HoustonTri(er) wrote:
I'd be interested in any comments about the course/roads after your ride this weekend.
My road bike is nothing fancy so would rather ride the tri bike unless it really is a course that benefits a road bike.
As promised, I went out to do some race recon today on the recently released maps. I rode from my house to Levy Event Plaza (transition), did two full loops of the course, and then rode home. Overall, I have to say I’m very happy with the course. This is probably more detail than anyone wanted but here goes:
Course is 3 loops, 80km/49.7mi total. Each loop is therefore ~16.6mi/26.7km. It’s all concrete (small section of newly paved asphalt) on roads with 3 lanes in both directions. In some short instances it drops down to 2 lanes in both directions but again they are very brief. I believe roads will be entirely closed to traffic for us.
You'll probably want to have this open as you read my sections:
https://protriathletes.org/...8/AG100k_Bike80k.pdf Transition:
Transition is in a nice field called Levy Event Plaza right on the water of Lake Carolyn. It’s a good-sized field/park area that can easily hold the field size the PTO is expecting. The field has good access right to the water (so no long run from swim exit to bike exit) and two nice large gates that will serve as bike in and bike out without any issues.
Downtown: - First 1.5 miles out of transition are in downtown Las Colinas on Las Colinas Blvd. This is a rather urban area but still 2-3 lanes wide on both sides of the road. Tons of great restaurants, shops, hotels, etc. There is even a freshii should Lionel show up for this. Road rises ever so slightly in this area, maybe 1%.
Colwell: - At 1.5 mi mark you go under the DART rail line/highway and enter a more suburban environment. After the first turn at mile 2 onto Colwell Blvd the right lane gets a tad rough with some torn up concrete but its short and not terrible. Left lane appears ok but I didn't ride it.
W La Villita Blvd - The Road continues to rise gently on Colwell Blvd and there is a big sweeping left turn at a stop sign onto W La Villita Blvd at mile 3.25. A small rise follows before the left turn back onto Las Colinas Blvd. Be careful when you make this left to not get into the furthest right lane where there is a giant bike eating gutter with some torn up road. This is probably the biggest
red flag I could find on the course.
Image of gutter:
https://i.imgur.com/6FAVOgg.jpg Las Colinas South 1/Royal: - After you avoid the gutter there is a very nice sweeping good quality road downhill at maybe 2-3% before the right onto Royal Lane. After this turn there is a short moderate 2-3% rise followed by a very nice 2% long straight downhill. This is probably the fastest part of this course so hammer it here.
Top Loop - - Next is a right onto Parkridge Blvd. Slight rise here 1-2% before a nice left onto Kinwest Parkway. This has a moderate rise that eventually turns into beautifully smooth new asphalt for about a mile.
- - Making the right turn onto Royal Lane again brings some slightly torn up concrete but not too bad, its a bit bumpy.
- - First turn around is a left onto a small cross street and another quick left back onto Roytal so its not a fully 180. Its two 90s.
- - -Royal is then some down and flat until you must go back up the downhill you hit before. Its short and not steep. I never had to get out of the saddle.
Las Colinas Loop de Loop - - A quick right onto Las Colinas Blvd saves you from continuing the royal hill and you enter what I’m calling the loop de loop section at mile mark 11.6-13.6
- - You do 2 u-turns in this 2 mile section (not counting the Colwell u-turn).
- - The first one seems easy as there is a slight rise just before it
- - The second has the potential to be the toughest on the course bc if I’m right about the course flow here we’ll probably be riding the wrong way back down Las Colinas here. See my guess map here:
https://imgur.com/fWvMZwg - - Las Colinas S is 3 lanes on both sides of the road with a giant park like median in-between.
Final Miles of the Loop - - Another quick and relatively easy out and back on Colwell Blvd. Nothing to note here except the road has a lot of grooves in-between lanes where you can get a tire stuck so be careful when changing lanes on this road!
- - Right back onto Las Colinas and a nice 1% downhill into the urban section.
- The final u turn to continue onto loops 2,3, or back into transition is also easy to do.
Final Comments: It’s a fast flat course with some gentle risers and sloping downhills. I never had to get out of the saddle, and I never thought it was even a little technical. The u-turns are not hard as there are plenty of lanes to do them over. It’s a TT bike course so don’t even think about brining a road bike. You’ll likely be in aero the whole time, even on the “climbs”.
Ill be running the run course tomorrow and can make a quick report on that but I don’t expect anything to come from it bc its fairly straightforward out and back.
Other images/video I took:
https://imgur.com/a/WdgKDiT