6:51 In the half

I was doing great they the bike
00:38 swim
3:10 bike
Crashed on the run. Mostly because the physical toll of the bumpy road on the bike. Everything hurt. It hurt to breathe.

Congratulations y'all! It's a tough course for sure but I think I'll give it a go next year. Between Miracle Match, Bearathon, Wild West, and just general training, I've logged a lot of miles on these roads. I just hope McLennan County can find a way to become a more hospitable host populous before it drives these races and their $$$ away.

But you did it! Congrats to all of y'all.

Congrats all, impressive!

Was the bike really that bad? Every race report I've seen has talked about how rough the roads were.

But then again everyone said the same about Ironman Texas (The Woodlands) and I thought it was great, smooth, fast, flat, and straight. They were shocked we were on a road with expansion joints (sounds like about a dozen or so riders did in fact crash with these expansion joints). But being in an event/race doesn't mean you no longer need to watch where you're riding....

htxag09 said:

---

Was the bike really that bad? Every race report I've seen has talked about how rough the roads were.

---

I kinda assume a lot of the complaints are from out-of-staters not used to riding on chip seal. I also wonder what tires and psi the majority of these triathletes are running - I would guess 23c at ~110psi.

I run 23c GP4000 on my tri bike (P2 won't fit a 25C GP4k) at 85/90psi and 25c GP5000 on my road bike at 75/80psi. Running the lower pressures has significantly improved my times and fatigue on long rides.

Tubeless FTW

htxag09 said:

---

Was the bike really that bad? Every race report I've seen has talked about how rough the roads were.

---

I've done most of the IM branded Texas races. Woodlands was by far the smoothest. Probably Galveston next. Waco and Austin were both a step down in my opinion.

Courses like those definitely favor strong technical riders. Lots of turns. And surface conditions, while rideable, are far from optimal. Top it off with the fact that I was on an 808/disc setup running 105+ psi and it was just the makings for a long day.

While I wasn't happy with the bike, it definitely went better than this guy's did...

Just found out Kona slots for my AG filled but 70.3 WC slots rolled all the way through.

Once in a lifetime miss.

RustyBoltz said:

---

htxag09 said:

---

Was the bike really that bad? Every race report I've seen has talked about how rough the roads were.

---

I kinda assume a lot of the complaints are from out-of-staters not used to riding on chip seal. I also wonder what tires and psi the majority of these triathletes are running - I would guess 23c at ~110psi.

I run 23c GP4000 on my tri bike (P2 won't fit a 25C GP4k) at 85/90psi and 25c GP5000 on my road bike at 75/80psi. Running the lower pressures has significantly improved my times and fatigue on long rides.

---

probably greater than 50% of the bike course was undivided single vehicle county road. Glorified caliche with a top coat of tar to hold it together.

wcb said:

---

Just found out Kona slots for my AG filled but 70.3 WC slots rolled all the way through.

Once in a lifetime miss.

---

Actually, the St George slots aren't 70.3, those are the 2021 World Chmapionships slots from the delayed and relocated Kona race. It's a full IM WC race. I took a slot (might have a small chance at a kona slot if I had the run I was trained to have) but sort of having buyers remorse now.

RustyBoltz said:

---

htxag09 said:

---

Was the bike really that bad? Every race report I've seen has talked about how rough the roads were.

---

I kinda assume a lot of the complaints are from out-of-staters not used to riding on chip seal. I also wonder what tires and psi the majority of these triathletes are running - I would guess 23c at ~110psi.

I run 23c GP4000 on my tri bike (P2 won't fit a 25C GP4k) at 85/90psi and 25c GP5000 on my road bike at 75/80psi. Running the lower pressures has significantly improved my times and fatigue on long rides.

---

On paper it's a good ride. And the chip seal was nothing compared my training routes. What was bad was the road itself, tons of cracks and potholes, washboard sections and generally terrible road quality. I would've gladly traded it for fresh chip seal. Add in the legit 20mph wind and almost 90 degree heat on the second lap and it was a tough afternoon. And I was running 25c GP5000 tires at 82psi.

Question about your tire choice…Why won't they fit? I have a 2012 P2 and easily run 808 firecrests with 25c GP5000. I run them at 90 psi for smooth pavement, 82 psi for rough pavement. I ran 25c 4000sII for years with zero width issues.

The 2015 P2 seat tube wraps far enough to the seat stay that the 25c GP4000 rubbed the top edge of the frame when inflated. There isn't enough adjustment in the axle screws to space it rearward. Now as I type this, I probably tried this back when using older Reynolds Assault rims. The Flo 90 I run may be wide enough, internally, to allow a 25c to inflate properly like your Zipp 808's.

It may be worth a look, I used to have a rear flo 90 before I got the zipps.

What tri bike are you riding?

I just have an "older" specialized Allez road bike with front carbon fork. Nothing fancy. Did most of my ride in drops. I do have aero bars I added which was nice at times but hard to maintain when the road was so bumpy. Probably had a lot to do with the soreness I experienced.

I'm on a 2012 P2, that's the black frame with red and white accents (still love that old bike).

It was definitely a rough ride and I was way more fatigued than I should've been riding at only 0.69 IF with a 253 TSS (target was 0.73 and 288). The low tire pressure definitely helped a lot, honestly didn't think any of the chip seal was bad at all, just typical Texas roads, but the constant washboard areas and broken, cracked, potholed roads took a lot of energy and concentration. I'm certain that physically beat me up more than I realized.