Race Report: Ironman Longhorn 70.3/Consumer Report: Race Day Wheels
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jtrimom posted 3 weeks ago.
Well done, Sooner!
mostly flat bike ride?...It felt like ALL hills to me, but I NEVER ride hills, so speedbumps are "hills" to me. :)
Congrats on the PR.
Taper Naked
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TriSooner posted 3 weeks ago.
jwillia852 wrote:
That is one bad ass looking bike. That zipp combo is killer.
Thanks. I loved the wheels too, I'd just never fork over several thousand for them. I'd buy a PowerTap first, but with the infrequency with which I race, rentals are the way to go. I'm more comfortable on a roadie. I rode in the drops for 50 of 56 miles. In an aero set-up, maybe 6 of the 56. And on a hilly course, integrated STI shifters helps. I saw so many guys on tri bikes do one of two things: They'd commit to a hill in the big chain ring and Dammit! They're not coming out of aero. So they grind up a hill at 50rpm and 8mph, but they're still aero. Or, they'd stand and try to shift gears akwardly with one hand. So for me, an inefficient, uncomfortable tri bike is decidedly 'slower' (gag) than a roadie.
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tri-ac posted 3 weeks ago.
that's a report folks will look up in the future
i totally agree on the race day wheels!
congrats on a good HIM!
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Anton posted 3 weeks ago.
TriSooner wrote:
jwillia852 wrote:That is one bad ass looking bike. That zipp combo is killer.Thanks. I loved the wheels too, I'd just never fork over several thousand for them. I'd buy a PowerTap first, but with the infrequency with which I race, rentals are the way to go. I'm more comfortable on a roadie. I rode in the drops for 50 of 56 miles. In an aero set-up, maybe 6 of the 56. And on a hilly course, integrated STI shifters helps. I saw so many guys on tri bikes do one of two things: They'd commit to a hill in the big chain ring and Dammit! They're not coming out of aero. So they grind up a hill at 50rpm and 8mph, but they're still aero. Or, they'd stand and try to shift gears akwardly with one hand. So for me, an inefficient, uncomfortable tri bike is decidedly 'slower' (gag) than a roadie.
Great report Sooner...I think folks often gloss over stuff in race reports (me included) when we should tell it like it is...not convienient...that sort of thing.
I'm with you on the road bike thing...Much more comfortable for me and comfort is faster.
Thanks for the info on race day wheels too...
Good job!
"If e wishes to sweem in dangerous waters, oo are we to deny im?
-Chef Skinner
http://antonspath.blogspot.com
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ddwolpert posted 3 weeks ago.
Congrats on kicking your PR Sooner.
Your actual was my goal...maybe next time.
S 36:31 B 3:02 R Not going to mention the run. That bad.
Enjoy your posts.
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gfd posted 3 weeks ago.
Nice report. I also appreciate your honesty and thorough analysis. Great race as well.
I also love the bike. Is it an Axiom? If so, is it the SLX?
"If we help someone else up a steep hill, we get nearer to the top ourselves." ~Unknown~
~Garen~
http://baldhungariantriproject.blogspot.com/
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CadenceGuy posted 3 weeks ago.
Great report....now if I can just get the crack-I mean, uh....disc inflator back........
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DSmith posted 3 weeks ago.
+1 on Race Day Wheels. I sold my 808's two years ago and have used race day for all my big races since. The nice thing about there wheels is that they are the current years wheels, not an old '04 disk.
Congrats on the great race and PR.
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paganopj posted 3 weeks ago.
Great race report, I would have thought better of a race in Austin. The limited time I spent there made it seem a progressive city that (would have) thought a lot about fitness, cycling, and other events....congrats on your PR....those are always nice....
Just keep spinning....spinning, spinning....uh, do I know you?
The Losing Journey Flickr Cycling Log
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mwconstruct1972 posted 3 weeks ago.
Good job with the PR.
Are you still in for Captex in May, 2010 for the next installment of Team Speedo takes a road trip?
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lala2021 posted 3 weeks ago.
Congrats again! Thanks i will make sure i don't ever do this race too late in the season for me anyway!lol
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snail_male posted 3 weeks ago.
Thanks for the report, Sooner - and well done on the PR!
+1 on the great bike, too. I'm looking at getting mine set up on the trainer in the next month or so (central Canada) and have to admit to a pang of envy thinking of you wheeling around Texas on that while I'm going nowhere in my garage!
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maggiemeans posted 3 weeks ago.
if i ever get good enough to warrant it..... i now know to rent the fancy wheels ...
what were those two people pointing at? did the road split there or something?
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RunMDC posted 3 weeks ago.
Being an Austinite I have to chime in on the venue. Yes it is out in the boonies, but the bike course is really pretty, I think. Hilly? Not by any stretch of the imagination considering the only other place to hold a race this size would be Lake Travis on the west side. The east side where the race is held is where we ride when we want a flat ride.
