IMCdA and Cassette Choice?

GSmith821

Team,

I just changed to an SRM compact crank (50/34..172.5mm) from a standard (53/39) and was wondering your ideas for cassette for IMCdA.  I have seen Jenks' Wiki on Compact Cranks (which is killer) and the IM Gearing Standards.  This is more of...if you were me, what would you choose?

So, about me...starting 3rd full season of triathlon with no endurance sport background until running in summer 2009.  Numerous Sprints, 2 Oly, and 1 HIM.  Currently, FTP of 228w and 3.2 w/kg.  Will be running Zipp 808's front and rear on my Cervelo P3 at IMCdA.

Thoughts?

 

Paul Scholz

 @ George I have the same set-up and I will be running either an 11-27 or 28.

I mapped the currently rumored new bike course on "Ride with GPS" here:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/921247

that route is showing a max grade of 27.1% and quite a few >15%.

as Rich would say, "Mo gears is better"

Coach Rich

Paul,

Thanks for mapping the new course. However, 27% is crazy, crazy steep. Hwy 95 is a major major road with lots of traffic and, in my road trippin' experience, don't build those roads steeper than about 8% of they don't have to. I think I'd wait to make the call on how steep the route is until we see reports from locals who are/have ridden it.

That said, 25-12 with a compact is a very good gearing for just about everything, but also nice to have a 26, 27, 28 if you need it.

tuckerm

Guys Rich is correct about getting some reports. Paul that seems like an awful lot of climbing for am Ironman. 10k+! Having said all that I ran a 27-28 on my back last year and was fine. It really allowed me to take the hills slow. But as Rich said post race maybe he has some people going up the hills a little too slow. And 27% is just sick. I couldn't imagine that on an IM course.

Paul Scholz

 I hear you all and that was what I thought too. I have found "Mapmyride" to be fairly inaccurate when it comes to elevation data and Ride with GPS to be quite accurate. (supposedly measurements calculated every second as opposed to every 5-10 of map my ride). Having siad that the 27% could be literally for 5-10 feet.

tuckerm

Yes I've found ride with gps accurate. Who knows. Maybe you guys will be climbing 10k on race day. Good luck with that!

GSmith821

Profile on website lists it as 2300' climb per lap.

Paul Scholz

 George -- Mapmyride lists the ft gained at 2300

tuckerm

Well that makes much more sense. Your ride with gps link obviously has it wrong

Paul Scholz

 I'd bet that mapmy ride is wrong and not ride with gps

Paul Scholz

 FYI I was kidding; I am hoping that Mapmyride is correct

I have spent the last week since mapping the new route in Ride with GPS, trying to figure out how I go from being a flatlander in coastal SC to being able to climb 10K and then run a marathon ... ... ... in less than 20 weeks.

Al Truscott

 @ Paul - It's literally all in the execution. Although you may want to take a long bike weekend in NORTH Carolina, wherever it is (Boone?) that's famous as the re-birth place for Lance Armstrong's career, just to test out those execution strategies. But learning how to rein in the watts on the uphills is really the key, not practicing per se all the time on hills. A big bike weekend or two may be the ticket.

Dave Campbell

You guys should hook up and go to Boone as Al suggests and ride the Blood, Sweat and Gears course. Google it and you can download the map and que sheet of the course. I've ridden it quiet a few times. If you get comfortable on it, you won't have any more climbing/gearing issues.

Wiseman

George, Paul. Dave is right. Go up and do BSG course and you'll get all you want/ need between snake mtn and Georges gap.
George, you're already going up with us some, right ?

Bruce Thompson

I rode IMCDA last year with 11-28.  Had plenty of gear at both ends.  Also, I just looked at the new bike course map and it has only about half of the total vertical climb as the old course. 

Paul Scholz

tnx all

I am ging up t Boone the weekend of May 10th as my daughter is graduating from App State, I hve a buddy going up ith me that weekend. I am going to make that a long big bike wkend and am planning on the another trip up to do a big weekend out of Greenville. Wiseman when are you all going up?

Wiseman

Paul, not sure but flexible. Will chat with Brandenburg, George and Tom to see what works. Maybe come up 5/10 week ?

Jump4Joy19

@Bruce, the elevation gain they give is for one loop of the two-loop course. It has about the same total elevation gain on the course as before. Have heard that some of the climbs are steeper as well, though there are less turns to worry about.

jhbinsc

The premiere climb for BSG is snake mtn and it maxes at 18% for a hundred yards maybe and most walk it. Highly doubtful imcda will have anything close to this. Stay calm everyone and wait for more info and data. I'll bet a hundred bucks it'll have 5 k or less of gain on race day. I did it in 2007 and it was nothing compared to Boone, NC. More like what we have in Columbia here Paul.

Jump4Joy19

So far, I've seen the course on several sites, including MapMyRide:

http://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/view/road-cycling-map/idaho/coeur-d039alene/49551254

and Strava:

http://www.strava.com/rides/2012-im-cda-bike-recon-3312267

The course profile looks nearly identical on both sites, but the total elevation gain is different (4600 vs. 5600) and the steepness of the hills (4% vs 6%).  IMCdA's official website puts it at 4612 total gain. However, I'm still trying to figure out how IMCdA's site says that each of the two laps has 2306' elevation gain and 2310' of descent. Assuming that you start and end in the same bike transition area, I'm not sure how possible that is. Then again, Google Earth gives different elevations at different points on the surface of Coeur d'Alene Lake, so who knows. Maybe the space-time continuum warps there.

Either way, elevation gain similar to before, and steepness of the hills in the challenging, but not unreasonable range.

 

GSmith821

Thanks everyone for their responses...

I am planning on sticking with a Sram cassette and currently they only make 11-x not 12-x. So I am thinking 11-26...unless you guys tell em differently.