About 25 of us showed up early this am to pre-ride the Magic Mountain Man bike course ( race 10/10/09, Santa Clarita).
RD Jonathan Pauley and his crew led us to the swim course and gave us some race details, then up up up the 5,500 feet of climbing. The race website cautions about nasty road surface and hills, recommending triple chain rings and road bikes w/aero bars—All valid concerns for this course.
It did not mention the brutal winds which at some points, had us pedaling to get DOWN HILL. Gorgeous scenery awaits on the nearly deserted country road and the ride is EPIC. All in all is is doable, to a great degree because there are as many downhills as ups. Plan on average speeds well below your usual for the distance and plan on a real adventure too. Jon put on a class, supported tour this morning and the inagural race is bound to be a success.
The race is still open. I drove up from Irvine in the wee hours and it only took 1:15-piece of cake. VIP race day check in is available.
If you are thinking about a half that is something different, this could be the one.
Form MM web site.
Renegade Racing suggests participants use a bicycle with road bars and clip on aero bars. Participants gearing choices should reflect their ability to climb. Climbing gears and triple chain rings are recommended.
I always ride my tri bike for races but this has me thinking. For me it’s rode bike, no aero bars or my tri bike.(both have compacts w12/25).
I haven’t ridden the course, but I drove it a couple of months back to decide whether I wanted to do the race. It was a little more climbing than I care for, so I decided to pass, but if I lost 20 lbs, I’d be there in a heartbeat. That being said, there is no way I’d even think of doing that on my tri bike. Even without clip-ons, I’d still say road bike is the way to go for that course. I would especially want the road bike on the last downhill as it’s very technical with marginal road surface for the first mile or two at the top on the last big downhill. Once you get half way down, the road surface improves and it’s less technical. Aside from the last section back once you get back down the last big hill, you are either going up or down, so I don’t really think you will lose that much time without clipons. The only time you would lose might be for the last 5-8(?) miles back to T2. A compact with a 25 should be fine, as there didn’t appear to be any 10% type gradients, just some long grinds at probably 5-7%. If you climb equally well on your tri bike and are comfortable descending on it, you might be ok with the tri bike, but I doubt you would be in the aero position much on a couple of those downhills. Good luck. It sounds like a great race.