Hello Mel

I’m a runner and swimmer turned triathlete who’s looking to use MTBing to take my bike leg to the next level. The event that I was looking to set as my goal is off-road triathlon nationals. I noticed that you have it on your schedule; I'm wondering if you have any experience with this course and if you do would you recommend a full suspension or hard tail for this particular course? Is there many technical sections? Any other words of advice? Thanks in advance and I appreciated all the info and motivational pieces that you post on this site as it helps with the long painful workouts.


Gerrad
The only easy day was yesterday

Post edited by: gerl902, at: 2007/05/16 18:29

Hi Gerrad,

Just so you know... I think you need to qualify for nationals so you should check the XTERRAplanet.com website for the races in your area and how to qualify.

When you get to Tahoe, bring a hardtail. Not too much technical but LOTS of sand. Very sandy. Big, big, big climb up the mountain. Fun switchback descent then a white knuckle descent down a sandy road. Crazy fast. The run is super fast, fairly flat, with lots of twists and turns.

The race is awesome so I hope to see you there!

M

I'm very sorry I wasn't clear, I was refering to the Canadian Offroad Triathlon National's being held in Vancover on September 8th.

Hi Gerrad,

Sorry! Okay, CANADIAN offroad nationals are a LOT different than the race in Tahoe. Okay, I will go over it.

Wetsuit swim in a beautiful, glasslike clear lake. Phenomenal. Two laps, XTERRA _style_.

The bike is fun, twisty, STEEP short switchback climbs. The course is not horribly technical but will reward a good bike handler as they are so steep you need to throw your weight around in order to ride cleanly. The worst that will happen is you have to push your bike... and a lot of people end up pushing sections on the course. Not for long.. there will be like 10 meters of pushing then you will be riding again. Fun course with nothing horribly scary anywhere. A bit loose on the descents but otherwise you just need to watch where you are going because the trail is narrow.

The run is fantastic! Fun run up an over a little hill, run over a floating bridge, up another hill in singletrack, down, back over the floating bridge, up the little hill again, then lap and do it again. So fun.

I really like the Vancouver course. Nice venue, a bit out there but absolutely beautiful area. See ya there!

m