Doing Wildflower 70.3 for the first time this year and wanted to know if anyone had a good video link of the bike or run course since I heard there are lots of hills?
Here’s a video of Nasty Grade (it’s knida a plug for Kuota, but it shows the climb): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1imGsSCcUU
The course is rolling, but there are 5 hills that you need to worry about:
- Beach Hill: just 3 miles into the bike it’s a bit less than a mile but steep (get out of the saddle occasionally to keep the momentum going)
- Nasty Grade: 41 miles into the bike, it’s a sit and spin climb of about 4 miles
- Mile 4 Hill: Just after the mile 4 aid station on the run, this is a steep 1 mile climb that just plain sucks. I see more people walking than running on the steep parts. This is the hardest part of the course.
- The Pit: There is a gradual downhill from mile 9 to mile 10 on the run…then you turn around and run back up for a mile. It’s not too steep, but this late in the race it’s tough.
- Mile 12: I forget the name of this hill (you’ll go down it to get from the camping areas to the start in the morning). A bit less than a mile and farily steep, but it’s all downhill (lots on pounding on your blisters and cramping quads). The plus side is that once you get to mile 12 it is literally all downhill to the finish…it’s a good though to keep between miles 10 and 11 coming out of the pit.
How about the Olympic distance course? Still hilly I hear, but I assume it doesn’t include this part/nasty grade?
How hilly is it?
Hey Titanflexr,
Thanks. This is the info. I’ve been looking for. Sounds like I need to do a few hilly transition runs.