Beach to Battleship

To the bike course. No big deal, really, but in the first mile or so there are all kinds of little twists and turns now. No more straight shot out of T1. I guess that's the bad news. The good news is that the detour way inland on the course to get around the bridge that was out last year is gone.

that doesn't bother me so much... i always exit T1 rather calmly to get my HR down from the swim.

dab wrote:that doesn't bother me so much... i always exit T1 rather calmly to get my HR down from the swim.

I'm relay. 112 mile TT. I wanna get up to speed ASAP and set the cruise control.

I would agree. I want to get up to speed as quickly as possible and maintain that speed throughout the race. But then again, everyone will have the same challenge.

was at IM coeur d'alene alst year where paula newby-fraser spoke .. she was of the opinion ( as i am thru my own race experiences) that the swim exit is when your HR is jacked up the most during the event.

everyone has their tactics, i know. mine is head out of T1 fast enough to still allow my HR to drop and settle to a point where i can then adjust my effort and speed to my HR target range. heading out of T1 in ITT mode would not serve me well for the day !!

t-minus 15 days folks !!! getting pumped up !

dab

WHAT?!?!?! Only 15 days? Oh No! Hope everyone is ready!

I've spent a little more time studying the maps of the bike course and 30% of it has changed from last year. Pretty much all of the first 21 miles has changed. Then, at the farthest point inland, it's all changed and we're on a different road from Route 210 all the way into Harrells (about 13 miles or so). This is not a complaint. I know nothing about these roads. It's just that I hadn't planned to drive the course since I figured I knew it pretty well from last year. Now I'll re-think that. There are roughly 34 miles of new territory.

I only did the half last year so do not know the 2008 full course but I am local so that helps. The first 21 miles of this year's course are very different than last year, but they are still mostly on a 4 lane business road as last year. After about 5-8 miles we will get on the new 140 highway which is supposed to be closed to traffic and from driving this daily this is a fabulous road and the views over the high rise going over the marsh will be great - and that's good since the rest of the view will basically suck. Boring country roads but very flat. The new section going through Sampson Co is the same old roads, just different location. The Right turn onto Ennis Bridge will sneek up on you before you know it but accordingly will be easily marked. Since you did the full last year you will be fine this year. One country road around here doesn't differ too much from another! Good luck. 12 days and counting!