Steelhead vs. MI Titanium (Page 2)

A buddy I ride with all the time is doing the bike leg of the 140.6 relay so as part of his training he's ridden the entire course spread out over multiple rides.  He would disagree that it's essentially rollers...Add some wind and they turn into mountains...In a good way of course..

Does anyone out there have a Garmin file (or some compatible file) of the bike and/or run courses for MI Titanium?  I know they're changing the bike course at least this year.  I'm going for the half-iron distance, and want to try to ride it on a CompuTrainer.

Thanks!

Then why even bring it up? Also consider the ruckus, in this day and age, what "men only" races would cause. Furthermore, I'd love to see a man or transgendered individual sign up for one of those races and watch the lawyers have fun with it.

lol. I guess 3D is going to be stirring up a ruckus then.  They are putting on "the region's first all-men's triathlon"

http://www.3disciplines.com/Events/Hot-Pursuit-Mens-Triathlon/

Hi all.  I want to reg for Steelhead but was reading an old reply that stated it is not very spectator friendly.  I understand you (and your family) are expected to hoof it from transition to the swim start - is that what they were referring to? Can anyone elaborate?

My first HIM was an inaugural IronMan 70.3, it was a disaster for many reasons (Ironman has since dropped it) but my main complaint was that everyone had to be bussed to the swim start because the athletes biked out of the park and there was only one road in/out. The shuttles were limited, your family had to pay to ride and they could not be shuttled back out of the park until the last cyclist was out of the park when ever that was.  Disaster.

I raced HIM Racine last year, it was very spectator friendly and the Lake Michigan was fabulous!   

Yep, to race at Steelhead you have to walk to the starting point from the exit spot. The reason you do is depending on which way the current is flowing in Lake Michigan that morning. They want all to swim with the current.

If you have people who want to watch, there is a bit of a walk to get from parking lots to the transition area and finish line. The bus transportation provided worked great for me.

Overall, I thought it was a real good place to race. Small rollers on the bike, but there is a bit a good hill on the run. The finishing mile is pretty cool. You run out of the woods and onto the beach down a road surrounded by small sand dunes!

I definitely don't want to hijack this thread, but I'm in a similar predicament only I'm trying to compare the MiTi full to IM Louisville.  I was planning to do Louisville this year, but circumstances have changed and it's no longer as favorable an option as it was previously.  

I COULD push to still make it but the situation isn't ideal.  Plus, the Louisville trip would be at least $1,000 more expensive than sticking around here once you add in lodging, food, gas, and a hefty entry fee.

MiTi full looks decent, but the field from last year was SMALL.  

Anyone do the full last year? If you've done the MiTi full do you have a WTC event to compare it to? 

I've done steelhead, the start isn't that spectacular.  It's almost entirely participants.  As others have stated, this is a result of a game-time decision about currents.  Most families seemed to congregate around the swim exit which is right next to transition adn the start/finish.  

My family had an AMAZING day--it's right on a beautiful beach, so they loosely followed my progress through online updates and would migrate up to transition and then the finish as needed.  

I read a blog post from the second place finisher.  He compared it to other Ironman events that he had raced.   Since I am up all night at work, I willl see if I can find it.

Here is the second place finishers blog about Mi Ti

http://www.goalisthejourney.com/2012_09_01_archive.html