Quite a day yesterday! The conditions (at least for me ) were dramatically more challenging this year than they were in 2010 or 2012. The pros caught a break–the section from the Four Seasons out past Waikola had building winds which were not quite at full blast when they went through. After Hawi, they basically had 25-35 mph tailwinds for 20+ miles.
In contrast, by the time I got there i was shocked to have to ride into these intense head/side winds blowing down off Mauna Kea. It was difficult to control my bike and I’m a pretty big guy. The we had the ususal Hawi challenges and by the time we got back on the Queen K the Kona winds had built and we had 20-25 mph headwinds–all the way back to Kailua (34 miles). Basically, with the exception of part of the Hawi descent, I head/side winds from the Four Seasons (outbound) all the way to the finish of the bike–probably 75 miles in total.
This took it’s tool for sure–I was out there an extra 50 minutes and was fried from struggling to control my bike and not being able to eat and drink as much I would like (although i did a pretty good on that). I know 2004 is legendary, and I wasn’t there, but it’s hard to imagine things were tougher back then–I sure wouldn’t have wanted any tougher conditions!
Here’s my virtual elevation vs. actual elevation for the ride usng some reasonable cda and crr numbers. I was 45 minutes to 1:30 behind the pro field during the ride. The stretch from the airport to Waikoloa had pretty calm winds on the way out, but strong headwind on the way back. Other than that, I think things evened out (esp. from Waikoloa to Kawaihae - very strong headwind on the way out, but equally strong tailwind coming back; same for Hawi).
Key jackmont- I suppose at one level I don’t since I wasn’t up there. However, I did talk to a number of them last night and this morning and I talked to about 35 Age Group types this morning and all but the real fast swimmers/bikers had headwinds both ways whereas the faster folks were able to get a tailwind on part of the Queen K.
I also talked to two folks at lunch who have done most of the last 15 Kona and they. Compared the bike this year to 2004, but they all felt 2004 was a bit worse…
I can say unequivocally that it was hugely worse than 2010 and 2012…
The tailwind I had on the way back, past waikaloa, was pretty amazing. I was doing 43mph on the flat without pedaling. Sadly it only lasted about 5 mins
The tailwind I had on the way back, past waikaloa, was pretty amazing. I was doing 43mph on the flat without pedaling. Sadly it only lasted about 5 mins
EXACTLY. I hit that spot and said “thank Christ, this is finally going to even out.” then 5 minutes later, it was back to the same shit. I was pedaling 53x11 and couldn’t hold power on the flats when we had that tail wind.
My bike was about40 mins slower than last year. Pretty much the only time without wind either cross or head was on the way to WaikolA for me. After that it was wind all the time until T2.
Totally agree. 2001 was much worse. 27 pros dropped out. I was in both of them. 2001 was worse than 1995 which up to that time had been the worst. That was my 1st IMH and I saw the man in front of me blown off coming down from Hawi.
