Yes, I did IM France in Nice in 2008. The course is excellent. The sea swim from a pebble beach in pleasant water (but always wetsuit I believe) is a 2 lapper, roughly 2000m/1600m. That leads into a vast transition area and the incredible bike course. I think the course is slightly short (most people seem to get around 172-175k on their speedo) but it is incredibly challenging. About 50k into it you hit a continuous climb of about 20k, where you pick up 1000m of altitude. There's a couple more solid climbs for a total of around 2000m. 120-150km is a lot of technical decending where you need to be a very competent bike handler if you are going at speed. Last 25-30k is the drag back to the beachfront and you can have a headwind here which can make it a tough stretch. The run is 4 loops of 10.5k on the beachfront, basically from the centre of town to the airport, all flat as a pancake. It was around 35 deg C when I hit the road on the run, but you will start to get some shade if you are 12hr+ as the sun dips below the beachfront hotels. My family had hired sunbeds on one of the hotel beaches and popped up to give me a cheer every hour (got longer though......). A lot of people dropped out on the run due to the heat in 2008 and there was a hell of a lot on drips when I looked into the medical tent, 2009 was slightly cooler I think. Big crowds at the start and for the run, but as the bike is 1 loop apart from the first and last 20k or so, not so many around but when they are they are very enthusiastic!
The race is well organised by Triangle who also do Austria and South Africa and several european 70.3s, the race director being a well known French triathlete from the 90s who had some big battles with Mark Allen at the old Nice race.
Most people opt for a road bike due to the amount of climbing and the technical descents (including the top pros if you ever see any coverage) but you will see plenty of TT bikes as well. In fact some people just use a TT frame and a normal set of bars.......
Loads of accomodation in the area, I had hired a villa about 15k away and had no problems getting in and out of Nice, just make sure you have any toll road money you need on the morning of the race. Plenty of people stay right in the centre, but the year I did it, it was midsummer the day before (which seems to be a big party) and there was a jazz festival on as well so the streets were pretty lively until the early hours.
I can really recommend the race, 1 day I will go back for more and tackle it EN style! Any other questions please come back to me.
Great info for the race. I live in Montana, where I have access to some pretty long climbs as well as the associated descents. Im a pretty light fella, my race weight is about 145, so the hills have never been too much a problem for me. But I will have to get some skills with the down hill.
Were the people nice? Im hoping to make this a sort of family vacation. It didnt take much convinving of my wife to say "So, how would you like to go the French Rivera?"
Depending on what I have in 2011, I will most likely go with the lightest bike setup I can get my hands on, road or TT.
I can only relay my people experience from a decade ago, but the people of Nice were tremendous, welcoming and friendly. I thoroughly enjoyed spending some tourist time there. Nothing like the stereotype of Paris (where there's many very friendly people, too, but it has a bad reputation for being rude and unfriendly to tourists).
Excellent, this is getting better and better. I also hear there is a pancake flat marathon with a topless beach to the side the entire way. Just saying.
I did it in the inaugural - or re-inaugural year. 2006? 2005? Two main observations were:
(1) it's an incredible "destination" race. The scenery is gorgeous. Unspeakably beautiful riding. Exciting city. A lot to do. Close to even more to do if you want to add day trips. Topless beaches. life-changing dining. It's an early season race, so Nice isn't too crowded. But it's still a happening place. (2) It is a bloody tough race. any IM is a long day, but the bike on this one crushed me. Like, 2 hrs longer than my previous race, with zero left for the run.
You're light and it sounds like you have a chance to get a lot of miles of hills in your legs, but it's definitely a race where you need to adjust your expectations of a finish time before you even set foot on the course, and be prepared for a lot of slogging on the bike. Also good to have some skills in racing in the heat.
I would definitely recommend it. I mentioned the beaches are topless, right?
I'll see if I can find a Triathlete magazine feature they did a few years ago in my archives and send it along.
