Ironman Louisville Bike Course Recon

I headed up to Louisville with three athletes training for Ironman Louisville, Conn Jackson, Dwight Keith and Scott Mackall, pulling out right after lunch on Friday since it's almost a 7 hr drive from Atlanta. We got up Saturday and headed down to Waterfront Park in time to start at approx. race time coming out of T1. Transition is beautifully situated in "The Great Lawn" in the park; a really great location for the central spot of the Ironman. Easy to get to and impressive, matching the event itself.

You head out on the bike following the river heading east out of the city, but before we go through a "segment by segment" breakdown of the course I'd like to share some general comments.

GENERAL COMMENTS

The IML bike course is harder than you might expect; I guess a lot of athletes were surprised the first year when there wasn't a history yet, a "reputation". I know many of the folks I talked to doing it that first year had heard rumors the course was a lot like our Bud Plant ride here in Georgia. "Ruh Roh," as Scooby Do would say, that's simply not the case. I would compare it to a double loop of the Macon RockNRollMan half iron course, and at times and for moments it's harder. It does have some very fast sections and could be considered a fast course overall especially by seasoned riders. But for the average triathlete it needs to be an exercise in control or that run will quickly turn into a hot walk. Lots of short rollers, often somewhat steep, that make it a fun ride it you don't have a marathon run after. Resist that urge to attack the short hills... there's enough of them to add up to a whopping 5000 feet of climbing with no really long climbing stretches.

It's a remarkably beautiful ride and race day will benefit from traffic control, traffic being the one down side to our training ride. Manicured horse pastures, farms and many nicely shaded areas are out there as well as long stretches with lots of sun in August. Pavement is often smooth and good but when it's bad it's rough. Stay cautious, especially leaving Louisville on River Rd.

COURSE SPECIFICS

It's a lollipop course with two loops around the square/rectangular "pop". There's a nice out and back turning off the lollipop stick, but only on the way out; you pass by the turnoff for this 10 mile "adder" on the way back. I would characterize this course as having three types of riding.

You encounter the first type on the way out for 8 miles and back for the last 8. It follows the river with only the river's grade showing up most of the time on my Garmin. FAST. Pavement is sketchy at times.

There's a short climb immediately when you turn off River Road, aptly named for us Georgians as "Wolfpen Rd". Don't worry it's a lot shorter than ours. Then you get into the second type of riding. If you look at the map below you'll see sections running roughly parallel to the river and interstate, US42 and SR146. These roads are pretty fast with mainly gentle rollers and modest grades. Then there are stretches that run perpendicular to 42 and 146: the out and back section and the ends of the rectangular "pop". This is where the hard stuff lives. Hard tough rollers that go up and down and up and down with surprising grades and a couple of climbs, not "gap" climbs but more that just rollers. The grades usually hit 6-8% in these areas, over and over.

Check the map (click on image for full view):

Check the elevation profile:

Click here to interactively view in mapmyride click on the 3d flyover option to actually view the ride using the google satellite view.

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DETAILS OF THE RIDE

Heading out of T1 you rather quickly leave the city riding with the river on your left. At 8 miles you'll bear to the right onto "Wolfpen Branch Rd" and you're immediately climbing. The climb is short, less than a mile, but ultimately a small ring climb and you'd better spin up this one 'cause it's going to be a long day!

The climb ends at an intersection with US42 where you turn left onto a multi-lane highway (it narrows down after a couple of miles) and descend around 40mph to a bridge and then climb back to roughly the same elevation. Count that as climb #2 not a roller (see the elevation profile). You continue on this rather busy road through the suburb of Prospect and a couple of other small towns until roughly mile 18 where a right turn puts you on CR1694 for the out and back 10 mile (total) stretch which includes your two most substantial climbs.

On CR1694 you head down a rather fast descent to a small river bridge and then climb back to the turnaround point. Now it's a descent down your previous climb and a climb back up that prior fast descent. Refer to the elevation chart and you can see the extent of the climbs. The rest of the approximate 5000' of elevation gain is divided between almost 50 rollers, many in the 6-8% grade level.

