I know it’s a bit early, but I just booked a hotel so I’m a bit amped about the race right now!
Anyways, can anyone tell me about the bike course? Some of the pictures I’ve seen show a LOT of people walking over rocks, etc… are they just wussy or is there something about the course that makes it unrideable in a lot of sections? Also, does anyone know if the course is open for pre-riding at all?
Any input on the course or race in general is appreciated too!
I’m sure a local will show up and comment, but I live up in Huntsville. There is a rock garden that you have to walk through and probably where the photog was hanging out waiting for a moron to try to ride through. It’s in Oak Mt. State Park which is a very popular MTB spot. It is a fun course though with plenty of short steep hills. Like I said, maybe a local can say more. I’ll see you there…racing the PC division.
david K
Nice! I’ll be wearing yellow, see you there!
Thanks for the info on the course… are the pros able to ride the rock garden? Not that I’m anywhere near a pro, but I do like to think I can negotiate MTB stuff pretty well, even if it’s not necessarily fast…
I’m not 100% sure, but I think it is mandatory to dismount through the rock garden
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The course is pretty stout but a really great course. A lot of it is single track and very difficult to pass so you want to get out as far ahead in the swim as you can so you don’t get caught in traffic. There’s one long grinder climb and a lot of little ones. The area you’re talking about is probably Blood Rock. I rode it last year, if you’ve been riding long I think you can ride it just fine, but a lot of people do walk it. It’s faster to ride it, but the penalty for screwing up is severe enough that a lot of people walk it. If you’re not really comfortable riding down steep rock gardens then it probably makes more sense to dismount and run down it. After that there is a long descent that is pretty rocky, it is double track and a lot of people build up some big speeds on it, but be careful because there are some sizable rocks along the way that you’ll get hammered if you hit and aren’t expecting them.
The thing to watch for in the race is actually the run. It is normally brutally hot and humid for this race and the run is basically nothing but hills over and over again. If you’re training now I’d be doing a lot of hill repeats and doing them in the sun if you can to make sure you’re used to pushing up big hills while baking. I’m from Atlanta and am normally fine in heat and humidity but this race truly can be brutal. They’ve moved it back 2 weeks this year so it might not be so bad, but just be ready.
It is an AWESOME race though. You get to jostle with some of the top Xterra pros and some seriously fast AGers. The swim is like doing laps in your bathtub it’s so warm, but other than that it’s great.
YEAH, Blood Rock is definitely rideable - it’s more of a mental thing when you come up on it - it looks way harder than it actually is. Just remember momentum is your friend and commit yourself to it - most of the wrecks happen because people second guess themselves and slam the brakes and then you’re screwed. All of the people standing around don’t help either - be sure to tune them out or you’ll get distracted. The course is usually well marked for the preride on Saturday and I think last year it was marked on Friday. Its similar to the course that they run for the Bump and Grind mtb race - i think they cut off some of the last few miles for Xterra - but I think there is a map on the Bump&Grind site. Don’t know the address off hand but google ‘Bump and Grind mtb race’ and that should get you there…
Also, I second Andrew’s take on the run course - be ready for that cuz its a killer → being from Florida we run up down the bridges to simulate hills but those hills on that run course were BRUTAL. I definitely was not ready for that - I went from a close second place to lengthy seventh place by the end of that run. And yes, the water is HOT - i think the water temp was 83deg last year. All in all though its a great race - wish i was making it this year. Have fun and get ready to sweat!!
Andrew, from ATL huh? Are you doing Ft. Yargo in two weeks?
I’m moving to FL in the next two weeks and am planning on racing there on my way down. Did it last year, sweet race if you haven’t tried. Super easy, fast course!!
I did it last year but it was the weekend after Boston and I was hammered. I still did reasonably well considering but I was hurting bad. I liked it, I race cyclocross there a lot. Unfortunately this year it conflicts with another race that I’m doing with my GF. Are you coming up for Pelham?
