Doing the same race. Need tips as well. I heard different opinions about the roads. Also there was a course change in 2018 not sure if this had any impact.

Roads ... you will have a mix of perfectly smooth asphalt / consistent light "chip seal" / and short sections of poor pavement ... the biggest question will be the inferior pavement on HWY 128 between Asti & Chalk Hill Rd ... in that stretch there is very good repaired pavement and broken pavement. If you can ride clean lines its OK ... and th buggest skill in those sections is knowing how to ride "light" and relax when you have some inferior sections.

As we get closer to race day I can provide updates on conditions and any paving projects. Pavement quality is also relative to what you are accustomed too ... I.E. Those coming from NZ & AUS laugh when people sya we have rough roads - Those who spend 90% of their time on Zwift Etc STRUGGLE w/ the surface

Tire Pressure ... @ 70-71 kgs with HED+ wheels i run no more than 80psi ... on Conti GP4000S II or 5000

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Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

Thank you!
This is what I am calling a complete information :)

All the best to you!

Clearly the locals will know better about what improvements have been done, but last year I heard the same type of info. Mostly good, but some bad areas. I was not prepared for how bad the "bad areas" truly were. They tried to mark the worst of them with orange paint, but couldn't get them all. Then you also have to account for bottles and nutrition that get knocked off bikes on the bad areas. My advice is to prepare for horrible roads, then you may be pleasantly surprised when they're not that bad. I hope they get the road situation taken care of someday, its a pretty course with what should be flat and fast roads. I'll be back when they fix the roads.

Thanks for the info!

the "short sections of poor pavement", do you know aprox how many of those and aprox lenght of each?
Are there any sections particularly dangerous? any risks of elbows jumping out of armpads due to bumps?
do you think those short sections of poor pavement are still rideable in aerobars if riding clean lines as you mentioned?

The "consistent light chip seal" you mentioned I assume shouldn't be a big deal, right?

Raced the 70.3 last year in July ...I only remember a very small section of rough roads (near a freeway overpass) where there were a lot of bottles launched and a few people on the side repairing their flats...but other than that, I thought it was fine. Ran Conti 4000ii 700x25 on Zipp 808 @ 90 psi and no issues...I’m 6’ and 165lbs.

I raced 70.3 last year also and can confirm this assessment.

The only rough section that I recall was where the course went over 101 from east to west. I think it was on Shiloh around beyond mile 35. There were a lot of bottles all over the road there.

I ran Felt AWS tires around 90 psi, I'm 5'-8", 155 pounds.