What’s the course going to be like?
I’ve been told the swim is in a river, what are the currents like?
How hilly is the bike/run? Anything we should know about?
They have full on maps (with elevation) on the site. The bike has rolling hills, nothing big, should be fast (other than the heat and turns). Run has some hills that look like they could be a bit tough, especially the stretch from .5 mile → 1.5 miles.
I live in Tuscaloosa and will try to give my 2 cents FWIW:
Swim — in the black warrior river; water will be fairly warm (obviously); swim I think is a triangle so assuming no rain you will be swimming with a small current going out and against the current coming back
Bike — 2 loops; roads are in good condition; going out gains elevation the entire way; the first uphill section is not steep but is a little misleading and can cause some damage if you are not careful; this road continues to gradually gain until long downhill; then 2 short but failrly steep climbs to the turnaround; coming back should be very fast other than the semi-long climb which is not steep but a grind depending on how hard you are pushing
Run — I have not run the course; but there are three climbs and turn around and descend in the first half of the run and each hill is a BITCH – fairly steep!!! Coming back on the run course should be nice and flat and fast; definitely take the first half of the run conservatively.
let me know if you need any other info
Thanks for the detailed course preview; really helpful. Sounds like a fairly technical course overall. Thanks, Jason
Hmmnn…I was looking at the profile before reading this thread and the bike course profile looks very flat to me. I did a rough and dirty calculation of percent gradient for the hills showing on the first loop, and this is what I came out with:
100 feet gain over 1 mile between mile 2-3 (1.9%)
200 feet gain over 2 miles between mile 4-6 (1.9%)
100 feet sharply at mile 7.5 (too short to calculate; definitely steep but short also)
200 feet over 1 mile between mile 8-9 (3.7%)
75 feet over 1 mile between mile 10-11 (1.4%)
Compared to Hagg Lake, this is flat as a pancake. It will be a blast!
Couldn’t find an elevation profile for the run, but it looks to be over quite a bit of the first portion of the bike, so maybe somewhat similar gradients.
The Water temp according to web site is 84F… not that will make you sweat… Good luck to all racing.
somebody videotaped the entire course. Check on youtube.
The run will not be a blast, although the last ~2 miles of the run will be like a blast furnace.
E gave a good description of the bike, it will sneak up on some people. You can look at the run profile as much as you want to, but I’m willing to bet that your opinion will change once you get on site. Also the video skips one hill completely.
Add in our lovely humidity and there are going to be a lot of people with heat issues.
I have ridden the course dozens of times and consider myself a pretty decent cyclist. having said that, the course profile is deceptive and it is no where near PAN CAKE FLAT. Trust me on this one. it is certainly not a brutal course but there are some small distance climbs that can put the hurt on you when you are trying to go at Olympic pace. But, I still think the course will prodcue some fast times as you can scream after the turn around. But, going out the course can be a bitch.
The run is FLAT but with 3 climbs (and turn around at top) and the climbs are shrt but steep and will hurt.
I am anxious to see if my description is more accurate than looking at the course profile. So, post your thoughts after the race.
Tuscaloosa is an awesome city and you should have a blast. The humidity will be stifling and we are just starting to cook over here on the temps.
I would guess the 6 180’s will slow people down on the bike
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Hey BamaE: Did you happen to do Nationals at Hagg Lake last year? If you did I’d like your take on the comparison, as I know what that course was like.
I’m hoping that the fact I start at around 7am will get me finished before the heat really starts cranking up (I wonder how hot it would be by 9:15/9:30am).
We do have bigger hills to train on here in Colorado, but we ain’t got no humididity…
Cheers.
wylie … did not do Natls last year. DOn’t get me wrong, these are NOT Colorado climbs. But they are short risers with enough steepness to throw you out of rhythm and hurt you if you blast through them. But after the turn coming back to transition you can FLY other than one gradual climb. Note, you CAN and probably will stay in the big ring the entire way!
Let me know if you need some local tips for food, etc.
cheers
“I’m hoping that the fact I start at around 7am will get me finished before the heat really starts cranking up”
they gave us old farts a start time of 8:15…
By 9:30 it’s typically mid-to-high 80s nominal, so heat index in high 80s low 90s. Yippee.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KTCL.html
It’s going to be a sweatbath on the run…