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Southeast Gravel Tri
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I have been scouting around and think I have found the perfect location for a 3-4 hourish gravel tri here in the southeast (about an hour out from Knoxville TN) and was wondering how many people on here would consider themselves within range of this and would consider it. Bike course would be roughly 30 miles with 5,000' of elevation change. Swim is in a nice flat lake with no boat traffic. Was speculating on a 2020 race.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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I'd be interested. Lots of good dirt roads within an hour, where are you thinking? Trying to place which lake.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Sounds like fun. 5,000 feet over 30 miles is pretty darn hilly so will definitely be a challenge. Not sure if that much elevation gain will scare some away. With that much climbing you could be looking at 3+ hours for most of the field on the bike leg alone, depending on the type of terrain. I'm new to gravel but I like the idea of a gravel triathlon.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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A_Hooligan wrote:
I have been scouting around and think I have found the perfect location for a 3-4 hourish gravel tri here in the southeast (about an hour out from Knoxville TN) and was wondering how many people on here would consider themselves within range of this and would consider it. Bike course would be roughly 30 miles with 5,000' of elevation change. Swim is in a nice flat lake with no boat traffic. Was speculating on a 2020 race.

if you put on that race i'll probably come do it.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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great to hear! There are quite a few options course wise, can go shorter with less elevation (19ish miles with 2,000') or possibly somewhere in the middle. What are the thoughts on the goldilocks distance? Perhaps 25- 30 miles with 3,000'-4,000'. I am mainly focusing on the bike as the other legs can easily work around that.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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A_Hooligan wrote:
great to hear! There are quite a few options course wise, can go shorter with less elevation (19ish miles with 2,000') or possibly somewhere in the middle. What are the thoughts on the goldilocks distance? Perhaps 25- 30 miles with 3,000'-4,000'. I am mainly focusing on the bike as the other legs can easily work around that.

25 to 30 miles is good, with a swim and run that aren't overly long. if you're asking my preference. but if you put too much vertical in it, that's going to be a problem for a lot of people. the 19mi course is good, or 30mi is good, but whatever you do i'd try to keep it to under 2000' of vertical.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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A_Hooligan wrote:
I have been scouting around and think I have found the perfect location for a 3-4 hourish gravel tri here in the southeast (about an hour out from Knoxville TN) and was wondering how many people on here would consider themselves within range of this and would consider it. Bike course would be roughly 30 miles with 5,000' of elevation change. Swim is in a nice flat lake with no boat traffic. Was speculating on a 2020 race.


I like the idea. I would definitely do it if I was within driving range. I do have some advice for it:

1. You'll want to be clear up front about what sort of bike works best, e.g. list what % is on gravel vs road, whether anyone can realistically expect to use a tri bike, etc.

2. 30 miles with 5k ft. of elevation gain is quite a bit. That would put it on par with being as steep as the steepest stage in a grand tour. There may be people that are less experienced on the bike that may not fully understand how difficult that will be. I'd recommend making it easier at least to start out with. Most triathletes don't have very much experience with anything near that tough.

Professional interests in Genomics, Bioinformatics, Hardware/Software interfaces, sports interests are running from 800 to half marathon, sprint tri to half iron, cycling road races

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Last edited by: adaykin: Nov 22, 19 13:56
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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A_Hooligan wrote:
I have been scouting around and think I have found the perfect location for a 3-4 hourish gravel tri here in the southeast (about an hour out from Knoxville TN) and was wondering how many people on here would consider themselves within range of this and would consider it. Bike course would be roughly 30 miles with 5,000' of elevation change. Swim is in a nice flat lake with no boat traffic. Was speculating on a 2020 race.


That's a healthy amount of vertical in 30 miles. I've done some seriously hilly rides- north of 10,000 feet, but over a far greater proportionate distance. Sounds like a race for the mountain goat cyclist. I wonder how many IM bikes have that amount of climbing. If you wish to maximize participants, consider reducing the vertical or just make it a more challenging gravel race and forget the tri aspect.
Last edited by: wetswimmer99: Nov 22, 19 15:32
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Well, I'll be the guy.......

Whats the estimated entry fee?

