Hi everyone. I just spent 5 days in Mont Tremblant on a combo relaxing vacation with the wife / big bike training week. I thought it might be useful to post some of the things I learned from that experience to help others who might not be familiar with the course.
Please note that I'm a fairly big guy – 6"2" and 200 lbs. If you are a smaller, lighter person than riding this course may be a very different experience for you. Also please note that I'm just returning from a series of injuries that kept me out of serious training for 2 years. I only mention this because for my size my FTP is much lower than it use to be – it was 275w but since I'm just getting back into training after a long time, it is now only about 215w. Not a lot of power to drag my a$$ up the hills 
Over the 5 vacation days I've ridden the IMMT course twice, and the Ch. Duplessis out & back (the hardest section) 4 times. What follows is my own personal notes on that experience.
The IMMT Bike course has several distinct parts:
1) Ch. Mont Ryan out (~7 miles))
2) Hwy 117 out and back (~24 miles)
3) Main Street, St Jovite (small out and back) + a short jaunt up Hwy 117 back to Mont Ryan (~4 miles)
4) Ch. Mont Ryan back (~7 miles)
5) Ch. Duplessis out and back (~13 miles)
Ch. Mont Ryan Out and Back (7 mi each direction)
This is a nice ride out from transition to Hwy 117. Largish rolling climbs, nothing too steep or too long. I didn't find a significant time difference between directions (comparing out & back) when I held my power fairly constant. However my WKO does indicate that it is net downhill on the way out and net uphill on the way back. But my time for those sections didn't differ by more than 1-2 minutes.
Hwy 117 out and back (24 mi)
Both times I road the course, the ride out on Hwy 117 was significantly quicker than the ride back. A difference of 10 minutes for me.
I think that is due to 2 factors:
1) The prevailing wind was always at my back on the way out and into me on the way back into town. Not sure if this is normal or not, but happened on both days for me.
2) It is net downhill on the way out and net uphill on the way back. And on the way back there is one very (!) long steep climb that is pretty significant.
In the end, I think Hwy 117 out is probably the fastest section of the course.
Main Street, St Jovite (4 mi)
This is just a short little section through town. Basically its flat until you hit a steep climb just before you turn around and come back. But the climb is fairly short so really not too much to be concerned with.
Ch. Duplessis Out and Back (12 mi)
This section I did 4 times over the holiday (rode the section as part of other longer routes in the area). The ride out is net uphill, the way back is net downhill but still with some steep climbs and one of them prolonged.
Bottom line – this section is freakin' hilly. The good news is that the hills are quite short; the bad news is they are very steep (12+ degree grade). They saved the most difficult part for last.
I was riding 12-27 cassettes with a compact crank and I had to get out of the saddle to climb 8 times on the way out and 3 times on the way back. Just did not have enough gears on my bike to stay in the saddle and keep the power under control in that section, especially on the way out. Getting out of the saddle 11 times in such a short space of time is a lot …
My conclusions on this section are that I need to:
- Increase my power significantly (realistically not going to happen in 7 weeks we have left)
- Decrease my weight significantly to improve power/weight (realistically not going to happen in the 7 weeks we have left)
- Get some extra gears
So of course I'm trying to improve (1) and (2), but I went to my local bike shop today and ordered two cassettes to try out – an 11-28 and a 12-30. I don't necessarily like the gaps in them, but I need to find a solution to the hills on the back end of the course to try to save my legs for the run.
We are going up to Mont Tremblant again in about 2 weeks with the Ottawa Sleeper Cell and I'll try out the cassettes to see which I will end up going with on race day.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions let me know!
Mike.
Comments
Great write up Mike! I think extra gears will help, as will more practice riding smooth on those hills. Plus we still have several weeks to go so there will be some gains in ability, and don't forget the course will feel different when you are rested from the taper etc!
Do you have a garmin tcx file from this ride that you can share? I am wondering about trying to replicate the hills on my RR. (I toyed with the idea of going up there for the May long weekend, but the 11 hour drive each way would severely strain the FAUs (family approval units) I think).
Yes, I have the TCX file from my Garmin. Not sure how you would use it for your training on another location, but I have it. You are more than welcome to it.
I'm not sure how I would get it to you. I could send it to you from email? You can reach me at michaelmcmahon99@gmail.com.
Mike.
Hi Mike. Thanks for the reply. I was more interested in seeing the course profile and trying to replicate some of the grades around here. Now that I think about it, I don't know if the TCX has that (I think its a GPX file). If your workouts are automatically uploaded to garmin connect you could post the link to the activity page and I think we could all see what we are up against. Don't worry if you you don't have garmin connect, its not a big deal.
Satish
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/309676830
Note that it is just a hair short of the full course. I didn't know where the turn around was on Duplessis (I do now!). So its short ~ 2 miles (Duplessis is 1 mile longer out + 1 mile longer back.
If you have any questions or if you can't see the data correctly let me know.
Mike.
Mike.
Looking at the TCX attached though, I just want to point one thing out, there's not actually 6k feet of climb per loop. If the full course really was 12k of climb, it'd be a bloodbath, but honestly, Tremblant is a pretty fast course. I can't tell you what the 'real' elevation gain is, my Edge 800 recorded about 7k of climb over the full 112 miles using barometric altitude, and that "feels" about right, but at the same time, Garmin elevation correction still tries to tell me there is 11k of climb over the full course-- again I just don't buy that.
All and all, you have nice rolling hills for the first segment of the course, followed by a super fast and generally flat stretch out on HWY 117. The return on 117 does always seem slower, you will most likely hit a headwind here on the 2nd loop of the full, but probably be fine on the half. There is one notable climb on the return leg of 117 but it is very straightforward, just mind your watts and go steady up it.
The climbing on Duplessis is much more technical, lots of short but steep bumps as described, chained together by brief intermissions of flatter sections, it's basically like a staircase. In order to have a fast race here, it's imperative you ride the steep sections smart and carry your power through the flats that chain them together, and more importantly, maintain the power at the turnaround and back down the descents. I can't tell you how many people I passed in the full who were spent and just coasting down Duplessis.
Couple all of this with probably 90% of the course being on fresh and smooth pavement, and it's basically pretty much my dream bike course. I can't wait to go back and do this race again.
Thanks! This will be my first half iron distance ( and only 4th triathlon of any kind) so I am getting pretty nervous/excited/freaked out.
Really looking forward to meeting everyone in person!