It looks so tame, doesn't it?
The Vibe
I'm still recovering from the "vibe" of this course. It's hard. Those hills, while short.... wait, what am I saying, you folks know the deal with our courses by now. We build 'em hard. We like punchy hills, maxed out heart rates, and aggressive passing.... and this course has all of it. So nevermind the vibe for now, let's get to the business.
The Teeth
I'd say we've got 3 legit hills on this course, with a handful of tasty rises thrown in between. Many of the rises can be cranked out of the saddle, so look for those opportunities. The longer hills just take horsepower, no way around it. There are some off-camber turns that sneak up on you, as well as ones that require early shifting, so make note of those during your warm-up. We've got 2 pallet crossings along the course: one spanning the ditch at the west end of the infield, and another bridging the creek shortly thereafter. They're not difficult, but do require some attention when coming into them (lactic acid does weird stuff to your brain, so if you see two pallets next to each other, one with a purple panda bear sitting on the middle of it laughing at you, pick the other pallet). The grass is thick, but even after just a few laps this afternoon it already started flattening out, so I'm expecting with folks pre-riding in the morning that it'll be nice and fast come race time. The true teeth of this circuit is that it requires a solid amount of effort for a good percentage of it's length - definitely calorie-up for breakfast.
The Ticket
What I see as the ticket for this course is properly gauging your early efforts, because you could easily burn all your matches in the first 2 laps alone (No joke). Once you do get in your rhythm, however, you can totally start taking advantage of the accelerating opportunities throughout the course (and there are a good amount of spots where you can use momentum to your advantage).
As always, a solid warm-up will be key. For the start, you'll drag race the infield and immediately hit the longest and hardest hill of the course. It doesn't look like much in the picture, but that sucker is straight up mean. Don't underestimate it.
Newbies
The course is hard, yes, but it's a leg and lung burning kind of hard... definitely not a technical kind of hard (the entire length is easily rideable, no technical section to speak of). Follow the advice about the warm-up, pace yourself in the early laps, and you'll do fine.
Hang Out
Finally, hang out after your race. This is a great spectating venue, and the forecast for tomorrow is superb, so bring the family, a blanket or some chairs and stay for a spell. Boulder Sausage and Rudi's Organic Bakery have donated brats & buns again, so the grill will be going for post-race calorie replenishment.
That's all out of me. See you at the races!
-Erik
