s. The wind was blowing mostly from the NW, which meant a headwind on the flats out to the canyon where the climbing begins.
And i was riding solo, on my road bike with no tri bars (didn't have any then), so i was like a freaking sail out there.
Wind seemed to funnel a bit down that canyon, so it meant climbing into the wind. Was riding a 39 ring up front and a 25 in the back. There were probably 4 pitches i had to pop out of the saddle for a bit, but had no problem with that gearing turning it over (and actually don't mind climbing out of the saddle anyway, and like climbing in general). If this were just a road race and not a tri, i'd be fine with the 25 in back, but I picked up an 11-28 for the back anyway to not burn too much on those hills, particularly if it's windy. The steepest parts of the climbs are all relatively short. One other athlete I talked to the next day said she'd talked to people that got off and walked their bikes. I was never close to that, but i don't know what gearing they were in.
The strong NW wind went from a headwind to a tailwind when i made that hairpin turn to climb up to Veyo, and it was actually easier going up that hill with the wind than the approach to it against the wind (until right close to the top that gets a bit steeper).
The plus side of all that were some really fast miles on the way back, till the wind started to gust a bit more from the west as a crosswind. The shoulder disappears towards the bottom, and the strong cross wind kept gusting me further into the road than i wanted to be with fast traffic. Second lap I took the bike path that runs parallel to the course starting at Snow Canyon. It's more of a roller coaster than the road, but safer, (and it's fun!) and recommended if you're just scouting the course rather than riding down bluff street with traffic going 60mph.
I guess my wind summary is that it can be really nasty, and although it usually seems to blow more from the southwest, don't take that for granted. Here's a chart of the St. George weather for the last month (wind 3rd one down) that shows it's a roll of the dice. Yesterday they reported gusts around noon in the 50mph range.
The one other bit i'd leave is that the road is really bouncy for a couple of miles once you make the right hand turn onto HW91. I actually stopped peddling a couple of times i was bouncing so much. The wheel rut was smoother, so i ended up in there in the middle of the lane, and just kept looking back for cars every 5 seconds since i couldn't hear with the wind. It doesn't last for too long (couple of miles???), so don't let it get in your head when you hit that section (mile 29 or so on the first lap).
The way up through Gunlock should be pretty on race day, with fruit tress, farms, quaint little houses.
Run:
I don't really have much to add about the run course...as someone mentioned there is a soft shoulder for lots of it once you start up out of town on Red Hills Pkwy. I loved leaving the city and getting up above it in the desert and looking down to where you ran from. The Pioneer Park loop is an asphalt trail, unless I got the wrong trail as it wasn't that well marked.
Summary:
I don't have anything to compare this course (run&bike) to from a triathlon perspective since i've never done one. But the elevations aren't unreasonable from a road race or a trail run, done individually. Should definitely be doable, IF people dial their expectations back in terms of putting a time in, especially if the wind acts up. The nice thing about those of us for whom this will be the first full tri, is that we'll be putting in a PR regardless!
Going down to SG again this weekend and will spend a little time on the course. If i think of anything else I'll add it on, or feel free to query.
JB
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Permalink Reply by Marcia Foster on
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Thanks for all the information. This will be my first Full IM, but I have been doing triathlons for 10 years. Have you checked out the swim venue? If so, what do you think? I have heard speculation about the swim portion being canceled if it is too cold or too windy That would be a bummer.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Brown on
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re: Swim venue.
I have ridden around the lake several times on my bike, but haven't swam in it yet. I'll be doing that this Friday or Saturday though and let you know. I expect the water temp to be around 55-60 F.
One of my friends doing the race emailed the race director last May about the possibility of the swim being canceled. . My friend is a swimmer (collegiate) and has had the swim canceled on him a couple of times in triathlons at the same venue around the same time of year.
The race director emailed him back a 1,400 word(!) reply. He indicated that if conditions dictate, cancellation would be a possibility.
One excerpt:
"The solution is a duathlon. This plan is in place at any Ironman triathlon you do."
He did mention that he recalls three or four Ironman Tri's that ended up being a duathlon. The main tone of the email is to not worry about stuff you can't control. Everybody will be disappointed if the swim gets canceled, but it's not that likely, and it isn't a decision they would take lightly.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Wasserman on -
Today's wind forecast on Accuweather.com for Veyo is 3 S 5 SW 5 SSW 6 SSW 7 SSW 7 SSW. This would be nice on race day, rather than some of the nastier numbers that have been occurring in the past few weeks:). The forecasts are also starting to get warmer.
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