IRONMAN LANZAROTE BIKE
ardkeen
Posts: 152
in General Chat
Hi,
can anyone who has done Lanzarote give me some advice about a suitable bike for it. I am looking to buy a new one that would be best suited for Lanz IM. Advice re gear ratios, tri bars etc would be appreciated and how much fluid can one carry physically on a bike?
can anyone who has done Lanzarote give me some advice about a suitable bike for it. I am looking to buy a new one that would be best suited for Lanz IM. Advice re gear ratios, tri bars etc would be appreciated and how much fluid can one carry physically on a bike?
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Comments
This is probably limited value... I haven't done it, but I know some who have.
From what I understand, Lanzarote is a lot up hill. Latest friend who did it has a Cognolo... Cologno?... racer with a set of no-name tribars on it. I don't particularly know whether his bike was "most suitable" for Lanzarote, but his brother who sold it to him, former pro with 34 ironmans behind him, said it was the best bike he's ever had.
As for fluid, you can pack quite a bit if you want to. Two bottles inside the frame. Two bottles behind the seat. And, 50 oz. (or more?) between the tribars. I don't know how much you'll gain carrying all that though... perhaps it depends on the number of aid-stations along the route. In Zurich, I had two bottles along a lap of 60km (3x) and didn't feel the need to start with that much, given 3 aid stations on the lap. I did the bike in 6 hrs. You've got to be flying not to have time to grab one or two bottles of liquid at the aid station when you pass by. Perhaps someone with a 4,5 to 5 hrs on the bike can give better input.
Best Regards...
I did the Lanzarote in May, sadly retired after 165KM with an injury.
But, I did gleam a bit of savvy from that event to take back next year.
The bike section is hard and has 2 major climbs which are quite long and a decent incline. These are in the second half of the course. The rest of the course consists of long and gradual inclines and decents. The wind is a major problem and areo bars which you feel happy with (to use for long stints) are a must.
Aid stations are roughly every 11 miles, thus 2 bottle cages are enough. Its hot, but 1 litre of decent fluids plenty.
It was my first Triathlon so im sorry i cannot advise very much but I will say this,
The Lanzarote is more about the Rider than the bike![:)]
You will love it!
That's good to know, I wont be doing less than 6 hrs, I know that now. Just looking to upgrade my current bike, thats all.
Tough luck with that, but you must be crazy to do Lanz as your first Tri. You're right in saying it's more about the rider than the bike, I just want to upgrade my current one to make life a little easier.
One thing that was different this year than years before was that alot of the roads on the course had been re-surfaced and i was told this make life easier. I understand from the sound of things that they will complete the entire course for 2008??
This does make life easier on tyres and i would recommend a fast rolling tyre with pucture protection, such as the Conti 4000S (if you use clinchers)
If could turn back the clock I would have had a professional set up done to the bike.