The course description says there is a 7 1/2% grade climb on the bike, but doesn’t say how long it is. Anyone familiar with the course? From the looks of it on Topozone, it appears to be about .5mi of steep, followed by a mile or so of slight upgrade. Appreciate any insight into how hard this bit is. I’d like to go with a 39/21 max gear to give myself lots of options for the rest of the mostly flat course.
I did this race in its first year. There were no volunteers at the first major turn on the bike course so me and about 30 other guys rode right past it. I turned around about 1.5 - 2 miles the wrong way and when I made a sharp U-Turn on sand my wheel slid out from under me and I broke my elbow. I still finished the race but I could feel every bump on the road with that broken bone. The course is hilly and has two very tricky sections; one is a steep decent with a blind left hand turn, lots of wrecks on that turn. Yes, there is one major climb, it’s about 1 mile and is fairly steep (try it with a broken arm, ouch). The run is flat and fast.
Dave in VA
You are pretty well on, all told it is just over a mile of climbing at the big hill.
On the way out of town there are rollers but nothing too bad. Then 6 or so miles of flats along the susquehanna.
In those areas moarked and with volunteers telling you to slow down, slow down; they really mean it.
The course is easy access from I-95, you should consider riding it this weekend if you like within reasonable distance.
You are pretty well on, all told it is just over a mile of climbing at the big hill.
On the way out of town there are rollers but nothing too bad. Then 6 or so miles of flats along the susquehanna.
In those areas moarked and with volunteers telling you to slow down, slow down; they really mean it.
The course is easy access from I-95, you should consider riding it this weekend if you like within reasonable distance.
Can you compare it (steepness) to the Reedy Point Bridge that is part of the Brandywine Duathlon and Escape from Ft. Delaware courses? I live in NJ, and can barely schedule the time to do the race, much less pre-ride the course!
For someone who (used to) likes to climb, do you think a 39/21 is sufficient? Is it downhill after that for a bit of recovery?
Definitely steeper than the bridge.
I’m a big clyde and “likes climbing” is very far removed from my own experience.
But if you own an 11-23 go ahead and put it on. On the other hand, I wouldn’t go out and buy a new cassette just for this race. Not that you wouldn’t like it, but rather that one olympic race isn’t enough to make me buy a new cassette.
The hill is not all that bad. I did the race last year for the first time and will do it again this year. I was a little concerned about the hill because I know what 7 1/2% grade is like on the Computrainer, but not sure what it looks like when you see it on a real road. At some point in the race last year, I came upon a hill and I thought to myself, I’d better save something for the big hill they mentioned on the website. As I neared the top of the steeper part I looked at my bike computer and realized it WAS the hill. I have no idea what my own gearing is 
so I can’t offer any opinion on what would be best for it.
There is a bad downhill, though, as someone mentioned, with a sharp left at the bottom. Last year I saw an ambulances taking away at least one guy at the bottom of the hill.
Did it last year on a 42-23 and did not have a problem. To my memory, the very steep part of that climb was not even half a mile. And since there’s no actual rule that says you can’t ever get out of the saddle during a triathlon, 39-21 should be fine. There were some newbies walking up that hill though.