To lighten the mood a little bit, given the Air Can’t-a-da sh!t show, here’s a little bit of news worth mentioning:
Groat Road is getting repaved. The City of Edmonton is going to put in night shifts to resurface Groat Road between 107 Ave and River Valley Road. This is extremely good news as Groat Road north of the North Saskatchewan River was in pretty bad shape. Edmonton weather goes through the extremes (-40C cold snaps in winter, to 30+C in summer), and the spring freeze-thaw is really tough on roads up here. Groat is a beautiful bike course section, winding up through a big ravine up from the river. It’s a big ring climb and a fast winding descent. This pertains only to Age Group athletes for both sprint and olympic, so it’s nice that they’re considering the rest of us plebs and not just the elites.
This new pavement is in addition to patchwork that has been done in other areas, as well as the repaving of River Valley Rd. and Victoria Park Rd. last year. Should make for a fast bike split.
We’re lucky to have a mayor who is a cyclist himself, and who is a big supporter of the race. Good to see the City listening to local athletes as well as the ITU local organizing committee.
Fantastic!! This is one reason I choose Edmonton to race at. Just seemed they were going to try and do what it took to put on a first class show. Only about 6 more weeks to go.
Now we just need to have some nice weather.
Don’t worry, there are still lots of pot holes on the course for those of us looking to take advantage of our off-roading skills. But yes this was one of the worst sections of the course.
Here is the Sask drive turn around, the photo is a couple years old so the road can only look worse now. Good thing is that we’ve got to slow to a crawl anyways to make this corner.
Here is the Sask drive turn around, the photo is a couple years old so the road can only look worse now. Good thing is that we’ve got to slow to a crawl anyways to make this corner.
Obviously no matter what they do, they’re not going to be able to please everybody haha! Jeepers…
I have talked to some people working on the race and they’ve flagged this corner as a possible problem area. They’re aware of it and will maybe have it patched for the race. Hopefully. Not perfect but it will work. And as you said it’s a low-speed area.
Keep in mind, Edmonton is a small city and hasn’t had the same amount of time to prepare for the race as other cities normally would. Just a little guy doing all they can.
That has to be one of the tightest turns I will ever see in a race. And if the bike course has as many on it at one time like I have seen in world races before, wow, this could be interesting.
At least I can prepare now.
The other 180deg turn around is in the middle of this road by the bus stop. I’m not 1000% sure this is the exact spot, but the road is at its widest point and roughly corresponds with the location on course map. This is in the middle of a ‘climb’ so again not going full gas before the u-turn. Everything else is 90deg turns.
Here is the Sask drive turn around, the photo is a couple years old so the road can only look worse now. Good thing is that we’ve got to slow to a crawl anyways to make this corner.
Could be worse, the turnaround at Magog this weekend for the Oly is at the bottom of a hill. Hard brake, 180 degree turn and then start grinding back up the hill
Been away from home for a while. But any word on how Hawrelak “lake” is doing? I know they where digging it out over the winter. Kinda funny imagining an event that big at Hawrelak. I know its hosted Worlds before but triathlon is way bigger than what it was then.
Hawrelak Lake has been totally redone and they’ve added a sandy beach for the swim start. Let’s also clarify “digging it up”. They’ve excavated the bottom of the lake and put in a brand new clay liner. They’ve also dredged a wide channel to make the swim course deeper. It’s no ocean swim, and it’s certainly not like one of the lakes in the surrounding area, but it is a body of water in a central location in the city that will serve the purpose for race day perfectly. That means clean, warm, and in all likelihood calm waters with quick and convenient access to the bike and run course for athletes. Also very accessible for spectators.
I just saw and downloaded. Guess I need to give them both a try since doing both races. The hills look impressive on paper,
want to see what the CT say they are.
Okay loaded up the standard course today. But it was only 1 lap so I modified it and now have a full course version. Says the distance is 23.96 miles. Will ride it tomorrow
morning and let you know what I find.
