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Are You
Searching for a Challenging and Scenic Ride?
If that's so then you are in luck as one has
already been mapped out for you. It's in Muskoka and just
happens to be the Bike portion of the first annual Subaru
Muskoka IRONMAN 70.3 in Deerhurst taking place this September
14. The course is one big 94 km. loop traveling through
Lake of Bays and the entire District of Muskoka including
Dwight, Dorset and Baysville. The event has been sold out
for months but that shouldn't deter avid riders from checking
out the course. Just don't do it on race day.
Check out more maps and video at the Muskoka
Ironman website: http://www.ironmanmuskoka.com/course.htm
Sudbury's Mike Coughlin and members of his
Discomfort Zone team are entered in the event and Mike has
dutifully ridden the course for the benefit of his crew.
Take a read and learn some pointers on how to ride a challenging
course intelligently.
Muskoka 70.3 Bike
Course Review
Mike Coughlin
Discomfort Zone Performance Coaching
Hello DZ Tri Team!
I know that many of you have been training very hard for
the Muskoka 70.3 triathlon coming up in a few weeks. As
your physical preparation comes to a peak and you begin
resting and sharpening for race day, it is a good time to
review the course and plan your race day strategy. For those
of you who won't have a chance to preview the course personally,
here are my thoughts from my preview of the bike course
last week.
First of all, this course is 94km long instead of the normal
90km. Why? Because 94km provided the opportunity to circumnavigate
the beautiful Lake of Bays south of Huntsville Ontario,
a truly memorable loop course that is increasingly rare
in triathlon these days. Strictly speaking, this course
is a "lollipop" design, with an 8km long "stick"
leading to an 88km "candy" portion of the course.
Yum!
I have outlined the 3 Parts of the course below, but here
are the take-aways in brief.
1. In addition to being 4km long, the course is back heavy
(more hills near the end), so pace yourself even more carefully
than normal.
2. Riding hills intelligently will really pay off on this
course. Change gears before you have to, spin the bottom
of the climbs and finish each hill strong so you don't lose
momentum.
3. The ride doesn't really start until Part 3. Use Parts
1 and Part 2 to eat and drink well, and use the bottle exchanges
to make sure you have enough calories and fluid for Part
3.
Part 1 (0 - 17.3km): Warm Up
This opening section on secondary roads includes the 8.3km
"stick" part of the lollipop course, and has many
hills and a few sharp turns.
Key points:
- Resist the urge to attack the hills. Your effort should
feel relatively easy.
- Pay attention to the road and other riders. This busy
technical section could see crashes.
- Start by drinking all or mostly water to settle your stomach
and let your heart rate come down after the swim.
Part 2 (17.3 - 62.3 km): Settle In, Eat and Drink
This section is predominately highway and contains both
the bottle exchanges at 35km and 61km. There are hills but
they are the longer, more gradual hills that you see on
highways. The one exception is a steep hill coming back
onto the highway out of Dorset (a cute cottage community
you ride through at about the 35km point).
Key Points:
- Use this section to eat and drink rather than push the
pace.
- Stay aerodynamic as this is the most exposed part of the
course .
- Be ready for the bottle exchanges. The 61km exchange in
Baysville is important since it is the last one before the
challenging ride back to T2
Part 3 (62.3 - 94km): Ride strong and smart
The right turn onto Brunel Rd. is where the
race really starts. From here, it is around 32km of progressively
challenging terrain back to T2. Those of you who raced the
Muskoka Chase in June will recognize the section on South
Portage Road from Brunel to Brittania, but will be happy
to know that there is no left turn up the big hill on Brittania.
Instead, the course continues on South Portage Rd. to North
Portage Rd. where a left turn is made back onto the "stick"
part of the course for the final 8.3km to T2.
Key Points:
- This is where your pacing and nutrition
will pay off
- Apply the strength you have conserved to
the top half of each hill and keep your momentum over the
top
- Keep eating and drinking right to the end
- Relax and spin the legs in the final 1-2km
so you are ready for the run
So there you have it. A challenging and beautiful
course through cottage country that you won't soon forget.
Ride it intelligently, and those memories will be all the
sweeter.
See you at the race!
Mike
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