The run is bad. Three loops of a really crowded, tight course. There is a half marathon at that same location in December that is one loop around the lake. It is the perfect setup but would be more hilly. I like it that the spectators are everywhere. Compared to Buffalo Springs in Lubbock it is amore fun race. In Lubbock you get onto the run and are all alone for 10 of the 13 miles.
Endorfun runs a great race but I did feel this year was very disorganized. It was probably the logistics of two transition location. There were people I know that could not find their tranistion bags after the race. It was cool finishing in the rodeo arena but after about an hour it got very claustraphobic.
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TriSooner posted 3 weeks ago.
gfd wrote:
I also love the bike. Is it an Axiom? If so, is it the SLX?
It is an Axiom, an SG I hade made in '09, but apparently for '10 they've changed names to just "S". The SLX is their road bike with more aggressive angles (ie, shorer head tube, short seat stays). The S and SG are more "all around riding" geometry.
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NotAsFast posted 3 weeks ago.
Trisooner, for once a race report about the race, not the person. Great job dude.......
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wannakona posted 3 weeks ago.
Great report Sooner. Congrats on the PR!
Your bike does looks much better with those wheels but do you feel that they made a difference i your performance, or do you attribute your PR strictly to yourself and not super-duper wheels?
Konstantin
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TriSooner posted 3 weeks ago.
DSmith wrote:
The nice thing about there wheels is that they are the current years wheels, not an old '04 disk
I think that's a big selling point to. If I recall, a few years ago Zipp was having problems with their rims over-heating? and de-laminating from the carbon side wall. Maybe they fixed it in more recent models. Regardless, if you rent 'em and they don't perform the way you like you are stuck trying to sell used platic on ebay.
mwconstruct1972 wrote:
Are you still in for Captex in May, 2010 for the next installment of Team Speedo takes a road trip?
Damn straight! I'm getting a Borat speedo for this one.
snail_male wrote:
. . . have to admit to a pang of envy thinking of you wheeling around Texas on that while I'm going nowhere in my garage!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and we get 37 Celcius all Summer long too so it evens out.
maggiemeans wrote:
if i ever get good enough to warrant it..... i now know to rent the fancy wheels ... what were those two people pointing at? did the road split there or something?
I see your point: I'm totally MOP and kind of a poseur with those wheels (and on a road bike, none-the-less), but it was fun to have wheels way beyond my skill level. So just try them for a big race purely for a luxury and don't expect, "Hey, I'll be SO much faster!" And those hot chicks were My People and they were pointing at stuff they wrote on the ground for me, like "HTFU" and "Nice Tan. Lines."
RunMDC wrote:
Hilly? Not by any stretch of the imagination . . . The run is bad. Three loops of a really crowded, tight course . . . Compared to Buffalo Springs in Lubbock it is amore fun race. It was cool finishing in the rodeo arena . . .
"Hilly" is such a relative term. Sure, it could have had more hills and it was mostly flat, and I liked the bike course best out of all three now that I think about it in comparative terms. I forgot about how crowded the run was. It is 13.1 miles in three loops, so about 4.3 miles per loop, with as many as 2,000 people on it at once. Granted, the pros and top AGers are off the run course before many of the later waves get on it, but you are constantly surrounded by people on the run. I think BLST is much harder, too: the climbs are much steeper, it's windier, and about 30 degrees warmer. The finish was cool. There were lots of people in the stands and the music was cranked inside the arena, so it did have a really great feel to it. It was dissorienting coming into a dark arena after being outside for hours, and having to make a series of right-hand turns to reach the finish was wonky - you weren't sprinting to the finish with those hair-pin turns - but it was cool.
NotAsFast wrote:
Trisooner, for once a race report about the race, not the person.
You mean you don't care about what I ate for breakfast or what time I took a dump? Race Reports should be about the race: Venue, course, amenities, road surface, swim quality, and most importantly, schwag, andif there was any beer at the finish. And at Longhorn, there was, but it was Mich Ultra which doesn't really count.
wannakona wrote:
. . . do you feel that they made a difference i your performance, or do you attribute your PR strictly to yourself and not super-duper wheels?
Since I did 2:59:50 on the bike, I'll attribute the :10 seconds under 3-hours to the wheels. And that's it!
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wannakona posted 3 weeks ago.
TriSooner wrote:
wannakona wrote:. . . do you feel that they made a difference i your performance, or do you attribute your PR strictly to yourself and not super-duper wheels?Since I did 2:59:50 on the bike, I'll attribute the :10 seconds under 3-hours to the wheels. And that's it!
Love it!
So,...... what did you eat before the race? LOL
Konstantin
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gfd posted 3 weeks ago.
