Watch OLN tomorrow at noon and see for yourself.

Geoff

Yeah, saw it ,but really didn't get any race details. There is a long run out of the water and up a steep set of stairs to the bike and the bike looked like there were some long grades but hard to tell by the way they filmed it. Cloudy in am and sunny in afternoon. One pro male said tough conditions, That could mean many different things.They never mentioned air temp, water temp,road condition, hill placement or wind. I am really looking for some input from a competitors point of view. So if you are out there, don't be shy.

If you want info look it up the website for Ironman New Zealand is http://www.ironman.co.nz/
The site talks about everything you could possibly wish to know. Cheers, Todd

Wait how can the race be on tv it isn't until March?

Does anyone have Fancy Satallite Service that gives Euro channels with actual cycling coverage? I wonder if such a thing exists.
You would think that if OLN needs to fill time with endless strongman competitions, fishing shows and travellogues they could show a real sport. The ratings couldn't be any worse.
Garth

Don't be so quick to see green grass over here in EU. I struggle every year with no OLN. Sure, we do have great cycling coverage in the summer months (just watched Madrid Champs yesterday). But they don't show any IM's or the like. Can't wait to be back to the struggles of OLN.

I saw the race on OLN. I wonder why they'd change their programming like that. Those were some steep stairs. I wish they would have filmed it differently as well. It didn't seem like there were any hills. Cameron Brown looked smooth.

That looked like a nice race. Sure was odd seeing everyone pass on the right!
I wish the coverage did give some details into the course and the local conditions.
Also watched the IMWI coverage - Got to see me as a spectator. Probably won't be filmed on course next year tho! :D

Katherine, Thanks so much for your info. It was very helpful. Did you think there was a lot of wind on the bike and did the road surface make the bike uncomfortable or just a little different.? Lots of questions, but for such a big trip we want to know what to expect or if it's really something we want to do. I am on my racing/tri bike and if I pay the entry fee don't want to feel like I'm on my mountain bike. I want it to be a challenge but ------- I think you see my point. We have done lots of other IM races and so will have something to compare it too. Were you pleased with the race overall?, and would you do it again?

The roads here in New Zealand are a mix of smooth seal (smooth black tar seal) in some places and chip aggregate (small bits of rock sprinkled over tar seal) in others. The latter is a little rougher, especially when the seal is new. Most of us here ride 700x23 tires at around 100-120 PSI rather than the thinner, high pressure, (race?) tires e.g. 700x19 @ 120-150 PSI. Once cars have been driving over the rough surface for a few weeks there's usually smoother patches where the wheels strike that cyclists migrate to when there's no traffic behind them (or when the road is closed for a race).

New Zealand is made of two main islands, North Island and South Island, in the Lower Pacific Ocean (35-45 degrees South). Wind is therefore inevitable throughout the country, but Taupo (Ironman location) is not as windy as many of the coastal cities as it is in the centre of the North Island. Taupo is located on top of a large dormant volcano (last eruption was ~1,820 years ago and the explosion crater is now Lake Taupo) and the lake water is heated by many geothermal sites which warm up the cold alpine river water that enters the lake from the mountains which surround the region. So although Lake Taupo is surrounded by snow capped mountains, the swim is relatively warm (often warmer than the air!) and makes for quite a pleasant swim on a cold morning.

Taupo is a very popular tourist location in NZ and road cycling and Mtn Biking are both very popular sports which are supported by an ample supply of Bike Shops. Taupo has a small airport, but to my knowledge doesn’t handle international flights. I presume that most people would fly into Auckland International Airport (top of the North Island) and travel by road down to Taupo (~4 hours drive). Being a popular tourist destination, Taupo has heaps of accommodation, but book early for accommodation during you Ironman stay! I’ve never had the pleasure of racing in Taupo, but i’ve spent a fair bit of time there for work and on holiday over the years, so if you’ve got any general questions about NZ or Taupo I’d be more than happy to do my best to answer them.

Oh Yeah, if you've travelled all the way around the world to get to NZ, don't forget to stay for a bit of a holiday (you could even visit Australia on the way home). The South Island is amazingly beautiful and New Zealanders are really quite friendly (my bit for New Zealand tourism :D )

Noticed that most of the pro men used disc wheels. Seemed odd to me for an iron distance race but I've never done an ironman so I wouldn't know. That led me to believe the wind wasn't much of a factor.