Why can't you draft on a hilly course? Safety concern?


It's ~800 feet over 6 miles up and then back down. I've not figured out that calculation grade wise. But I don't think it's *that* dangerous.

What it means is it actually will be a strength course where front pack athletes truly will get advantage.

ETA: Want to draft at this event? Learn to run really really fast. Because if you can't, you'll get crushed on this course as the group simply puts time in you. Good on USAT for having a legit bike course in their DL events.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I'll second that. I raced the sprint duathlon at Nationals and the very similar TT course for Cascade Cycling Classic. Most of the course is under 3% grade, and the lack of turning combined with excellent surface make me totally unconcerned with safety with drafting on that course.

More to the original point, the fairly low grade also means there's still a substantial gain for drafting. I was on my road bike without aerobars for the duathlon, and was still averaging around 16 mph or so for most of the way up. That's well into the range of drafting making a difference.

Plus, the elevation, the hill on the way out, and sore legs from racing twice in one weekend ought to combine and fry everyone who runs faster to try and stay with a group. I'm looking forward to racing both DL and conventional next year.

 
The course maps are up on the USAT Website.

The NON Draft Sprint is the same as last year. We go five miles up Skyliners Rd and straight down (The standard is two climbs).

The DRAFT Sprint goes half-way up Skyliners, back down and repeats. So there are two shorter climbs in the DL race.

I'm a bit concerned about the speeds on the downhill, especially since this is the first time they are using this course for a draft legal race. There's also the problem of having riders who are not so good with drafting going 35 mph within a few inches of each other.

Still, I think they did a good job last year and trust they'll do a good job with this. They're using the bottom of Skyliners and my understanding is that keeps the descent under 5%.

Nah, the speed on the hills is not that great going downhill

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

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I have friends who live on Skyliners and I've stayed with them many times.
The course is more or less ideal for less experienced draft-legal riders. Plenty of drafting is possible, but also enough of a challenge that you can't really sit in unless you're fairly comparable to the people you're riding with. The road has very few turns and you can ride downhill without really paying attention. You'll have to pedal the whole way down if you want to go fast. Smooth road, good sight lines, shallow grade. If you can't draft in that situation, you should probably sell your bike or actually ride the thing.