Any idea where I can find the elevation profile for the Great Floridian bike course? Even my local sprints have elevation profiles online but I’ve had no luck finding it for G.F.
Tri www.michiganoutlaws.com for their course info. Ken did the race last year, so there should be some good info there. I understand from a post by Fred that he may change the run course this year. See you there.
careful - BOTH the run and bike have changed fro GFT
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it’s florida. watch out for those power sapping overpasses
Actually it’s not quite as flat as some of you might think.
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it’s florida. watch out for those power sapping overpasses
I guarentee you’ve never run up a steeper hill at the beginning of a run as Hospital Hill at GFT.
I did the 1/2 GFT in 03 and I would have to say it was a very difficult race. The course is not flat by no means. I have done Wildflower, Lake Placid, California. I would rate the GFT loop as the toughest when conditions are factored in.
I’ve also heard from people that have done both Kona and GFT, that GFT is just as tough as Kona due to the hills on both the bike and the first 5 miles of the run. The winds at GFT can get ugly…then add heat and humidity…this race ain’t easy!
Michael,
I live and train in Clermont and ride that course regularly. It is a tough course, like Paul says. I did Kona last year and think the GFT course is every bit as difficult - factoring in short, but very steep climbs, heat, humidity and wind. Kona last year was just a bit sick in the wind department. I highly recommend a 25 tooth rear at minimum. I ride a 27. If the course has not changed since last year, I also highly recommend patience and strategy. Do not hammer these hills. They are short. Spin up them. Whatever time you lose spinning up them as opposed to standing and grinding, you will make up on the back end where everyone else is dying. Last year the course was 2-laps, each lap front loaded with hills then near ending with the beast, Sugarloaf. A good strategy for each lap is to start off in the small chain ring and ride through grassy lake and buckhill in the small chainring. Then you’ll have a flat stretch for about 15 or so miles. This is where you can make back some very serious time. About a mile out from Sugar, figure out approximately where that is, dump it back into the small chainring and start spinning, loosening up the legs for the sugarloaf climb, then spin up that climb without killing yourself. Then ride hard after that - mostly easy rollers with a couple sticky ones. A well-thought-out strategy is important on this bike course. If the run course is the same, the cruel race director has you running up the backside of Hospital Hill, with incline of about 12-14%. Walk it. After that the run is relatively flat with a few laps around the lake. Pay attention to the camber in the road. Three laps of that and one of your knees will hurt. Try to run down the middle of the road.
Have a great race.
Oh yes I have (been there). OVERALL it is a flat course (likely less than 1200 ft of climbing), but lots of the false flats that actually make the bike leg hard. No “real” hills at all.
Completely new bike course guys for 2005. I would doubt anyone has this info/profile. Has anyone even road the new course completely? I have road all of it…but not the entire 56 miles loop all in order.
http://www.sommersports.com/downloads/maps/greatfloridian/2005-GFT-BIKE.pdf
I would say slightly easier, eh? No buckhill.
They took off Northridge (Hospital Hill) from the run cause you go up and down it twice on the bike/lots of bike traffic. There are some other (bike) hills through Ferndale and Grassey Lake that aren’t exacly flat either as some of the Tri-merica ST’ers found out. It will be challenging. I would say it might be sightly easier (like RA says) only cause the wind on SR-19 out to Howey gave some people trouble last year. Hopefully, this year we will just have the hills and no wind to worry bout. Like RA said too, we only do a small section out on Buckhill.
RA…are you in for GFT? I guarentee you it will be easier than last years Hawaii.
Nope. Wife has me on a short tether this year. She laid down the law and said break time. So i’m looking at '06 for the next one. You’re doing enough of them in the next few months anyway for the rest of us Central Floridians! I’ll be out there cheering though.
I’m not so sure I would call this “easier” by any stretch. Buckhill wasn’t really that tough if you hit the hills at the right speed. I could be more than halfway up the hills before even slowing down. The only hill that hurt me was coming off of Buckhill and turning left at 10mph on a sandy turn going up 561 towards Sugarloaf. I also don’t know what Bruce Hunt rd is like…gotta check that one out. This time we climb Hospital Hill (a.k.a. Cardiac Hill) twice, which peaks out around 18% grade right in the middle.
Going in the Olympic-distance direction on 455 is a bit slower than the other way iirc, and Grassy Lake Road is no picnic. There are some pretty tough climbs there too, mostly short and steep. I’d take last year’s Howey section over Grassy Lake any day. I haven’t been out 48 or 448A but I think that area is fairly flat overall. If this is flattish then this would probably be similar to the loop through Howey-in-the-Hills last 2 years.
I think I’ll drive out there tonight and check it out. Hopefully they paved all of Grassy Lake, I know they had done a bunch of it. I haven’t ridden out there in almost a year now…it’s getting to be time to go! I’ll have a vertical profile for you guys then…probably next Saturday.
From having done the race with my Polar I’ll tell you that the course is 2100ft of elevation per lap, so 4200ft of climbing total.
I’ve done GFT 5 times since '95 and the bike course has changed radically. In fact, I’d say that this year’s version is the toughest yet. It’s an ass-kicker, to be honest. But I love it, so I’m back there again, come late October.
Tony
Well said B.K.! If you want an easy triathlon don’t do an Iron distance. I dont know why we are talking about which bike course is harder and which course is easier. 112 miles is 112 miles. Bring it on! As the great Paul Huddle once said, “This is an Ironman,its not suppose to be easy!”
Well said B.K.! If you want an easy triathlon don’t do an Iron distance. I dont know why we are talking about which bike course is harder and which course is easier. 112 miles is 112 miles. Bring it on! As the great Paul Huddle once said, “This is an Ironman,its not suppose to be easy!”
I think I understand what you are saying but 112mi of GFT and 112mi of IMF are 2 very different things!