Regarding the family vacation, I hired a villa for 2 weeks with the race on the middle weekend so I had a week of prep and a week of downtime. I had my wife and 2 kids, sister in law and her daughter, both parents in law and my Dad there as support. The weather is fantastic at that time of year but as the race is usually the third or forth weekend of June you don't hit "High" season (which seems to happen first weekend of July for the French school holidays). As others have said, Nice is a great place and there are some fantastic restaurants in the area (some are certainly "wallet challenging"), good day trips to places like Monaco or Valurus (where Picasso lived), and excellent beaches - if you want sand you will need to head outside of Nice - Cannes has some good ones. If you want to look at apartments/villas etc try www.abritel.fr (I booked my villa through this system - you speak directly to the owners), while for hotels try the normal sources.
Regarding the race I did get the feeling that this is one of the harder european races (which is the main reason it doesn't fill up quickly) along with Lanzarote. If you are after a PB/PR then Austria, Germany, Roth are all better options. But as a venue I think it is hard to beat and your family will certainly prefer this to Frankfurt!
I did this race also in 2005 as my first IM. Nice is a fantastic place to visit. People are all very nice and welcoming. Food and dining is world class. I'm sure the family would have a very good time.
The bike course is very hilly, with lots of narrow, twisting roads. I used a road bike, only because that's all I had at the time. Just saw a recording of IM Monaco 70.3 (which is only a couple of hours away from Nice) and all the pros were using road bikes with clip on aero bars.
I loved the run with the flat four loops. You could almost always see the turn around point and it made it very easy mentally; 5K out, 5K back, repeat! It can get very hot though.
As to the topless beaches, beware that most of the topless women are 70 years old . Can't tell you what my 12 year old daughter said when she saw a nude 400 lb. guy loafing on the beach!
HI, I'm actually signed up for this race. I through Road bars on my tri bike, with ITU style aero bars just in case. I'm taking the wife and making a european vacation out of it.
i did this race and used road bike with road bars and clip on small aero bars, as you describe. that's a good set up.
for those of you using tri bike, that's fine too, but i'd adjust the seat back and assume a more upright position than when riding flat.
at the beginning and end, there's a good stretch of flat where any type of aero position would be helpful. of course, big climbs in between, but beautiful.
let me know of any specific questions regarding the course.
CHeck this out http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/29735 interactive map of IM france bike course. I decided after my ..challenging... Wildflower I am going to actually preplan a race, so I am figuring out how long each should take, when to take nutrition etc.. I know when it starts it will be hard to stick to a plan, but it will keep me motivated, and take some of the nerves away
Comments
Yes, I did IM France in Nice in 2008. The course is excellent. The sea swim from a pebble beach in pleasant water (but always wetsuit I believe) is a 2 lapper, roughly 2000m/1600m. That leads into a vast transition area and the incredible bike course. I think the course is slightly short (most people seem to get around 172-175k on their speedo) but it is incredibly challenging. About 50k into it you hit a continuous climb of about 20k, where you pick up 1000m of altitude. There's a couple more solid climbs for a total of around 2000m. 120-150km is a lot of technical decending where you need to be a very competent bike handler if you are going at speed. Last 25-30k is the drag back to the beachfront and you can have a headwind here which can make it a tough stretch. The run is 4 loops of 10.5k on the beachfront, basically from the centre of town to the airport, all flat as a pancake. It was around 35 deg C when I hit the road on the run, but you will start to get some shade if you are 12hr+ as the sun dips below the beachfront hotels. My family had hired sunbeds on one of the hotel beaches and popped up to give me a cheer every hour (got longer though......
). A lot of people dropped out on the run due to the heat in 2008 and there was a hell of a lot on drips when I looked into the medical tent, 2009 was slightly cooler I think. Big crowds at the start and for the run, but as the bike is 1 loop apart from the first and last 20k or so, not so many around but when they are they are very enthusiastic!
The race is well organised by Triangle who also do Austria and South Africa and several european 70.3s, the race director being a well known French triathlete from the 90s who had some big battles with Mark Allen at the old Nice race.
Most people opt for a road bike due to the amount of climbing and the technical descents (including the top pros if you ever see any coverage) but you will see plenty of TT bikes as well. In fact some people just use a TT frame and a normal set of bars.......
Loads of accomodation in the area, I had hired a villa about 15k away and had no problems getting in and out of Nice, just make sure you have any toll road money you need on the morning of the race. Plenty of people stay right in the centre, but the year I did it, it was midsummer the day before (which seems to be a big party) and there was a jazz festival on as well so the streets were pretty lively until the early hours.
