Brainstorming the IMTX Rally vs Rally+Race
So, I have only gotten 50 emails or notes about the IMTX camp. Seems like people want their FREE!!! 
Looking at the calendar, I am trying to make the most of my planning and travel. The same weekend we did last year, on the 2012 calendar, is the SAME weekend as the Galveston 70.3.
Part of me sez we'll lose some traffic, but we'd probably lose them the weekend before (tapering/about to go away) and the weekend after anyway (recovering/just went away). So I am thinking of combing the two.
Athlete registration for Galveston closes at 7pm, and is 1.5 hours from The Woodlands. I could do the camp starting Thursday night, then do the bike course on Friday / Saturday and dash down to Galveston to suffer in a race.
Would anyone else be up for that kind of a schedule or would you all just make fun of me / curse at me on Sunday when you are running on your own?
Lemmeno...
Comments
I'm glad they moved it back to early April from where it was the last few years. Even at that time of year, it can still be hot and VERY humid.
Patrick, you will lose not just some but probably most of your local (local-ish) traffic. I'd be willing to bet the percentage of people doing both the Texas 70.3 and IMTX is much higher than you think.
No. Texas 70.3 was April 10th last year. The Kemah International was the same weekend.
I'd say go closer to IMTX because people will be in long ride mode anyway.
Of course, I'm not doing IMTX next year so I don't really have a dog in this fight.
It's just that everyone I know that is doing IMTX is also doing Galveston. I doubt I'm unique in that manner.
Would you want to ride your bike 100 miles the day and/or two before a 70.3? Maybe you would because your nuts but it was otherwise rhetorical.
What's the point in bothering with the 70.3 at that point because your race is gonna suck. Once again, I think you'll lose a huge percentage of your potential customer base. I also think the perception would be that you (EN) didn't pay any attention to the local race schedule. I can almost guarantee the first thing people would think if they saw the EN IMTX Rally was March 30-April 1 would be, "Isn't Galveston that weekend?"
I see your conundrum with the Boston Marathon though. You'd either have to go the last weekend in April (three weeks before IMTX, sually longest week in any training plan and rolls right into everyone's taper) or mid-March or try your luck the same weekend as the Texas 70.3. I could be completely overestimating the Galveston Effect but I don't think I am.
If you aren't looking to ride a particualr course, Ausitn would be a good place to get in an epic rally.
I spoke to a few folks I know (two of which did the rally this past year) and each of them said they would not do the rally if it was the same weekend as Galveston. They were all cool with the last weekend in April. They were more cool with the weekend before that but I told them Patrick was running the Boston Marathon the Monday before and he'd probably be a little worn out. They were willing to cut you some slack. ;-)
Sounds like a good plan.