Ha whatever, you kicked my butt! Although last year WAS the year that I snapped a pawl in the freehub in my wheels during the ride; that was fun. I was the guy throwing the red specialized into the woods, haha. The freewheel was engaged most of the ride though so I can’t claim that too much.
I will be at Pelham this year, and i’m pumped! I’m moving to the redneck/panhandle part of FL, so it’s only about 4 hours away.
Well maybe we’ll see each other at Pelham before we hop in the bathtub swim. 
The panhandle may be red, but it does give you pretty good access to a lot of races in Fl, Al, and Ga.
i think Andrew has it pretty well.
You need to be thinking about managing the heat/humidity. Birmingham is CST(barely) and last yr I think the full race went off 930CST, so the cooler morning temps are gone. You will notice the bathtub temps in the water.
The bike course is likely to be pretty wet this yr as we’ve actually had some rain. The blood rock is totally rideable if you have decent bike skills. there are alot of nasty rocks, people dismount more to avoid the risk of ruining their race by going over the handlebars. its fun, there is usually a group of people lined up to yell encouragement/watch the wrecks.
as was said earlier, there are 5 or 6 successive steep climbs in the second half of the run. to give you an idea, i dont think the run is quite 10k and last yr I think only a couple pros broke 40m.
have fun.
All the photos are of blood rock. It’s aptly named from the stories I hear. One of my Xterra buddies broke his leg there pre-riding it year before last.
Many people choose to dismount here because of the difficulty and the consequences if they don’t make it, but most expert riders can/do ride it.
The bike course is a good mtb course (blood rock aside). The trails are pretty good really…ie. not too hard for us Xterra weaklings. All-in-all it’s easier than my home course which means nothing to you.
the run course however is very very tough. I was talking to last year’s 3rd place pro and got him to admit to me that he walked up some hills. Some of those hills are best navigated by using the trees as hand-holds if that tells you anything.
To back up what jyeager said about the run course (trees as handholds really do come in handy), do NOT do what my dumb butt did and look at the previous years results on teh run and think “Wow, I’m going to be rubbing elbows with the pros on the run, they are SO slow”. That course is the slowest I’ve ever run and yet it’s probably the hardest I’ve ever run. There are times that I thought I must have gotten lost because there was no way I could be running this slow and not have already completed the course. It was humbling to say the least. I crashed pretty bad and had a concussion from the bike so I was woozy and sick on the run, but that still doesn’t explain why my run was so slow, the hills and heat explain it just fine though. Still…I LOVE this race.
Is the run XC-spike compatible? I feel I need to justify owning the set of XC spikes I still have from college. They were only used my senior year… not much…
Is the run XC-spike compatible? I feel I need to justify owning the set of XC spikes I still have from college. They were only used my senior year… not much…
No. Too many footfalls end up on rock and I can guarantee you that there would be times when you’d catch a spike on a root and trip.
Another tidbit of info about this course…again the bike course isn’t bad except for blood rock, but the run caused more crashes than the bike course did. Really. I heard more people describe falling on the run, and saw more bloodly legs from the run, than from the bike. 
Hmmmm, I like the idea of justifying them, but I don’t know that this would be the course. I’m trying to remember, most of it is softish, but if I remember right there were some rocky sections and there are definitely rocks along the course. Definitely not grassy. Granted this is coming from a guy who had a concusion on the course so I’d take my recollections with a big ole grain of salt.
BTW, you’re supposed to know everything! So you shouldn’t have to ask.
?! Oh don’t worry, I do. I guess my wife must have been posting with my ST account again!!! 
top 3 run times including teams, etc:
39:13 (team) Miner
39:30 Dan Hugo
Stolz 39:43
SUPER challenging run course.
FYI for everyone racing Saturday… found this sweet clip of Blood Rock, for some primo line scouting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rqAymBx5Wg&feature=channel
And check this vid out too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI