Vineman Full Ironman : Official Thread (Page 14)

I've always used my tubular race wheels whenever I could.  If that's what you are used to racing, then you should definitely do so on race day. 

Ok I forgot this part.  After the swim, in T1 there is carpet from the water, but then gravel where the bikes are, so yes clean your feet, it will cost you 30 sec or so.  But then leaving T1 is a reasonably steap hill for about 100 feet or so.  Almost everyone runs their bike up this hill and mounts at the top.  Even if you are fine with mounting at the bottom it is typically somewhat congested with other folks running thier bikes up and fairly narrow.  I ran my bike up and felt like it was the right choice.  Check it out when you rack your bike, and make your decision.  It was also fairly congested getting out of T1 even before the hill as I am a MOP swimmer.  There is pleanty of time to make up that 60 seconds of schuffling up the hill instead of bonking into people who are not looking behind them or staying to the right. 

The curves in the road are like 20 mph corners so they tend to not slow you down, just be aware.  There are a couple of 90 turns that are well marked with people to warn ya if you are comign in hot.  The two biggest turns I remember or the one at around mile 5 where you go 90 degrees right down a steeper hill and then bank left under the road (GO SLOW).  The other one is a 90 around mile um 45 ish and 103 after the big hill you are coming down for a long ways and then as it flattens out a bit you have a 90 to the left.  The road is slanting a bit to the right and the turn is uphill to the left, it is a bit awkward if you are flying but not a problem at all if you are paying attention and just take it easy through there. 

There are meanish railroad tracks around mile.... um 30 after you go past 101 and through a small town at the top of the map you come back south and then turn east and there are the railroad tracks.  Lots of dead waterbattles here.  This is also where you head into the wind for a long ways on loop 2. 

I didn't get any flats but I carry 2 spare tubes, 2 CO2s a spare tube and CO2 in special needs and an air pump on the frame just in case.  Some aid stations have spare tubes and co2s ... at least early on.  I didn't find the run bad.. just that one big hill that is annoying lap one mean lap 2 and ugly and mean lap 3. 

I think there are assigned rack locations for T1 and T2 by race number.  They implied it in the regs I reread today.  Wish they had GU...oh well I will cary my own on the run.  Aid stations every mile on the run some sparyers.  On the bike topping off my 16 oz aero bottle was fine I didn't have to cary more than that for the 13 ish mile intervals.  Top of the aero, drink some out of the fresh bottle and chuck it before you leave the drop zone. 

The bike shouldnt be too hot, the run will be.  Stay coolish.  Ask more questions if you need but all of this will be covered at the athele meeting also. 

Yeah, if you've done the 70.3 before (or just know the course setup well), this was a curveball this year.  Co-worker just did the 70.3 and has done it before and told me about the radical change in placement for T2.  Much bigger PITA than in previous years to get in and out with bike.

However...

T2 in the past has not been in the same place for the Full as for the 70.3, so I wouldn't assume that you'll have to deal with T2 being in the quad.  When I did the two races previously, T2 was in the west athletic fields for the 70.3, but in the south parking lot for the Full.  The map for this year's Full VM makes it look like T2 is in the south parking lot, not the quad.

If that forecast is accurate then a super soaker isn't going to cut it- I'm going to need a hose from a fire truck

We can hope the forecast changes (down...a lot...) between now and the 30th? 

But weather.com is showing temps in the low 80's!  Can we just go with that instead?

Or just read another site for their forecast

**** ******* ****!!! Accuweather is now saying 101F for Guerneville on race day.

On the other hand, weather.com is saying 81F for the day before. 

Conclusion: meteorology 10-days out is a crap shoot. I'm determined not to look again until.... nope, I'm probably going to look multiple times every day.

How's this for win-win? If it's 81, we get decent marathon conditions. If it's 101 we all get serious HTFU points just for finishing.

Being that this is CA, at least we don't have HUMIDITY!!!

True dat. Makes those squirt guns extra effective.

Are you sure the squirt gun won't be considered outside assistance!?  You might be disqualifing folks

The ten day forecast looks good!

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA0455

That's not a bad idea. I've been reading a little about heat acclimation. Here's a reference for anyone that's interested: http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/heataccl/heataccl.html. Note that just being out in the heat gets you some of the benefits. Count the heat wave as a blessing. 

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How does this sound for Thursday?

- 1:30  Meet up at Johnson's Beach to drive the bike and run courses.

- 3:30  Meet up at Johnson's Beach for a look at the swim, T1 if it's up, and a quick open water swim. My plan calls for 30 minutes easy swimming.

- 5:00  Early dinner at Sushi Tozai, which is kind of between Guerneville and Santa Rosa. High quality protein, plenty of carbs, and as much salt as you can drench your rice in. 

Sounds perfect.  Lots of BT quality time- should be FUN!! 

Sounds good from my perspective. 

I would love to doodle with you guys!