TriSooner wrote:
gfd wrote:I also love the bike. Is it an Axiom? If so, is it the SLX?It is an Axiom, an SG I hade made in '09, but apparently for '10 they've changed names to just "S". The SLX is their road bike with more aggressive angles (ie, shorer head tube, short seat stays). The S and SG are more "all around riding" geometry.
Thanks for the info.
"If we help someone else up a steep hill, we get nearer to the top ourselves." ~Unknown~
~Garen~
http://baldhungariantriproject.blogspot.com/
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beads1985 posted 3 weeks ago.
Great job on the PR's all around, and a very complete report, except, did you take a dump? ;-)
'Nothing to it, but to do it!'
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jtrimom posted 3 weeks ago.
beads1985 wrote:
Great job on the PR's all around, and a very complete report, except, did you take a dump? ;-)
and what time did you do it?
Taper Naked
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chekmarks posted 3 weeks ago.
i'm going to stand up for taking a dump. on some of these long trail runs i've gone on, a major highlight is finding a perfect log to hang my booty over and leave a gift in the forest. it may be small (or big ;)...), but taking a dump puts a smile on my face for a little bit! i say, if you had a race and you took a nice poop, tell us about it!
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groovyjen posted 3 weeks ago.
Congratulations on the PR and I enjoyed the thorough race report, dirty hippie notations and all.
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
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mwconstruct1972 posted 3 weeks ago.
mwconstruct1972 wrote:
Are you still in for Captex in May, 2010 for the next installment of Team Speedo takes a road trip?
Trisooner wrote:
Damn straight! I'm getting a Borat speedo for this one.
I was hoping to find a flesh colored one. I wonder if Tyr takes custom orders?
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jtrimom posted 3 weeks ago.
mwconstruct1972 wrote:
mwconstruct1972 wrote:Are you still in for Captex in May, 2010 for the next installment of Team Speedo takes a road trip?
Trisooner wrote:
Damn straight! I'm getting a Borat speedo for this one.I was hoping to find a flesh colored one. I wonder if Tyr takes custom orders?
I may have to drive in to Austin again for that...
Taper Naked
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jwillia852 posted 3 weeks ago.
jtrimom wrote:
mwconstruct1972 wrote:mwconstruct1972 wrote:Are you still in for Captex in May, 2010 for the next installment of Team Speedo takes a road trip?
Trisooner wrote:
Damn straight! I'm getting a Borat speedo for this one.I was hoping to find a flesh colored one. I wonder if Tyr takes custom orders?
I may have to drive in to Austin again for that...
That's funny, I was thinking the exact opposite...
Jeff
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kylie posted 3 weeks ago.
http://www.splish.com/products/briefs/thong
Miles of Life --- Powered by MarkyV
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IthinkIcan posted 3 weeks ago.
kylie wrote:
http://www.splish.com/products/briefs/thong
28 bucks ain't bad for thong-print nut huggers, but the flight to tx might be rough. Who wants to bet Splish sees an unexpected rush on these suckers over the next 24hrs?
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beads1985 posted 3 weeks ago.
kylie wrote:
http://www.splish.com/products/briefs/thong
I like the little tattoo detail on the cheek! ;-)
'Nothing to it, but to do it!'
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mwconstruct1972 posted 3 weeks ago.
I was thinking about maybe a raffle for some charity. Every buck gets your name in the hat. Winning names gets to pick the speedo. All proceeds go to the charity. I guess this needs a thread of its own. Sorry about the threadjack.
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TonisTri posted 3 weeks ago.
mwconstruct1972 wrote:
I was thinking about maybe a raffle for some charity. Every buck gets your name in the hat. Winning names gets to pick the speedo. All proceeds go to the charity. I guess this needs a thread of its own. Sorry about the threadjack.
And whoever wins has to race in it and post pix?
That which does not kill me makes me faster...
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mwconstruct1972 posted 2 weeks ago.
I was thinking more along the lines of the raffle winner picks the design and I wear it at Cap Tex next May. Since Sooner will be there in a Borat banana hammock, there will definitely be pics.
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PJT posted 2 weeks ago.
I'm late to this party, but good report and a nice PR.
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Semper Tri posted 2 weeks ago.
mw+sooner- I may be down at Lackland AFB for some training right around the Cap Tex time frame...if so, I'd be more than happy to toe the line with Borat and who/whatever else is in a speedo...
Thanks for the race day wheels info/CR, I've been wondering about the whole process and PR's all around? Nice!
i dont know what today will bring to me, but thats just fine.
PR all the way around: 37min swim, 2:59 bike, 1:59 run, for 5:48 total. For perspective, that finish time in my AG places me solidly MOP (54th percentile), but 72nd percentile OA. M35-39 is a fast AG. I was most pleased with pacing the bike and run both perfectly to sneak in under 3- and 2- hours respectively (:10 seconds under the 3-hour mark on the bike and :19 seconds under the 2-hour mark on the run). Also, this was a 5-year-old previous PR. It was my fifth HIM overall and my first since 2005 and I just wanted to see if I got any faster in the past several years.