After the out and back section you return to US42 for 3 miles until you turn right on SR393 at mile 31. Remember US42 is one of your faster opportunity sections while SR393 is littered with rollers, several bordering on climbs. 5 miles later you turn left onto SR146 which takes you into LaGrange at a fast clip.

A long downhill grade takes you out of LaGrange to a left onto a really fun tempting 6 mile stretch, Ballard School Rd., Old Sligo Rd. and LeSprit Parkway. These beautiful horse farm rural roads will tempt many to pop out of the saddle... watch out! You've got to see this section again when you do your second loop. A left on SR153 takes you to Sligo and a left onto US42 at mile 51.

You're back on your opportunity for time gain, 11 miles of the fast US42 section until you see SR393 again where a left turn puts you on the second loop at mile 62. This time you know what's coming.

After the second loop you'll pass by SR393 where you took that left turn before and continue back toward T2 also passing by CR1694 where you did the out and back earlier.

Just after mile 103 in Prospect you'll encounter the other "real" climb on the multi-lane section of US42 taking you back to "Wolfpen Branch Rd." A right on Wolfpen descends back to River Rd. for the fast ride to your run.

Is 67mi Bud Plant Ride Harder than 80mi? Depends...

The "Bud Plant" ride in the Cartersville area is frequented by cyclists, especially folks from ATS. The ride and the brewery are incredible resources for cyclists in this area. The AB folks allow us to park in one of the plant's parking lots and the course, no traffic and beautiful scenery, is well marked with great options... now for a little controversy:

Many of us ride 40 miles on the 67mile course, turn around and retrace our steps for roughly 80 miles. There's a store at 26 miles so that gives you two refueling stops at close to equal distances during the ride (at 26 and 52 miles on an 80 mile ride). If you elect to not turn around, but continue on the marked course, you end up with 67 miles. Many of us feel that's a harder but shorter option. Well, is it?

My Garmin 500 (get one at Atlanta Cycling) tells the story:

80 mile route - 2923 feet of climbing for 78.9 mi which is 37ft/mi
67 mile route - 2684 feet of climbing for 67.2 mi which is 40ft/mi

So the 67 mile route is indeed a little harder (mile for mile), and all of that extra climbing per mile is in the last 27 miles since the fist 40 miles is the same for both rides. Next time I ride out there I'll hit the lap timer and get "the facts" in terms of how much harder that last 27 is.

Don't forget that the 80 mile route IS longer and you do climb more so my position is the 80 mile ride is tougher for those reasons but it does depend on your poison. One other interesting note about the 80 route is that the turnaround point is almost the lowest point on the ride, in fact the low point is the left at the silo which takes you to the turnaround point. What this means is the trip back on the 80 mile route is, on the average, uphill.

The Stength in Control

First let me say today's thoughts don't apply to competitive cycling, in particular shorter races, but racing head to head in general. That's another blog entry, for certain.


I try to lead ATS group rides in a way that helps my endurance athletes (iron and half-iron triathletes, RAAM competitors, century addicts) develop a sense of controlled pacing, controlled exertion... and it mystifies newbies almost every time, then turns them into believers, disciples. It seems that continual and nearly level or even exertion for long periods of time runs counter-intuitive to most of us. In a nutshell most want to attack every hill and then rest up for the next one. This is a part of fundamental strategy for head to head racing but is very counter-productive when it comes to pure endurance, especially highest pace for the longest distance.

Chris Carmichal would say you're pulling out a book of matches and striking one every time you attack the hill; sooner or later you'll pull out the book to strike another and, well, it's empty! There are many angles to "burning a match" - glycogen reserve depletion, lactic acid accumulation, muscle fatigue - but the big bursts attacking the hills will cost you regardless of the angle you view it from. They'll cost you if you're aiming to ride long mileage as fast as possible.

