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IM Santa Rosa bike course
I was wondering if anyone has heard what the revisions to the bike course are for 2018. I see on the website under bike course that a new course is coming soon. I live about two hours away and I was hoping to do a few rides on the actual course. Anyone have any info?
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Are you watching the updates on the FB site? https://www.facebook.com/IRONMANSantaRosa/
The participant list is out. I'm not racing but have several friends doing it.
Athletes will be traversing the beautiful Sonoma County wine country in the Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley and Dry Creek Valleys. In 2018 the bike course returns to its roots and is bringing back the Chalk Hill Road section. This beautiful course will showcase all the beauty of the Sonoma County wine country.
Originally from: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/santa-rosa/course/bike.aspx#ixzz56XqCWZig
Is Chalk Hill good or bad?
The FOP of an IM is a runner's race, you are a runner, and now you just need as many other runners to torch themselves on the bike. Just like the Three Beetches on the second loop of Moo and the climb to White Face Mt. + the Three Bears on the second loop of Placid, the presence of Chalk Hill at the end of the second loop in SR is a huge gift. Enjoy it.
MR
I'm local too and have been trying to find time to get up there to preview the course. If anyone wants to make it a group outing, let me know and we could coordinate.
https://www.vrbo.com/162988#summary
SS
So I got up to Sonoma yesterday to preview the bike course. It was sunny, cold (ok, cold for here - 47 degrees) and there was snow on the higher peaks around the valley as we have had lots of rain the last week.
Road conditions varied throughout. For the most part they were quite good, but a few locations need mention:
- Mark West Road. Miserable. Especially on a short steep downhill section. Its also a narrow road
- Wohler road. Some sketchy areas on a short downhill section. Going over the bridge is fun
-Westside - fine until you get to the end with the freeway in sight. dicey going over the bridge and some road damage from roots
-Dry Creek - lovely
- Canyon - long slow uphill, but surprisingly was able to maintain speed without pushing watts. The downhill after the cemetery is quick and the left hand turn onto Chianti is dicey. Assume there will be speed control there. Heed their warnings.
Chiati was fine
I then took asti up to Cloverdale to fill water bottles (northbound Asti is not part of the course, southbound is).
- Asti had many short steep rollers. If I was out w my friends on a road bike I would power over them. However for this, it was shift up up up and then down down down. Every time my watts would creep up, I had @Shaughn Simmons voice in my head telling me to maintain even watts so my VI would stay tight. The road has some poor sections early on then smooths out
-Geyserville Rd needs surfacing as you roll into town. Enjoy the odd art at the corner of Geyserville and Canyon, in front of the elementary school (where they grow grapes - of course) and a cool bike wheel sculpture on the left just after the school.
-128 is either amazing or junk. Many sections, especially under the trees need to be resurfaced. None of these are loose a waterbottle type but they are grip your aerobars tight sections. Part of the problem is the light as it dapples through the oaks making the changes hard to see. Short rollers or flat throughout
-Chalk hill road is winding with quick rollers. Pay attention especially since you will be tired. Again the oaks make it difficult to spot areas of poor pavement until you are right on them. The hill itself isn't steep until the end, just meter our your effort. Lots of people will charge it early and be fooled by false summits (as I have when out bombing it with friends). The downhill is dicey - quick, lots of turns and lots of shade. You can carry alot of speed if you want, but hold on tight.
-Faught and Shiloh back to the car were fine.
All in all it was really fun. I hadn't been up there in a while and I have great memories on those roads either riding or visiting wineries. Surprisingly, I didn't see much fire damage on the ride - despite big fires up near Geyserville. As you go through Santa Rosa it is much more obvious - not blackened hills, but burned trees and carcasses of buildings.
It was a great day and makes me super excited about May. 64 miles, 3:35, IF 0.83, VI 1.05, HR 151
Remember the people that pass you powering up the hills. You will get to say hi to them again when you pass them on the run!
Thanks for taking the time to share the details!
I target ~285 TSS for an IM bike leg. Mismanaging hills can eat that up quickly. The lower the V.I., the higher the ROI and efficiency for any given TSS score.
My last IM was IMMT (August 2017) where I did not stay patient/disciplined. I burned too many matches on the last half of the bike course, accumulated ~320 TSS. Had a strong bike ride and passed ~600+. Upon mile 15 of the run, I began to deal with those consequences despite having a healthy CTL going into the race.
Practicing this in one or two full race rehearsals, which includes a 3,800M swim up front, really helps you get your mindset around pacing and fueling before IM race day.
SS
When I did the BBS version of Oceanside 70.3 last weekend I got a TSS of 185 and a VI of 1.03. That seems like that could work for me for the half distance.
@markthoma brings up good points about the dapple shade. It has taken lots of Vineman racers down.
185 TSS sounds perfect. Next thing to do is find another weekend where you swim 1,900M or 2,200 yds up front, then bike the same. This will change the nutritional needs and mental focus requirements and better simulate race day stress......
Looking strong Leard!
Those tables and other information can be found in the Racing with Power files in the wiki...
You could have said "it's in the Wiki" but instead posted all of the above.
Your comment on the back half of IM bike losing focus happened to me at Texas ... crash. I'm still traumatized.
I won't be able to ride the full course ahead of time either. My plan is to drive the full thing and then ride some of the interesting parts. What would you recommend to ride for a recon? Asti? Chalk Hill Rd?
I would ride the length of chalk hill (128->Faught) and T1 to cloverdale. You will get good detail driving Asti. Pay close attention to the surface on Shiloh->Mark West-> eastside.
If this cough/cold ever goes away and the rain stops, I’ll go back up this Sunday specifically to look at T1->Cloverdale and report back.
coming out of T1 there is about a 5-6 minute hill/false flat until you turn left on Dutcher Creek Road. DCR is just a long slow climb. No section is very steep, but you will need to moderate your energy as it is so early in the ride. The surface is fine, but the shoulder is actually a smoother cleaner line in most places.
From shiloh to Santa Rosa is essentially flat and pretty fast the whole way. Slusser road is “okay” (veterans will recognize it as the run from Vineman). Laughlin has some bad sections. Be very careful crossing the stone bridge and the next turn. Once you cross river road it’s a slight shady downhill w one poor section early on. Olivet is essentially flat, fast and fine w one pothole late. I rode part of Guernville and it was flat. Hall runs parallel.
As for the run... Flat and shady. The only “Hills” are going under overpasses.
20 days!