Wildflower short course MB section question...

[ehammarlund]

...hopefully someone here has ridden it. I'm going out next year with a friend of mine. gotta buy plane tix way in advance of course :) How hilly / technical is the MB course? Can you ride it on a cross frame with a road (non-compact) double crankset, 700c knobbies, and 12-25 cassette, or should I start tracking down a loaner MB or smaller chainring setup?

thanks!

[Baggsy]

Where is Wildflower? I saw a century jersey for it once, and was curious where it was held? Sorry I can't help with your question. Just remember what ever you use has to be easier than if you rode it with a fixie!!!

[CorporateDog]

Wilflower requires you to use a mountain bike frame with knobbies.

The course is not technical in any great sense - about a third of the sprint distance is on paved roads (which you be sharing with the long course road bikes). The dirt portion is mostly well-graded fire roads or bike/hike paths that run around the lake area.

As for where Wildflower is held - Lake Nacimiento located west/northwest of the town of Paso Robles in Central California.

[zakk]

get a loaner. I've done lots of triahtlons, and Wildflower is the only one you MUST do at some point. the San Jose International (home course) is a close 2nd, I haven't done a full IM, but just the madness that is the 3 day event is worth it.

Next year I'm going to do the wildflower double (I think!) so we'll see how that goes :)

[123sadie123]

Wildflower double?? You ROCK!!!

I did the sprint at Wildflower in '04....was an amazing weekend. I drove up from Santa Monica/West LA area...I think it took about 3-4 hours.

Definitely get there a few days early, and enjoy the long weekend and the whole experience w/ thousands and thousands of new closest friends.... :)

The swim's in Lake San Antonio...as for the bike and run...hills. I think its part of the rules that you need a mtn bike for the bike portion. The bike seemed like one big hill-2 loops. The run has several rolling hills--not bad-its out and back, 2 miles. The year I did it- was HOT--the year before, it rained (poured) and course was really muddy.

Definitely a good idea to throw hills into your training. Being a newbie...the sprint was fun and a challenge..and a little different being on a mtn bike in a tri---For me, the 'other' best part was hanging out and watching Olympic and long course races (those courses make my sprint hills look like bumps in the road).....strange (motivating) things happen when you hang around that crowd...at the time I remember thinking I'd never be able to do more than the sprint...next year I have plans for the Olympic.

I just got back into tri's last year, and completed 5 (4 in So. CA, one after the TI Camp in Killington, VT, and Wildflower was BY FAR the best and most fun experience. Perhaps more than you needed to know...couldnt help myself!