I preface this with the fact that I'm a strong cyclist, decently heavy (160lbs), good bike handler, and confident in the wind. I've ridden in the bars through 15mph crosswinds with a 404 front and disc rear no problem before. I have never experienced anything like that storm while on the bike- there were several instances where I was convinced that I was going to crash and accepted that I was hitting the deck.
Also note that I feel way worse for the women in the water than myself- heard they had several foot waves and fences blowing over in transition to navigate.
For me, it was like someone flipped a switch on the climb up Telegraph right before the descent to the right hand turn onto Washington Parkway. Going up that short climb, I noted that we definitely had a headwind (though not too bad, maybe 10mph) and that the sky was darker. I crested the hill thinking I would super tuck the descent at 40mph+ before the turn. For those that don't know the course, the Washington area is super exposed and basically in the middle of the desert without a ton of development, so there's not much to shield you from the wind.
Thankfully, I never made it to the super tuck or into the bars. As soon as I hit 20mph, I was blown clear into the left lane and experienced speed wobble like I've never felt before. My front wheel was shaking so badly it felt like I had broken several spokes, or the wheel had come loose. To this second I have no idea how I kept it upright- I hugged the down tube with my knees, shifted weight back, and managed to brake and scrub off enough speed to somehow not go over. Even on the ensuring climb, going 10mph, the gusts were strong enough to blow me from the left all the way to the right and almost into the ditch. On the out and back in Washington, I had to shift weight back and ride the brakes all the way downhill on what should've been a 40mph section, keeping speed at about 20 tops (the road was very wet at this point too and had NO grip). Through all of this, I was still going faster than most around me! I couldn't touch the bars until it died down to 10-15mph and we got into the development before Red Hills parkway.
I briefly considered pulling over when I was getting put into the gutter on the uphill- but thankfully I reminded myself that the conditions were hurting everyone else worse since I'm strong on the bike and can ride wind. That said, for almost 30 mins exactly, I didn't touch my aerobars, hydration or nutrition, didn't look at my power meter, and just focused on not crashing.
Once I hit Red Hills, the wind was much more manageable- though still prob 10mph headwind going out to Snow Canyon. I was able to use the aerobars and super tuck the descent from Snow with a couple wobbles but nothing too alarming. I went flying by a lot of folks on the descent who were still cautions or struggling, but not as bad as when the worst hit.
In retrospect, the wind cost me a TON of time vs others in my AG (25-29). I'm a horrifically slow swimmer and started at the back of the AG wave, so I was prob 10-15min behind the top guys in my AG when the wind hit. In normal times, the bike is my weapon to make up for my poor swim (fastest bike split at every local race this year, and 4th fastest on the tough Virgina's Blue Ridge in June). I lost out on 2 fast downhill sections while those who were better swimmers were less exposed and on less downhill sections of the course. Overall I had just under a 2:30 bike split, 30th in my AG, when I was estimating 2:15 pre-race (and I averaged 25mph at 270NP for the first 20 miles with some decent hills). I did have my best 70.3 run off at 1:32 with a slight negative split despite not eating 30-40% of my calories on the bike- the wind and rain felt much better on foot!
TLDR: Exposed downhills were purely about survival- conditions were way worse early in the course near Washington and Hurricane where the roads are fully exposed. I only had to really deal with wind and wet roads- those near Stg had hail, heavy rain, and lightning in exchange for less wind.
Also note that I feel way worse for the women in the water than myself- heard they had several foot waves and fences blowing over in transition to navigate.
For me, it was like someone flipped a switch on the climb up Telegraph right before the descent to the right hand turn onto Washington Parkway. Going up that short climb, I noted that we definitely had a headwind (though not too bad, maybe 10mph) and that the sky was darker. I crested the hill thinking I would super tuck the descent at 40mph+ before the turn. For those that don't know the course, the Washington area is super exposed and basically in the middle of the desert without a ton of development, so there's not much to shield you from the wind.
Thankfully, I never made it to the super tuck or into the bars. As soon as I hit 20mph, I was blown clear into the left lane and experienced speed wobble like I've never felt before. My front wheel was shaking so badly it felt like I had broken several spokes, or the wheel had come loose. To this second I have no idea how I kept it upright- I hugged the down tube with my knees, shifted weight back, and managed to brake and scrub off enough speed to somehow not go over. Even on the ensuring climb, going 10mph, the gusts were strong enough to blow me from the left all the way to the right and almost into the ditch. On the out and back in Washington, I had to shift weight back and ride the brakes all the way downhill on what should've been a 40mph section, keeping speed at about 20 tops (the road was very wet at this point too and had NO grip). Through all of this, I was still going faster than most around me! I couldn't touch the bars until it died down to 10-15mph and we got into the development before Red Hills parkway.
I briefly considered pulling over when I was getting put into the gutter on the uphill- but thankfully I reminded myself that the conditions were hurting everyone else worse since I'm strong on the bike and can ride wind. That said, for almost 30 mins exactly, I didn't touch my aerobars, hydration or nutrition, didn't look at my power meter, and just focused on not crashing.
Once I hit Red Hills, the wind was much more manageable- though still prob 10mph headwind going out to Snow Canyon. I was able to use the aerobars and super tuck the descent from Snow with a couple wobbles but nothing too alarming. I went flying by a lot of folks on the descent who were still cautions or struggling, but not as bad as when the worst hit.
In retrospect, the wind cost me a TON of time vs others in my AG (25-29). I'm a horrifically slow swimmer and started at the back of the AG wave, so I was prob 10-15min behind the top guys in my AG when the wind hit. In normal times, the bike is my weapon to make up for my poor swim (fastest bike split at every local race this year, and 4th fastest on the tough Virgina's Blue Ridge in June). I lost out on 2 fast downhill sections while those who were better swimmers were less exposed and on less downhill sections of the course. Overall I had just under a 2:30 bike split, 30th in my AG, when I was estimating 2:15 pre-race (and I averaged 25mph at 270NP for the first 20 miles with some decent hills). I did have my best 70.3 run off at 1:32 with a slight negative split despite not eating 30-40% of my calories on the bike- the wind and rain felt much better on foot!
TLDR: Exposed downhills were purely about survival- conditions were way worse early in the course near Washington and Hurricane where the roads are fully exposed. I only had to really deal with wind and wet roads- those near Stg had hail, heavy rain, and lightning in exchange for less wind.
Last edited by:
mikeridesbikes: Sep 24, 21 10:54