Its a weird dynamic meshing the tri world with the gravel world. Lot's of gravel folks prefer inexpensive bare bones events. They dont always expect swag, aid stations, or even course markings in exchange for cheap entry fees.
Triathletes usually expect more "stuff" and are used to paying higher entry fees.
Of course these are sweeping generalizations with exceptions among each group.
Which crowd would your race seek to attract?
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Trail run? I hope so.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Date and fitness dependent I would make the drive from FL. I’ll echo what the others have said on the vertical. That’s quite a bit for most. Gravel descents can be sketchy too fwiw. Personally I’d try to flatten the bike out.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Agree with others on considering that amount of climbing for that distance. That amount of climbing on pavement is hard enough. On gravel. Oh boy. And can be even harder depending on type of gravel.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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I’d do that race in a heart beat and I’m 5-6 hours drive away. If you had beer at the finish or a venue that allowed it I could pretty much guarantee I would have a carload if folks with me.(4)
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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I would definitely be interested in doing the race. I’m about 3 hours away
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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If I had a gravel bike or could borrow a friends I’d absolutely do it, and I’m 4 hours drive away in Durham, NC. I’d second what many people have said that 5000’ ft of climbing is a lot for 30 miles and may deter some folks. A good compromise that would be challenging enough for strong riders and wouldn’t scare away as many folks would be in the 2-3k range.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Coming from North Carolina, definitely would put this on my radar.

Most important criteria FOR ME:
Date/day of week
Lodging options
Start time

Least important for ME:
Price
Swag

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Include a duathlon and I would definitely consider--thanks.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Intrigued. Gravel tri series could easily take off in SE. Lake Jocassee outside of Greenville would be another awesome venue.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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i would think your estimate of 30mi and 5000ft vert is probably way off. have you ridden it, or mapped it out with some software that would give a better estimate? VT Overland has essentially nothing flat, and is 5500ft over 44 miles, so nearly the same vert over 14 less miles just doesn't add up. i personally like a hilly race, flat gravel is less interesting. i assume this would be draft legal?
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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Alabama here, so definitely in range for me and would be interested. As others have said, would look for something with less elevation if you want anyone to actually show up. Less than 100’ per mile is probably a good cutoff point, and even approaching that will scare many people away.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [2lazy2tri] [ In reply to ]
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In regards to a couple of the items here are my thoughts-
The race would have a same feel as similar Xterra races in the area, and similar in entry fee as well
I rode the short course option I am looking at of around 20 miles with 2,000ish feet of climbing saturday and it broke down to about 30% road and the rest gravel.
I think a cross/gravel bike would be best, I think a mtb would be overkill, and an allroad/road bike would not be sufficient
The run portion would be a fairly flat doubletrack trail that is right a the 5k distance for one lap. I do not like doing multiple laps typically but this portion of the course is very conducive to it.
I am still scheming on the routing as I would like to get rid of as much of the road portion as I can but still stick to the 20-25 mile distance
Lodging- there is camping areas nearby, and vacation rental type lodgings in the area. The closest large town is roughly 45 minutes away.

As for timing, since this would be a one off race for many people I would imagine, perhaps fall for the race timing as most people's A races will be done and over with. Or is that a non issue for most?
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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A_Hooligan wrote:
I have been scouting around and think I have found the perfect location for a 3-4 hourish gravel tri here in the southeast (about an hour out from Knoxville TN) and was wondering how many people on here would consider themselves within range of this and would consider it. Bike course would be roughly 30 miles with 5,000' of elevation change. Swim is in a nice flat lake with no boat traffic. Was speculating on a 2020 race.

I think elevation would depend on who you are targeting. If you are looking at primarily gravel cyclists and trying to pull them into the world of tri, then a really tough bike course would be intriguing. If you are planning on primarily triathletes while pulling as many gravel cyclists as you can you'll probably want to lessen the amount of climbing.

We are putting on a new gravel tri in West Michigan and will offer two routes. The first will be sprint(ish) distance and is almost pancake flat. That should make the race accesible to just about anyone. The second route will be more Olympic(ish) and probably around 30 miles with 1600-1800 ft of climbing. It uses the sprint course for the beginning and end, so the first and last 7 miles will be flat while the rest should be pretty interesting. We have the ability to spread it out to an even longer course, but want to make sure the interest is there before we go too crazy. I am hoping that by offering both a short/flat course and a longer/more challenging course we can appeal to the people who just want to try something new while at the same time giving those who want a challenge something to look forward to.

Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help with anything.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [A_Hooligan] [ In reply to ]
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A_Hooligan wrote:
I rode the short course option I am looking at of around 20 miles with 2,000ish feet of climbing saturday and it broke down to about 30% road and the rest gravel.
I think a cross/gravel bike would be best, I think a mtb would be overkill, and an allroad/road bike would not be sufficient

Can you describe the bike you used to do the recon ride?

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.
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Re: Southeast Gravel Tri [japarker24] [ In reply to ]
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specialized crux 1x. regular ol cross build.
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