I’ve looked in several places to find a somewhat accurate value for the elevation gain for the bike course. In one of the threads in this forum, a user posted the following:
“There is 6909 ft of climbing over the entire length of the whole course according to my Garmin”
Others replied not to trust that value. On mapmyrun.com, several people have mapped out the bike course. Most of these also have an elevation profile summary which looks very similar to the elevation profile shown on the official IM site for this race. However, when you view the elevation detail of this, it shows that the ascent is a very low 821 ft. See http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ky/louisville/409146855
Does any know or have the data for what the total ascent is going to be for the bike? Is it closer to 6909 or 821?
Having ridden the course (only one time around the loop) and I’m sure other, more local L-villians can attest, the climbing will be way closer to 7000 than 800…I promise! There is a couple of significant areas where you are either going up or down…
That being said, there are some areas of relative flats where the course can be ridden somewhat aggressively…
BTW: I just looked at the Map My Run sight and the elevation is just plain wrong…especially considering early on in the ride you go from 450-ish feet up to over 750-ish feet (why, there’s 300 ft of climing in that one hill)…and that’s before mile 15! Add up all the ups and downs and 6900 sounds about right…
its gotta be more than 821. Over 112 miles, that’s pretty pancake flat.
Even if its 6900, that’s not necesariliy an accurate measure of how much climbing is involved (in terms of cycling effort). I used to live in KY and I’ll take 6900 ft worth of rollers anyday over the multi-mile climbs here in Colorado. Even if they add up to the same amount of ft. of climbing.
I ride the course every weekend and I can assure you it’s well over 821. I’ve been hearing (and it sure feels like it) 8000+ from folks riding with a Garmin. Todd Heady’s HeadFirst HIM, which is put on nearby, is over 5400 and that’s a half IM (of course, Todd looked for every damn hill he could find to put on the course!)