In terms of the race itself, the venue is bottom-of-the-barrel for an Ironman-branded event. The only aspect of the venue that was cool was that I met jtrimom (pictured below).
When people think of racing in Austin, they think of the indoor Convention Center for packet pick-up, expos and transitions; swimming in Town Lake or Lake Travis; cycling through the hill country; and running through UT or down South Congress. And that's how this races advertises itself:
Uhm, no. Not so much. The race HQ is way outside of town at an agricultural fair ground. That means it’s all parking lots and barns. The nearest hotel is probably five miles away which means you will be stuck in traffic on race morning trying to get to the fairgrounds with 2,000 other racers and their supporters. There are absolutely no public amenities – restaurants, shopping, anything – within miles for observers to frequent during down-time watching their racer.
Both participant and spectator have to bring coolers and grills and really tailgate to make this event even slightly fan-friendly. My friends reserved a spot (free, I think) under some made-up triathlon team name and they had a spot staked out for them. They brought beer, coolers, music, grills, dogs, anything goes. Lots of people set-up for the day like this:
Pre-race was really bad. You really need a degree in civil engineering to figure out where to go with what and when. Packet pick-up was in the main ag arena and the lines were horrid. You wait in line to pick up your bib and then wait in another line to pick up your schwag. Then you have a very small window of time to drop of both your run gear and bike – but T1 and T2 are about 1 mile apart. You have to drive over from T2 to T1 and T1 is just not made to handle that kind of traffic. As you can see from the images below, T1 is off of two-lane roads with no parking.
The swim is pretty mundane. It’s in a small hydroelectric plant cooling “pond”. Given the warmer water, there’s an abundance of algae and plant growth on the bottom which you will swim through. And they have a wave start, so if you’re in a later wave, you could easily get in the water 90:00 minutes after the pros start and you’ll be out there all day. And what’s strange is they started closing transition on race morning an hour before some of the waves started. So regardless of what wave you are in you need to get there in the 5 o’clock hour.
The bike is one large loop, which keeps the boredom down, but you are so far outside of town there are zero spectators out there. Given the wave starts you do however have the chance to pass slower people in waves which started ahead of you and also be passed by stronger cyclists from AGs which started after you. The course is moderate for Texas standards: a few climbs (maybe 100’ ascent in .25 mile), maybe a few rollers, but mostly flat with OK road surface. As you can see, there is an abundance of turning. Not very technical, but if you don't like the direction you are heading, maybe there's some wind of the road surface is bad, you're only on it for a mile or two before you change directions again. All the turns gave me ample opportunity to count how many cyclists wearing compression hose and silly aero helmets went into right-angle turns with their inside pedal down.
When you finish the bike, this is what awaits you: 2,500 bags of shoes. T1 and T2 are not in the same place so you show up to T2 and hope you remember where you left your shoes:
The run is promoted as three “loops”, but it’s more of an out-and-back. One nice thing is that spectators can set-up some good viewing since there’s really nothing out there but fields all along the run course. If you see open grass, take it. Overall, it’s an OK race. They could majorly improve it if they moved it downtown to Town Lake and the Convention Center. It would take a lot to pull this off, but Austin already has a 26.2 mile marathon course. Double that (plus a bit) and you have the bike; use the Austin marathon’s half course for the run; swim in Town Lake.
The finish area is inside the arena, so that's nice:
Race Day Wheels
http://www.racedaywheels.com/
I touted the concept of renting wheels well before I actually rented any. For Ironman Longhorn I rented a Zipp disk and 1080 and received them more than a week before the race so I had time to “try them out” and get the shifting lined-up. They come with high-quality tires, tubes, and valve extenders. They do NOT come with a cassette or skewers or a disc wheel inflator adaptor thingy. So, if you don’t have a chain whip and cassette lock ring removal tool, you’ll need those too. And through the Power of Trifuel, Cadence Guy shipped me his adapter/crack pipe and I shipped it back after the race. Finally, if this matters to you, no where on the wheels is it indicated that they are rentals.
Overall, I couldn’t be happier. I rented $3,000 wheels for about $200. Returning them was simple too. They came in a custom-fabricated corrugated plastic box (environmentally-friendly, re-usable) with a wheel bag for the disc. The owner e-mailed me a pre-addressed FedEx return shipping label for $25, which was $6 cheaper than what my local FedEx/Kinko's Office was going to charge me. For all future long course tris, I know where I’m going for wheels. I can’t see why anyone would buy super high-end carbon wheels. Let someone else absorb the high costs of ownership. You’d have to race on them at least a dozen times to make it worth it (I race once per year, so it would be a bone-head move to buy). Plus, you’re stuck with that year’s technology.
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