I think that’s pretty good. I’m just curious long term if that will work. I was planning on racing until I got into Dirty Kanza which is the week before. IM is so quick to shut down races when they don’t feel the numbers aren’t enough. We will see. I hope it does well.

Yeah Augusta is only 1,761ft gain - I view it as flat.

I’ve done the Augusta bike course three times and there is a fun descent through the woods where I hit 43.8mph last year despite getting boxed in and the other lane might have been open to traffic so had to slow down slightly to wait and pass. I’m hoping I hit 45mph at least this year on that segment and hopefully be in the right company of cyclists that maybe are going that speed too.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

I am not familiar with the Roanoke area. Can one ride this course in its entirety safely on any given weekend? I figure the Blue Ridge portion is fine but don't know about the rest of it.

Yes. The area around T2 will be the most traffic as that goes through downtown Roanoke. When you come out of T1 and turn left onto Route 11, that is a somewhat busy road. But we ride it all the time and have never had a problem with cars. It's plenty wide. At about mile 5.5 the course has you taking a right and then a left and coming back out at the traffic circle to go right and stay on the same road. Honestly I would skip that section and stay on Route 11. That is a busy road so I'm sure they did that so that traffic could still go through there on race day. Once you get past there traffic will lighten up.

After that you will hit 43 and the parkway. Those should be fine. The next tricky thing is getting back off the parkway onto 24. That's a busy road, especially once you get back into town around mile 50 or so. On the weekend it shouldn't be that bad though.

Can't fathom how they plan to handle the bike route intersections especially if Rt 24/11/43 will also be the detour for BRP traffic northbound/southbound.
When will this type of traffic info be published and where?




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for people doing this race what sort of gear ratio are you planing on running? I have a 11-25 cassettes right now but think I may want an extra gear for the big hill

you will want a bigger gear for sure. those hills are "only" 5-7%, but put grade on your computer where you live and go ride up a 6% hill in a 25 at your 70.3 wattage, likley will be around 70rpm.

Actually have the benefit of being close to the course so will get a chance to ride the course a few times before the race. Obviously it depends and I will see what kind of cadence I can get with my current set up (no PM unfortunately) but would an 11-28 be something I should aim for for this level of hill assuming I am riding a tri bike, on the lighter side, and am fairly used to riding some pretty big hills in my current gearing?

I was able to handle a 1 mile hill at ~12% in this gearing but it definitely felt like my physical limit and can handily do a 2.5 mile hill with an average gradient mostly in 5-7% range with peak section of 9%

I have ridden this climb a few times. I ride a compact crank and 11/28 on a road bike. I feel like it's just about right for the climb. But I'm never going to be in contention to win so your mileage may vary...

Email is out and the race is gonna be at least postponed. More details to come...hopefully soon!

Yes it does.

How was the course, for any of those that did it this past year?

Overall: I liked this race. I had zero desire to race this, but it was the only semi-appealing option for deferral when 70.3 CT was cancelled. That said, I’m planning on doing it again in 2022 because I liked it so much and I like how early in the season it falls.

Swim: Scenic, warm water. I think the official temp was right at the wetsuit limit…so, this could be a non-wetsuit swim.

Bike: Hills. Even the flat parts weren’t flat (I live in pancake flat Chicago). Blue ridge parkway felt like it was never going to stop going up. Decent is very fast, wide open turns.

Run: good crowds around the transition/finish area, flat, and no shade in certain areas. It was very hot this year.