The run has a couple of hills but not to bad. The only steep spot that I remember is coming off of John Rodgers back on to the race course it is a steep climb for just a few yards. The bike has a small hill coming out of the transition area then when you get onto John Rodgers it's pretty much down hill to hwy 78. The first mile of 78 is flat then its hills to the first turn around and back. Nothing steep but one climb on the way back from the turn around is close to two miles. You ride back up and go past the race track to the second turn around and head out for another round of fun. They usually have a bottle exchange just after the second turn around. Last year was cold and windy but as of now the weather guessers are calling for it to be warm, not sure about the wind yet. There can be some nasty cross winds on 78 but a lot of people still used disks. I don't have one but I used Hed Jets and was ok. Have a great time and if you pass someone puffing up a hill on a yellow Bianchi, say hi.

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jimmyk

Thanks for the info. I'm wondering on any of the hills, did they get backed up with people? I'm trying to figure out where the potential for unintentional drafting penalties might occur so I can be aware and look out for trouble spots.

Did the course seem crowded to you?

Everything Jimmy said is accurate. I'll add that this is a heavily marshalled event. Remember, this is the event that Widoff lost by 30 seconds due to a 2 minutes standing penatly last year for dropping a water bottle. There were numerous drafting and position penalties handed out also. More than you typically see. But, this is a large event. I believe they also disqualified a couple of athletes for not wearing their helmets during their warmup rides around the event parking lot.

Last two years have been cold and windy. Last year was so cold and windy that hardly anyone stuck around for the awards. However, as Jimmy pointed out, it was cold this weekend in the area and will likely warmup for next weekend. I would still expect high winds. If you can control your disc wheel in high winds, you can benefit from it.

Transition info: You can mount your bike at the end of your Transition row and ride through Transition in this event. If you like to pre-clip your pedals in, be aware that there may be some wet spots in Transition. Its not standing water, its just where the asphalt continues to leach water for a few days after a heavy rain. (Rain is expected Thursday.) If you normally run through transition w/ just your socks on, they may get wet. Just something to consider.

The run has some hills, but good downhill sections follow each hill and you can fully recovery, so keep pace on the hills. Powerman is a two looper on both portions of the run and on the bike section. Again, as Jimmy pointed out, there is one significant hill on the return of the bike leg that will put you in your small ring/21 or 23 for an extended period of time. Grind through it, there is plenty of time and downhill sections for your legs to recover before you have to dismount to start the second part of your run.

Access to the event is easy and there is plenty of parking. Its the outside of a dog racing track and is designed to get thousands of vehicles in and out w/o waiting. Excellent venue. However if your spouse likes to bring 'fido' to your events, they will be sent home. This is a dog track the other 6 days of the week and they do not allow pets on the property.

Good road surfaces and well patrolled traffic by the local authorities, good support, post race food, and overall excellent race direction make this an excellent event.

Good luck.

Depending on what your are used to, and how much hill training you've done so far this year, the hills on both the bike and run can be rough. I use Powerman as an early goal to focus on over the winter. Unfortunately, the weather here in Michigan has sucked so I have only been outside once so far. :-0

The run course is slightly downhill for the fist couple hundred meters, followed by a short climb. There is a longish decent and some flats, followed by a long, gentle climb out of the race track. There is a short, steep decent, followed by a long gradual decent. The last section of the loop has a 2 part climb as you re-enter the race course, then a nice decent to a couple hundred meters of flat to finish the loop.

The bike course is up and down almost the whole way. You get to recover on the descents, but you have to climb again right after. The first turn around is at the bottom of a steep hill. You have to slow way down for the turn and then climb immediately after the turn, make sure you are in the right gear. They moved the 2nd turnaround a couple years ago, but I think it is still at the bottom of a hill also. Don't get too excited on the first loop, or you can really suffer during the 2nd.

Bring a wide variety of clothing, arm and knee/leg warmers and a vest at least. It was really cold and windy last year, and it's been cold other years. It's always fun to start the 2nd run with numb feet. ;-) It has been warm in the past also, getting into the 70's. Bring some sunscreen also. Even if it's not really warm, you can get burned if you haven't been out in the sun much. It's never good to start the season with a good 'tri-top' burn.

The course has plenty of room and is not crowded at all. The only place that gets any congestion is the first bike turnaround. It occurs on a slight downhill and you have to go around a cone. This is normally not a big deal or concern, however, if there is a rookie in front of you that swings too wide and too slow and consumes the entire lane, you are forced to slow down, make the turn, loose momentum, and have to get out of your saddle to get back up to speed. Its not due to the amount of people on the course, it could be a single rookie athlete that forces you to slow down at that turn around.

Keep in mind that they run the Whistlestop duathlon 'shorter' event at the same time on the same course as the Powerman. There is still plenty of space and room for all athletes. There is practically no traffic and most of the bike is on a four lane road.

If you are a fast runner, get to the front of the pack for the start. It thins out quick, but each wave could have as many as 100 athletes starting in a narrow shoot.

You're going to have to keep passing to avoid a drafting penatly. I feel the course motorcycle marshalls tend to ride a little too fast. If you're in that '3 bike length zone' when they pass you, you could get a penalty. Above all, stay to the right and don't draw attention to yourself. I've never seen so many position fouls written up in an event.

Like scox said the bike turn arounds can get bottled up. Right now there are over 600 signed up for the Powerman and the Whisltestop, the Whistlestop only does one lap but they still have to do the turn around.

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jimmyk

bring extra clothes, coming from AZ two yeas ago it was already in the 70's in the morning when we would ride. So me being the AZ boy I am brought 1 pair of tights and 1 long sleeve T-Shirt. I borrowed a few other layers from the people I was meeting there. Also after living in that region the weather can be fickle. I'd bring the arm and leg warmers just to be safe.
Stay in your aerobars as long as possible on the climbs, I can't even count as high as the number of people I passed who were on the top of their bars on hills where I was in a 53x17 or 19.
I hate (not really, just very very jealous) all of you for going to powerman this year. I can't make it b/c I'm moving. I'm fricking crying right now reading this.
Best of luck to all going to PM Bama! it's an awesome race.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I don't know where everyone lives but we have hills and some are pretty tough. Ozark "mountains" I know they are not really mountains but some tough hills. I just say this to show I do train hills, as a matter of fact most of the locals would say I am a pretty good climber. I train mostly indoors during the winter . I think that the long hill at powerman is tough. You have to pace yourself, it's after a turn around, and it's early season for most. I can't believe that most wouldn't find this true. To hardly mention this is a disservice .

I didn't mean any disservice, I think most of the hills at Bama are tough! I know the course fairly well because I'm slow and have time to take in the sights! :o)

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jimmyk

On the second run the hills become steeper, especially the last climb into the parking area.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

According to my Polar S710i, the run has 340 ft of climbing, and the bike has 2200 ft of climbing. If you want all the details, I have posted my HRM file at http://home.comcast.net/...o/Files/03033001.hrm You should be able to download it and look at it. You can even import the [HRData] section into Excel to make some graphs if you want.