Thursday, February 12, 2009

New Bike and Run Course for Ironman Malaysia

The run course is now a five lap course which seems very doable and takes out what I always think is difficult exposed and comparatively steep section of the run out. 5 laps may make us a little dizzy though.

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As for the bike - what a nightmare this is going to be - there one big loop of 55k and then three small loops of 37.5k and then a 9k stretch home. It's not clear whether the 55k includes the small loop or not - i.e. in effect 3 small loops or 4 smalls with the 4th loop being part of the 55k???????????!!!!!

I know I'm not making myself very clear and that is my point, it's confusing - there are going to be a lot of people who finish the bike having only done 142.5k and some having done 217.5k - mark my words - it's a recipe for disaster. I'll have done this race 9 times out of 10 and I can honestly say that last years bike course was the best yet - they have actually changed it 7 times now.

Did I mention it is going to be a disaster? If anyone from the race organisers are reading this I suggest you think twice before inflicting this on us and yourselves.

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5 comments:

Jenn Jenn said...

where's the coloured agenda? grrr..
well, the original map was Blue-Green-Red.
I believe the new map is Blue-Red-Green-Orange.

The start point, ur go northwards passing the Bird Paradise. Then downwards towards the loop heading towards the airport. From what I see, the circle is going counterclockwise.

The changeover of loops (colours) would be at Pandora Country Resort.

Any help? its too bad they don't have a bigger map

Simon said...

Thanks for the input Jennifer. As you say a bigger map would help but quite honestly I think last year's course would be better - I don't know why they have changed it - I certainly didn't feel that there was a traffic issue at all. Oh well it's the same for everyone I guess (except those that do too many or too few loops).

Jenn Jenn said...

well, if i were to compare between the old & new route, i would go for the newer route. U might be going in loops but u don't have to make u-turns. U just keep doing the circles.

I recently went for my OD, 1st time experiencing loops aka u-turns. (1)its freaking boring (2)u see the same ppl at every turn :p (3)slows ur pace especially when it rains. i like the route that just keeps going going going with no reason of slowing down.

Peter Hughes said...

Hi Simon, thanks for this. Is there anything nasty a first-timer on the island should expect riding the new route on the first loop...climbs of note in particular?

Simon said...

Hey Peter,

I haven't really got my head totally around the new course in terms of profile but the big first loop is a nice rolling course, the small loops I'm not so sure about but will ride the small loop on4 time when I get there to check it out. I don't think there will be any nasty surprises, the one steep hill that was in recent years has been removed.

Just be warned though, Langkawi is ALWAYS an oven, much hotter than KL and it is usually quite windy.

Hope that helps.