Well this is crazy! One month before the race and I’m questioning everything. My biggest concern is safety on the smaller course with fast riders trying to pass slow riders that seem to never be on the right side of the road… I guess we’ll be doing lots of yelling this race… on the plus side, a newly paved road surface sounds wonderful.
I did IMAZ at the height of its popularity and I didn’t think the three loop course was that congested as a 1:08 swimmer and 5:10 biker. Yes, it was certainly more crowded on loop 3 but I never had an issue.
I did IMAZ at the height of its popularity and I didn’t think the three loop course was that congested as a 1:08 swimmer and 5:10 biker. Yes, it was certainly more crowded on loop 3 but I never had an issue.
Ok cool. Thanks
Well this is crazy! One month before the race** and I’m questioning everything**. My biggest concern is safety on the smaller course with fast riders trying to pass slow riders that seem to never be on the right side of the road… I guess we’ll be doing lots of yelling this race… on the plus side, a newly paved road surface sounds wonderful.
You’re ‘questioning everything’ because of a change to the bike course that may require you to pass a few more people?
Amazes me how easily some people here get totally flustered. At least you didn’t mention Mortal Hydration yet…
Well this is crazy! One month before the race** and I’m questioning everything**. My biggest concern is safety on the smaller course with fast riders trying to pass slow riders that seem to never be on the right side of the road… I guess we’ll be doing lots of yelling this race… on the plus side, a newly paved road surface sounds wonderful.
You’re ‘questioning everything’ because of a change to the bike course that may require you to pass a few more people?
Amazes me how easily some people here get totally flustered. At least you didn’t mention Mortal Hydration yet…
What amazes me is how rude people are to complete strangers when they have the internet to stand behind. I’m not sorry for considering these last minute changes and the congestion issues a shorter course will inevitably cause. Work in the ER for a bit and tell me I’m crazy. Every race I do, I see cyclists cross the yellow lines to pass groups of riders that are themselves passing even slower riders. It happened the year I did Boulder and that person is no longer with us. So get over yourself.
God bless.
This makes a lot of sense. I have my waterfront file from when the race was on 27 and I assumed that it would just incorporate the climb at mile 4 three (3) times in each direction and I didn’t see how it could be under 5000 ft. I haven’t been past mile 12 on the out, but it lines up with my files.
Well this is crazy! One month before the race** and I’m questioning everything**. My biggest concern is safety on the smaller course with fast riders trying to pass slow riders that seem to never be on the right side of the road… I guess we’ll be doing lots of yelling this race… on the plus side, a newly paved road surface sounds wonderful.
You’re ‘questioning everything’ because of a change to the bike course that may require you to pass a few more people?
Amazes me how easily some people here get totally flustered. At least you didn’t mention Mortal Hydration yet…
What amazes me is how rude people are to complete strangers when they have the internet to stand behind. I’m not sorry for considering these last minute changes and the congestion issues a shorter course will inevitably cause. Work in the ER for a bit and tell me I’m crazy. Every race I do, I see cyclists cross the yellow lines to pass groups of riders that are themselves passing even slower riders. It happened the year I did Boulder and that person is no longer with us. So get over yourself.
God bless.
There will supposedly be two lanes going in each direction, right side for riders, left side for cars, so you shouldn’t have any ‘oncoming’ riders in a lane next to you.
I’m very familiar with the ER, thanks. Maybe you should take a pass on this race.
God bless you too. Cheers
I think most people assumed we were coming back down that hill to the turn around at Signal Mtn Blvd, which would be not only a ton of additional climbing, would also be a terrible turn around at speed with a fast decent, tight u turn to a 7% climb. Made a lot more sense to me to turn around at the top to limit elevation gain and provides a much safer turn around.
Can you share how the lane setup is going to be?
It seems ppl are concerned about the traffic…
Thanks!
I think most people assumed we were coming back down that hill to the turn around at Signal Mtn Blvd, which would be not only a ton of additional climbing, would also be a terrible turn around at speed with a fast decent, tight u turn to a 7% climb. Made a lot more sense to me to turn around at the top to limit elevation gain and provides a much safer turn around.
Thanks Brian! Looking forward to the race.
As a follow up to uva’s question…how does the turn around at the southern portion work? I can see where there is a cutover on the north side, but cant figure out on maps how we will turn around and get to the other side of the highway just north of signal mountain road?
Hang in there, its almost here and almost done. I’m certain this has been a stressful number of weeks for you. Thanks for it all.
Tough without images but Ill do my best… Athletes will go backwards on the access ramp from MLK. Southbound on US27 will be shut off at 153 so athletes will be able to cut across all lanes and get to the “inside” going the “wrong way” outbound. At mile 5, they will merge over to the north bound side of the highway. Athletes will head north in the left lane. There will be a buffer lane until Morrison Springs when cars will then be in the right lane. Athletes will stay in the left lane all the way up to the turn around, take the cut through after the Tsati Terrace exit and return in the left lane. Cars in the right lane until 153 where cars will be forced to exit. Bike Personal Needs will be just after that where we have the whole road. At the near turn around stay to the left for lap 2 and 3 and merge right for straight to finish. For the aid stations at Mountain Creek Road and Tsati Terrace, all vehicular traffic will be forced to exit so that we can setup aid stations on the right and have a safe area for those with no traffic around. Hope that makes sense.
It looks like there are emergency vehicle turn arounds on the highway. Is that where athletes will be crossing/turning around?
My apologies if I missed this info here somewhere but will this bike course issue also apply to the 70.3 in May?
So just to confirm. Very fast bike course today and yes, it was pretty sketchy out there trying to pass slower riders that blocked the entire road while they lackadaisically pass the rider in front of them, wave to their friends on the other side of the highway, or just love to ride on the left apparently.
But the good news, you can’t get off course unless you’re drunk. 
And 1x would have been fine for an average rider with the gear inches equivalent of a 40/34 combo. I had a 40/30 but probably only used that easiest gear twice.
More important in my eyes was to have ENOUGH gear for a good rider to go 35-40+ in many spots. But with SRAM’s 10 tooth that shouldn’t be a problem.
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I agree there were a number of instances where I saw riders on the left, and also weaving while waving to people. While I never got yelled at, I saw people around me get confronted for riding on the left, and while the passing riding wasn’t wrong to be upset, you don’t have to be a shitty human to that person to make your point. The worst road rage I’ve seen, and the worst aspect of triathletes.
I went 1x with a 44t front and 10/33 12 speed cassette, and thought it worked well. Spun out on the downhills, but the gearing was easy enough for the uphills. If I did the race again I’d go 46t and a 10-36.
Yeahhhh, I got called a name by a pro for that reason, but it was deserved. I felt bad, but couldnt see the number through the rain/fog in my visor so I couldnt figure out a way to apologize. Not to make excuses but here is the context.
I’m deaf in my left ear
Wearing an aero helmet that covers my ears does not help
Car traffic noise on my right made it even more difficult to hear
I’ve never done a looped course before and am not used to being around pros
Every other time pros passed, i heard them and got over.
I was caught off guard trying to open my food ziplock, while holding handle with other hand and not wanting to move to the right for fear of going into traffic.
I lost my bearings and just wasnt thinking, youre in the left lane and might be blocking someone.
I never heard them yelling to pass until I had already been blocking for a bit. I think I was too focused on not falling or sliding into traffic given that some imbalance comes with my deafness and it was raining.
I averaged 22.8 mph for the first 100K, but at this moment I was not going particularly fast and the pros go much faster than that anyway, especially on that course.