Ironman Wisconsin Bike Course: How to Ride a 5:54:37 Bike Split

The Ironman Wisconsin bike course is every bit as deceptively challenging as you have heard. But the confusing part: the course elevation chart looks so tame, so flat relative to Ironman Canada, Lake Placid and many others. Why is it so hard?

See chart below, actual mile-by-mile speed, maximum speed and cumulative average speed. It's not steep hills that get you; it's the constant choppy turbulence of the course that wears you down.

This is how to ride a 5:54:37 bike split at Ironman Wisconsin. For video of this ride and more, see Ironman Wisconsin: 5:54 Bike Split, Live.

For more, see our Complete Ironman Wisconsin Race Coverage.

Ironman 2014 Triathlon Schedule, Dates, Entry, Results, Kona

How to sign up for an Ironman Triathlon? Know the race you want, visit Ironman.com. Be prepared to click many links to find others.

If you're like me, you want to compare races, dates, locations and links to all races,  in one place. So, we've done the work for you.

We created the table, calculated stats, and connected links to Ironman.com (the way we think it should be on their site) . Click on the Average Time link for each race to see detailed race and finisher analysis.  Hope this helps.

Events on Ironman.com	Date	Website	Entry(1)	Entrants(2)	Results	Avg Time(3)	Slots	Odds
Lake Tahoe CA, USA	9/22/13	Website	Register	2,733	Results	14:06	50	1.8%
Kailua-Kona World Championship	10/12/13	Website	Qualify	2,039	Results	11:31	25	1.1%
Florida Panama City Beach	11/2/13	Website	Register	3,061	Results	12:38	50	1.6%
Arizona Tempe, AZ, USA	11/17/13	Website	Register	2,940	Results	12:48	50	1.7%
Cozumel Cozumel, Mexico	12/1/13	Website	Register	2,664	Results	13:03	50	1.9%
Western Australia Busselton	12/8/13	Website	Register	1,410	Results	11:52	40	2.8%
New Zealand Taupo, NZ	3/1/14	Website	Register	1,532	Results	12:13	50	3.3%
Melbourne, Victoria, AP Champs	3/23/14	Website	Register	2,179	Results	11:09(4)	40	1.8%
Los Cabos Los Cabos, Mexico	3/30/14	Website	Register	New	Results	n/a	50	n/a
S Africa Nelson Mandela Bay	4/6/14	Website	Register	1,624	Results	12:53	50	3.1%
Australia Port Macquarie, NSW	5/4/14	Website	Register	1,603	Results	12:13	40	2.5%
Lanzarote Canary Islands	5/17/14	Website	Register	2,818	Results	12:53	40	1.8%
Texas The Woodlands, TX	5/17/14	Website	Register	1,916	Results	13:19	50	2.1%
Brasil Florianopolis Island	5/25/14	Website	Register	1,924	Results	11:59	50	2.6%
Cairns Queensland, Australia	6/8/14	Website	Register	1,226	Results	TBD	40	3.3%
Austria Klagenfurt, Austria	6/29/14	Website	Register	2,890	Results	11:39	50	1.7%
Coeur d'Alene ID, USA	6/29/14	Website	Register	2,318	Results	13:07	50	2.2%
France Nice, France	6/29/14	Website	Register	2,783	Results	12:44	50	1.8%
Frankfurt European Champs	7/6/14	Website	Register	3,015	Results	12:04	100	3.3%
UK Bolton, England	7/20/14	Website	Register	1,602	Results	12:56	50	3.1%
Canada Whistler, BC, Canada	7/27/14	Website	Register	2,171	Results	12:52	50	2.3%
Lake Placid  NY, USA	7/27/14	Website	Register	2,537	Results	13:05	60	2.4%
Switzerland Zurich	7/27/14	Website	Register	2,493	Results	11:54	50	2.0%
Colorado Boulder, USA	8/3/14	Website	Register	New	Results	n/a	50	n/a
Sweden Kalmar, Sweden	8/16/14	Website	Register	1,929	Results	11:23	50	2.6%
Mont-Tremblant NA Champs	8/17/14	Website	Register	2,306	Results	12:31	75	3.3%
Copenhagen Denmark	8/24/14	Website	Register	2,230	Results	TBD	50	2.2%
Louisville  KY, USA	8/24/14	Website	Register	2,600	Results	13:20	50	1.9%
Japan Hokkaido, Japan	Date?	Website	Register	1,552	Results	13:39	50	3.2%
Wisconsin Madison, WI	9/7/14	Website	Register	2,544	Results	13:16	50	2.0%
Wales Pembrokeshire, Wales	9/14/14	Website	Register	1,677	Results	12:13	50	3.0%
Total				64,456		12:35             1560		2.5%
(1) Many Races are Sold Out, but check registration page for potential additional charity entries
(2) Based on athlete counts in prior years' results, or participant list
(3) Average Finish Time Based on RunTri.com Results Analysis, multiple years for some races; click links for details (4) Swim Shortened in 2013 By Raymond Britt and RunTri.com We've competed in several events on the calendar, and have covered and analyzed many of these events in detail. Click on the Average Time link for each race to see detailed race and finisher analysis. To compare all races, see our Ranking of the Toughest Ironman Events. For even more see our 200+ posts comparing Ironman results listed on our Stats/Results/Analysis page. Traffic to this page has been tremendous; we've had visitors from more than 2000 cities in 65 countries. (see interactive map below)

Ironman Lake Placid 2014 Results Analysis: The Lightning Race

I've raced through pouring rain, flooded streets, and other harsh conditions at Ironman Lake Placid (2003), but apparently this year's weather was even worse. Lightning strikes during the swim led organizers to take swift, decisive action: to immediately direct swimmers, most on lap 2, out of the water in any way possible. Very smart move.

As I understand it, a large number of athletes had completed the second lap, and were on the bike course when the swim was cancelled by lightning, but the timing clock kept ticking. Those escorted out of the water without completing the swim headed for transition and then onto the bike course to continue the race.

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Personally, if lightning was still in the area, because it's a deadly risk, I would have recommended one of two things:

• Immediately stop the race, direct athletes, wherever they were, to seek shelter. When conditions improved, continue the race. Or . . .
• Canceled the race, as has been done in major races in the past. Cary Pinkowski's cancellation of Chicago Marathon 2007, mid-race, due to the threat of dehydration and heat stroke, took guts, angered thousands, but saved lives. And lives were at risk at IM LP this year.

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But the race continued, and we do have final race results analysis. Because of the great deal of confusion coming out of the water into T1, the results are admittedly unreliable when looking at overall times for the complete 140.6 mile Ironman. So we analyzed the results of the event considering only lap 1 of the swim, full bike, and full run.

One of our favorite races to analyze, comparing results to 2009, the course change limits us in that regard this year. But the analysis is still quite interesting, and complete with respect to the run. Take a look:

Interactive Finisher's Map: Finishers and Average Results per City

Extra credit: we mapped the average splits and total finishers for each city represented in the race. Click on any red dot to see results by city. Scroll around, zoom in and out as you would on google maps.