I can really recommend the race, 1 day I will go back for more and tackle it EN style! Any other questions please come back to me.
Thanks!
Great info for the race. I live in Montana, where I have access to some pretty long climbs as well as the associated descents. Im a pretty light fella, my race weight is about 145, so the hills have never been too much a problem for me. But I will have to get some skills with the down hill.
Were the people nice? Im hoping to make this a sort of family vacation. It didnt take much convinving of my wife to say "So, how would you like to go the French Rivera?"
Depending on what I have in 2011, I will most likely go with the lightest bike setup I can get my hands on, road or TT.
Thanks again for the info.
Greg
Greg,
I can only relay my people experience from a decade ago, but the people of Nice were tremendous, welcoming and friendly. I thoroughly enjoyed spending some tourist time there. Nothing like the stereotype of Paris (where there's many very friendly people, too, but it has a bad reputation for being rude and unfriendly to tourists).
Mike
Excellent, this is getting better and better. I also hear there is a pancake flat marathon with a topless beach to the side the entire way. Just saying.
(1) it's an incredible "destination" race. The scenery is gorgeous. Unspeakably beautiful riding. Exciting city. A lot to do. Close to even more to do if you want to add day trips. Topless beaches. life-changing dining. It's an early season race, so Nice isn't too crowded. But it's still a happening place.
(2) It is a bloody tough race. any IM is a long day, but the bike on this one crushed me. Like, 2 hrs longer than my previous race, with zero left for the run.
You're light and it sounds like you have a chance to get a lot of miles of hills in your legs, but it's definitely a race where you need to adjust your expectations of a finish time before you even set foot on the course, and be prepared for a lot of slogging on the bike. Also good to have some skills in racing in the heat.
I would definitely recommend it. I mentioned the beaches are topless, right?
I'll see if I can find a Triathlete magazine feature they did a few years ago in my archives and send it along.
Dave
Regarding the family vacation, I hired a villa for 2 weeks with the race on the middle weekend so I had a week of prep and a week of downtime. I had my wife and 2 kids, sister in law and her daughter, both parents in law and my Dad there as support. The weather is fantastic at that time of year but as the race is usually the third or forth weekend of June you don't hit "High" season (which seems to happen first weekend of July for the French school holidays). As others have said, Nice is a great place and there are some fantastic restaurants in the area (some are certainly "wallet challenging"), good day trips to places like Monaco or Valurus (where Picasso lived), and excellent beaches - if you want sand you will need to head outside of Nice - Cannes has some good ones. If you want to look at apartments/villas etc try www.abritel.fr (I booked my villa through this system - you speak directly to the owners), while for hotels try the normal sources.
Regarding the race I did get the feeling that this is one of the harder european races (which is the main reason it doesn't fill up quickly) along with Lanzarote. If you are after a PB/PR then Austria, Germany, Roth are all better options. But as a venue I think it is hard to beat and your family will certainly prefer this to Frankfurt!
The bike course is very hilly, with lots of narrow, twisting roads. I used a road bike, only because that's all I had at the time. Just saw a recording of IM Monaco 70.3 (which is only a couple of hours away from Nice) and all the pros were using road bikes with clip on aero bars.
I loved the run with the flat four loops. You could almost always see the turn around point and it made it very easy mentally; 5K out, 5K back, repeat! It can get very hot though.
As to the topless beaches, beware that most of the topless women are 70 years old
tom
HI, I'm actually signed up for this race. I through Road bars on my tri bike, with ITU style aero bars just in case. I'm taking the wife and making a european vacation out of it.
How many people from EN are coming?
Jason:
i did this race and used road bike with road bars and clip on small aero bars, as you describe. that's a good set up.
for those of you using tri bike, that's fine too, but i'd adjust the seat back and assume a more upright position than when riding flat.
at the beginning and end, there's a good stretch of flat where any type of aero position would be helpful. of course, big climbs in between, but beautiful.
let me know of any specific questions regarding the course.
over and out.
gh
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/29735
interactive map of IM france bike course.
I decided after my ..challenging... Wildflower I am going to actually preplan a race, so I am figuring out how long each should take, when to take nutrition etc.. I know when it starts it will be hard to stick to a plan, but it will keep me motivated, and take some of the nerves away