iron canada whistler bike course.
Pretty complete info has been given by folks so far. I will just add and post in general area so can be accessed by future whistler races.
Toughest course of the eight I have done so far. By a lot. Have to scale back time goal a lot. Not just long ups and downs and the one long flat. Lots of shorter/sharper stuff in between.
The highway part is pretty dangerous. Especially from Whistler to Pemberton. Downhills. Poor and bumpy shoulder. Poor drivers. Hopefully will be better on race day. Hopefully the bike lanes will be set up so the bikes going towards Pemberton have the smooth road with not even an option to ride fast and downhill on the shoulder. Riding the course this past weekend, I got a high speed wobble that somehow I survived upright without the RV running over me. Due to combo of rough shoulder, fast speed, wind buffeting from cars, perhaps poor braking from me – a perfect wobble storm. Lots of bikes out riding so at least there is company. For pre-race practice, for the somewhat more timid, consider doing the Whistler to up Callaghan valley bit and back 1-2 times. Then DRIVE down from Whistler to the start of the Pemberton Valley flat and do that 1-2 times.
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Whistler to start of Callaghan Valley climb. Busy highway but shoulders fine.
Callaghan Valley climb. Tough but fun. Beautiful. Some varied smaller ups/downs between the grinds. Good place to settle the mind, on the long grinds. Though will be hard to settle the heart rate. Gearing – make sure compact in the front, 11-28 in the back. Consider 11-32.
Bottom of Callaghan Valley to Whistler. Again, highway but fine.
Whistler to start of Pemberton Valley flat section. Concerning as above. Downhills on poor shoulders.
Pemberton Valley flat section. About 30 miles. Beautiful. Peaceful. Serene. Get in the aerobars, crank it up, and Zen out.
End of Pemberton Valley flat section to Whistler. Concerning as above. But mostly climbing so not as scary from a car/bike accident standpoint. But some very significant climbs. Again, bring the lowest gearing you can get on your bike. Maybe try to calorie and fluid pre-load just for this bit. Around 104 miles, as one can see on the elevation map, things level off. Some milder rollers, mostly in the aerobars, that feel good after the hills grinds. Oh, and then get off the bike and do that marathon thing.
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As far as the elevation gain goes, my Garmin shows 6200 ft which is much higher than the published gain of 4200 ft on Ironman site (this doesn't include the section from T1 to the village). The guy rescued me was saying 6000+, so it looks like that is what we are up against.