Monday 29 December 2008

Race Course Photos







No time to do any fancy retouching or anything, these were taken by a rather helpful teammate who did a scouting trip to the proposed course.

Another sortie (where my considerably less artistic picture of the posterieurs of several cyclists from several days ago came from) was made to test the course configuration for appropriate anger, mayhem and fury. There were seven of us total - 2 x Cat 1, 2 x Cat 2, 2 x Cat 3 and my slow ass - who tested four different loops. One will be an awesome crit/circuit course when the race expands to full NRC stage race status. One was great but a bit short, which made me worry that races would stack up on each other and need to be neutralized. I hate that. Another was just a grueling slaughter fest of balls to the wall climbs and white knuckled descents. If the pavement on this course were better and a little wider, this would be a seriously ass kicker course, but I think it's a little too sketchy and even Johnny Uberclimber commented that he thought it was probably excessively hard. The fourth, which was the first one we rode, was darn near ideal. 1000 feet of elevation in 10 miles, so no one's idea of a free lunch. On the other hand, those without specialist climbing skills could definitely hang in there. It would probably be a situation where the race would be all together for a couple of laps, with the climbers unable to really extend a strong advantage early on. Then the really good climbers would get away on the steeps starting a couple of laps in, and the chase would be on until the group reintegrated or the climbers stayed away. It is not an uphill finish. A hard guy who is able to stay in contact will have every opportunity to put his balls on the table and make it happen at the end. Likewise, a climber will have the chance to hoist 'em onto the block and stay away.

If it happens, it'll be a lot of fun. Plus, you know, cows. Cows are cool.

5 comments:

Kyle Jones said...

You should do a race that is 10 miles flat with no risers at all. Those hurt because you almost always have to be pedaling.

Your fat friend,
Kyle

Greg said...

"a hard man can put his balls on the table"

Sounds like a great race!

Greg said...

apparently I'm paraphrasing

John P. said...

1000 feet in 10 miles is hard enough to create a challenge for a wide range of riders, just like you said. I like what I'm hearing.

Fatguy Racer said...

Please send me a map so I can check it out on my motorcycle. If it's too hard I'll work it, If not I'll race it!