Lake Placid Bike Course: Observations from a newbie

You know you’re in for a ride when you see this sign. There are three “low gear” areas along the descent. This sign is in the middle of the second section, which lasts for about 1.5 miles.

[Update: Since I first wrote this post in 2010, I have since raced IMLP 3 times, and trained there yearly. If you’d like to see an updated course overview with detailed information about all three aspects of the race, please visit this post: Discipline Thyself: Tips for Racing Ironman Lake Placid.]

No matter how one may think himself accomplished, when he sets out to learn a new language, science, or the bicycle, he has entered a new realm as truly as if he were a child newly born into the world. ~Frances Willard, How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle

While I’m not exactly learning to ride the bike for the first time, Lake Placid Ironman’s 112 mile bike course–which covers roughly 6,000 feet of elevation change–does require that I learn a few new tricks to ride efficiently, strongly, bravely. And so, on the morning of  Saturday June 19th, I awoke early – excited, nervous, eagerly anticipating this day that would provide John and I with first-hand experience riding the Lake Placid Bike course. Not quite like a child on Christmas morning, perhaps more like a child on the first day of Kindergarten: nervous, curious, and a little bit scared. Luckily, I didn’t cry for my mommy when I started down the 6km descent into the town of Keene.

I took my time on this ride, which offered the opportunity to really study the course. I also had the advantage of riding with Charlotte (you may recall her from my previous post), who generously provided her insights as we rode. This entry will include what I learned during my almost-8 hours on the bike course. I offer these tips in the spirit of sharing experiences and ideas that may be helpful to other triathletes.While this post may be most relevant for those who are planning on doing the Lake Placid course, as appropriate, I will include observations that may be useful generally to long-course cyclists and triathletes. As always, if you have ideas to share – please feel free to leave them in the comments section! Together, we can make each other better :).

Nutrition

Before I move into the specifics of the course, I’d like to talk just a little bit about nutrition. While our physical abilities are important, they can be greatly crippled by a poor nutrition strategy.

For endurance events like the Ironman, the bike is the perfect time to get the nutrition that will fuel you through the day. But, we need to be smart about it. More is not better. Less is not more. It’s important to have the right amount and type of calorie intake. One thing I have learned about nutrition is that it is personal. You MUST experiment with different options in your training so you know what works on race day. As nutritionist Chris Draper stated during his remarks at the Fireman Ironman dinner, “Do what you did, get what you got.” I also indicated in my previous post that he described a small, medium, large method for determining the amount of calories the average triathlete needs based on his/her size.

Photo courtesy of Keith Hinkle (a.k.a., burningkarma on Flickr). Original image available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/burningkarma/2444196430/.

For me, that’s in the neighborhood of 200 calories per hour, which is what I’ve been consuming lately. A few weeks ago, I wasn’t eating enough on the bike – maybe 200-250 calories every two hours. That explains why I would run out of steam by the end of a century ride.

But, eat too much, and you will pay for it with bloating, which will surely affect the run. When calculating calories, it’s important to calculate both solid, gel and liquid food. Don’t forget the calories in your sports drink!

Charlotte also recommended switching to plain water during the final 5-10 miles of the bike course. I actually had switched to drinking plain water a bit earlier than this point, as I start to tire of the taste of sports drink after a while. It’s also important to mention that it was a really hot day, so we needed to keep fluid consumption up throughout the ride to compensate for added sweat loss. (I sweat profusely – even on cool days.) However, I had to be mindful not to consume too many extra calories from sports drink. So, I recommend having a plain water source on your bike in the event that you need more fluid, but not more calories.

Alternatively, endurance athletes need also be mindful of the pitfalls of consuming too much water, which can result in hyponatremia. Consuming too much fluid can cause the levels of blood sodium to become diluted, which can result in reduced performance and even death in severe cases. Furthermore, sports drink will NOT PREVENT hyponatremia. During training, it is VERY important to determine appropriate levels of fluid intake to ensure the proper amount of hydration. Listen to your body, and learn to recognize signs of under or over hydration.

One easy way to determine your sweat loss is to weigh yourself before an hour run or a two hour bike. Don’t drink anything during the hour, or, if you do, keep track of the amount so you can subtract that from your weight when you finish. Weigh yourself after you finish. Each pound that you lose roughly translates to 16 ounces of sweat loss. So, if you lose 2 pounds, then you know you lose roughly 32 ounces of fluid per hour of running. Of course, the amount of heat will affect how much you sweat, so you may want to try this test on different days to get a sense of how temperature affects your sweat rate.

Also important to recognize is sodium loss, which can also affect performance. (Note: Conventional research says that too much salt loss can cause cramping. However, some recent research suggests that this might not be the case.) John and I use Hammer Nutrition’s Endurolytes, which include a mix of various electrolytes that you body loses through sweat in endurance events. Salt tabs or Endurolytes can cause stomach distress, so it’s important to practice with them during training. NEVER TRY ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY!

Break the bike into bits

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.  ~Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life

112 miles is a long way to go on a bike. For that matter, as many of my family and friends frequently joke, it’s a long way to travel by car. If you concentrate on the magnitude of cycling 112 miles, it’s quite likely that you will feel overwhelmed. As with setting any goal, it’s necessary to break it up into smaller, more immediately achievable bits. (I wrote about tips for setting and achieving goals in an earlier post, which you can find here.) Then, as you complete each bit, you can focus your energy (mental and physical) on the next bit.

As I see it, the Lake Placid bike course has 7 “bits”.

1. The opening section

The first 3 miles of the loop, along Route 73, is relatively flat. Then, as you hit mile 3, you begin to climb for about 5 miles. Mixed within this 5 mile climb is one section that is relatively flat. But, overall, you are heading up in the opening of the loop, from a low of 1,692 feet to 2,071 feet. I’ve read others’ reports of the course, and I’m surprised at how little this opening climb is discussed. To be fair, it’s not a “killer” climb, and is manageable in the big ring. However, I do think that if you push this opening climb too hard in either the first or second loop, it will come back to bite you when you hit the hillier sections along the second half of the loop. My recommendation (especially if you are a newbie like me): spin it easy in the small ring to keep your legs fresh. There’s plenty of time for big ring hammering when you get to the next two bits of the course.

Overall, this section is about 8 miles (according to my Garmin Data. If you’d like to see this data, click here. You just have to promise not to laugh at how slow I am!).

2. The Descent (dun-dun-dun!)

A section of the descent into the town of Keene.

The descent into Keene is the next major bit of the course, and lasts from approximately mile 8 until mile 14. This descent is aggressive, easily the steepest I’ve ridden, especially for that length of time. Because I find these downhills challenging, I’ve broken this section into even smaller bits, according to three “Trucks Use Low Gear” signs (see picture at the top of this post).

The first and second signs warn: “Trucks use low gear 1-1/2 miles.” The second area runs along the river and is quite picturesque–that is if you weren’t whizzing by it with every fiber of your being concentrating on holding the bike, maintaining control, and looking out for dips and cracks in the road. Note: The shoulder areas of this course are not “impeccably smooth” as described on the official Ironman site. Rather, they have plenty of impeccable imperfections, including areas where it just drops off. Be careful!!

In between the first two “Trucks Use Low Gear Signs”, you continue to descend, just not as steeply. For me, these “in-between” areas offered the perfect opportunity to regain my mental composure. I even pedaled a little bit.

The third “use low gear” sign follows quickly upon the second and this section lasts for 2 miles. This third and final section of the descent is the steepest. And, at the end of it, you have to make a left turn onto Route 9N, heading towards Jay. So, be mindful that there is a left at the end of the hill. When you see the sign that says “Keene” you know you are close – about 50-100 yards.

This section ends when you turn onto Route 9N, about mile 14.5.

3. The flats (slight downhill)

At this point, the course takes a decidedly less Evil Knieval-esque flair as you travel along 9N toward Jay. This section is flat, and a net downhill (as you can see in my garmin profile), although the grade is very very slight. It’s just enough to make it easy to spin a high cadence with minimal effort. You can really, really move on this section of the course. But, be forewarned: the climbing is coming. So, I recommend being smart about how aggressively you ride here. I decided to take it easy and let my legs do an easy spin. John, on the other hand, pushed it a bit too hard on the first loop, and he felt that later on toward the end of the second loop. (He finished his ride in under six hours.)

This section is great for aero position, eating, drinking and soaking in some beautiful scenery. It is positively gorgeous! This section leads you to the intersection of Route 9N and 86, just shy of mile 24 of the loop.

4. The adapted out-and-back

The bridge on Haselton Road, the original out-and-back portion, is out and won’t be fixed in time for the race.  So, the modified course will include an out-and-back along Route 9N. Instead of turning left onto 86 right away, the course continues along route 9N for a little over 5 miles, then it turns to retrace the route back to the intersection with 86.

The “out” part of this out and back is a slight downhill, similar to the previous section. When you make the return trip, you can feel the “pull” of moving on a slight uphill. From what I hear about the Haselton out-and-back section, this modified course is easier. As with the previous section, it is easy to eat, drink, get aero and enjoy the scenery. However, I did not find this section as scenic as others.

5. Climbing 86

Climbing. You can see John in the red jersey, second bike back.

When you finish the out and back, you will make a right hand turn onto 86–and then you climb fairly steadily for about 5 miles. None of these climbs are killers, and in fact most are rolling. However, you are moving up, up, up in a stair-step rolling fashion. It is possible to eat and drink; I didn’t have to push past a moderate aerobic effort on any one of these climbs. I will say, however, that the cumulative effect of these rollers can take its toll–especially on the second loop. So, if you are new to the course, be smart. Enjoy the scenery. There’s a lot more race to come!

Somewhere around mile 40, the course levels out a bit, and you have a few miles of relative flat and mild rollers before you hit a few more climbs. Most of these climbs seem to be in preparation for the more infamous ascents of the course (see the next “bit”). Charlotte, my riding partner, broke this section into the names of the areas: Walkers Gorge, Whiteface Mountain (you’ll pass the Olympic ski center), Wilmington Notch and so on. (Unfortunately, I cannot remember all of their names right now!)

6. Eat up the cherries and then battle the bears

Once you ride by River Road (which will be on your left), there is a final bit of flat section (probably less than a mile). Then, you climb up little and big cherry before you meet the bears. Mama bear is first, baby is in the middle (really just a bitty roller) and then you see Papa Bear. It’s a short climb (you can see the top and it takes just a few minutes to get there), but it seems to be the steepest of all of the climbs. I think Mama Bear is probably the more challenging, though. Sure, she’s not as steep as Papa, but she’s longer. In any case, however, none of these hills is an impossible climb–nothing like the climb during the Mooseman 70.3 a few weeks back. And, it’s important to note: I say this coming from the flattest part of Southern New Jersey. If I can climb it, you can too!

7. Heading back to the Oval

After climbing Papa Bear, you will see Cobble Mountain Lodge and Northwoods Rd to your right. You will turn onto Northwoods to head back to Lake Placid to start your second loop, or to head into T2. There is nothing particularly notable (or long!) about this section–unless of course you are finishing up the bike. On race day, this section will be teeming with spectators. Enjoy it!

On June 19th, I set out to learn something about the Lake Placid course, and the experience was invaluable. It helped to ease some of my anxiety about the course, and my ability to complete it. I hope that you find this post useful in your journey. As I wrote earlier, please feel free to post your tips about the course, about racing Ironman or about triathlon. I would love to hear from you.

He conquers who endures.  ~Persius

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