Hope it is harder

Evryone on that hill was dismounted from their bikes and walking. Must be far more steep than the video appears. ? Thanks for sharing the video

Yea I patrolled the Barlow hill for a while in the afternoon during WIBA and at least half of the people walked part of it. It's steeper than the video suggests. I was told it was 14% and I could believe it.

But you only have to do it once because the second loop cuts that portion out. Hopefully by race day some of the intimidation factor will fade and it wont chew too many people up. I think it took a lot of folks by surprise during WIBA since it was only announced the day before.

I've never had really low gearing when on that hill, but wondering if walking may actually be a reasonable strategy for some bop?

Steep section seems to be ~4:00-5:00 in that video, though the actual top of the hill is just a bit after, out in the open.

If walking is a strategy, when are you going to start? If you can ride the rest of the hills keeping your power under control, I say F-it & just get over the thing. You will have at least 4 hours to recover from it.

I rode the Barlow loop twice this morning. First time I paperboy'd the steep part and made it up (barely). I haven't seen a heart rate like that in 30 years. My lower back and hammy's were trashed and my stomach started to not digest. Took me almost the rest of the loop to recover. And I freaked mentally for a good 30 minutes (this from someone who has completed the race 6 times)

After a 15 minute break in Verona I did the Barlow loop again. I specifically unclipped shortly into the steepest climb (it is about a 1/4 mile) took off my shoes and walked up. At the top of that climb I re-shoed and rode the rest. The whole walk process took 4.5 minutes. My paperboy process took 2 minutes. So I "lost" 2.5 minutes walking vs. riding. The rest of the loop was 1000 times better. Including realizing there is a decent amount of flat riding over the rest of the new part of the course that you can make up some time on if you get aero (something I didn't realize loop 1 as I spent this time gagging up my nutrition and watching my year of training go up in smoke).

I am a bigger (me bike and full load of bottles today +200lbs) and older (49) guy. I typically ride this course in 6-6:30.

A smart man once taught me "just because you can doesn't mean you should". I think that applies here; just because you can climb this steep part doesn't mean you should. I for one will be using a walking strategy on the 1/4 mile of steep climb on Barlow as an active part of my race strategy; I will suffer the embarassment. I will "lose" 2.5 minutes and IMO gain 30 on the back side of the run.

I am glad I went today. I don't usually ride the course. That 1/4 mile is no joke.....

BTW the paperboy process required the entire road so I would be crossing the centerline on race day (not to mention endangering everyone else around me). 1/2 the road would not have worked. If there are spectators it could be really interesting (and a bit entertaining if you are a spectator).

We were there today too. I didn't feel the effort for that long after, just contemplating if a few extra teeth will make it better.

Yikes, for someone traveling in to do the race, what exact mile does the hill start? I might need to keep in the back of my mind around mile X to prepare mentally to fight or flight with this hill.

barlow road is about 2 miles long about mile 38-40. 90% of this 2 miles is similar to the rest of this course. Somewhere in the early part of the 2nd mile is a 1/4 mile climb that is very steep. It is in a wooded area; when you get to the bottom of the climb you can see the top of the climb. You will know it when you feel it......somewhere about 1/3 to 1/2 up this quarter mile you will either need to commit to the climb or commit to putting your foot down.

there were two people riding behind me on my second loop that seemed to handle it ok. They were much lighter than me (like probably 150 lbs with bike and nutrition vs 200). That makes a huge difference on this 1/4 mile.

It is shortly after you turn off of Garfoot onto Observatory on the first loop. Look at the brightside, afterwards is a 50 mph descent & you only have to ride it on the first loop.

I rode it Monday on a 36/28. I weigh in at 185. It wasn't easy, nor was it soul crushing, but I spent about 3 minutes above threshold. The descent after gives you plenty of time to recover. Overall the course is faster because of the changes.

Where people will screw up is letting their ego and pride take over and attempt to climb the hill when they cannot make it. Hopefully they don't take others out in the process.

the part I walked is on the video at the bottom of page 1 of this thread (post 25) from 4:00-5:00 on video. At 5 minutes you can see 2 people re-clipping in. This is the top of that climb

in the video on the section (4:00-5:00) the first two riders are just starting the climb. The dude bouncing up and down in yellow is at the critical decision making stage (ie commit to the climb or put your foot down). The other 3 "riders" are self explanatory.

agree. I just wanted to share my perspective as a mid pack rider. I think this is more people than would care to admit it. And some will satisfy their ego by making the climb and will pay for it (a lot) later in the day.

I am prepared to tuck my ego in my pocket. Once done I think you can use this to advantage. I will use my 5 minutes to stretch my legs and back (something I usually do at special needs but will not need to as long this year).

I agree the course overall is faster. This 1/4 mile is the only danger zone. Not the whole "hill" just this little portion of it

Yup.

Is 3-4 minutes faster according to BBS, more flat, less hills (7 less). We lose Messerschmidt (twice) and get a massive descent and flat area, lose Timber (twice), Old Sauk (twice), gain Barlow (once) and get another big descent (Mineral Point).

I found the climb on Mauer (24:30-25:00) on video pretty legit too. Not much different than others on the course but one of the stiffer adds considering some of the climbs taken away

Yeah that one will sneak up on people the second time around.

been a while since I was on Barlow, so I rode out today to check it out. going reverse direction, hit 55.7 mph. going back up there was a section where I was at 6w/kg going 5.7 mph. the 15% grade is only for about 0.2mi then it flattens out 39x25 is not an optimum gear, unless 8w/kg is not to bad for you for short time period(1 min)