I love to have someone pass me on a climb then they rest/recover on the descent or next flat so I, of course, pass them. They pass me on the next climb, I pass on next descent... eventually, assuming THEY are riding long enough, I'll pass them and never see 'em again. Happens every time and I can't help but chuckle. Control that effort, flatten the power and heart rate, not the hill... let me repeat: unless you're racing.

Long course triathletes, this should be your mantra: control control control
RAAM racers: control control control
Randonneurs: control control control
Century addicts: control control control

Control yourself holding to the maximum power level or heart rate you can sustain over your distance. Use your training rides to determine that level. It will ALWAYS set your maximum pace.

The Sugar Bonk Demon Bites Tony

Have you ever been riding long and after a couple or three hours maintaining a good pace, say 20mph, you rather suddenly just can't go more than maybe 16 or 18mph. No matter how hard you try that seems to be all your legs are capable of . You're likely experiencing glycogen depletion, a sugar bonk. You've had to fall back to a pace, an exertion level your body can support with fat alone. If you try to go faster your body can't supply the oxygen to continue metabolizing fat for energy so you need sugar (no oxygen required) to meet the higher exertion or pace level - BUT THERE'S NONE THERE. You down a couple of gels and magically after a minute or two you are back... but not for long unless there's more sugar on the way.

Glycogen rules endurance athletics, always has and always will. Even riding, racing, training or whatever below our LT, we're still burning SOME sugar, uh glycogen (blood sugar); no one is ever completely aerobic. Our bodies can certainly handle the lactic acid downside of low to moderate level sugar burning BUT there's another problem associated with glycogen use...

... you can run out of it. Add a higher level of effort (anaerobicity) to the equation and you can run out pretty fast. Our bodies only store a couple, maybe three thousand calories of it and it's not all available in an instant. I might be leading a ride (often in front - OK, my choice), working pretty hard and burning at least 400-500 calories of just sugar an hour (maybe 1200 calories overall including the fat burning that's also going on). In three to four hours, if I'm not replenishing glycogen, I'm out.

Happened to me last Sunday pulling a group on the Silver Comet Trail for 124miles. At about mile 90 I ran out of gas. I had been feeding on sugar and simple carbs but not fast enough to match my burn. At first, because I had been consciously fueling, I thought I had simply fatigued out; it was my second day of long hard riding and maybe it was catching up with me. But then I realized I knew the feeling. My legs were just not responding, I wasn't thinking straight, I was almost dizzy when we stopped at intersections. I downed three gels (my choice for the day of sugar fuel), drank a bottle of water and within minutes I was pulling at speed again. For ten minutes at least and then BAAM! it happened again. Used the new all up...

I've been reading more and more about studies that are starting to emphasize this... not sugar before or after but sugar during... don't let Gatorade or Powerade read this... turns out there's a connection to cramping too... more later

Augusta 70.3 Bike Course

I rode the bike course for the Augusta 70.3 Labor Day weekend with a group of ATS athletes and friends as a recon outing, looking for hints, strategies and maybe warnings for athletes racing in September. I was lucky to ride with Atlanta pro triathlete Amy Kloner and we found the course, well, interesting and not exactly what we had expected.

In summary the course is indeed fast, but more rollers than we were led to believe, primarily based on the MapMyRide elevation profiles we had reviewed prior to the ride. (More comments on the MapMyRide elevation profile in another post). The majority of the turns are LEFT so beware on race day. I've got to wonder why not race the route in reverse, basically clockwise instead of counter-clock. The roads are occasionally rough and, in the Augusta area, pretty trashy, especially within our 1 meter USAT lane. On race day I'm sure there'll be plenty of volunteers and police to handle the 8 left turns, and hopefully street sweepers will have taken care of the broken glass, wires, bolts, and other normal road trash in town.

We also found out the map and course description have some errors, actually some missing info that got EVERYONE lost, including a couple of guys from Athens (not in our group)... just beware if you're thinking of riding the course at this [now] late date.

Now for a section by section rundown:
- First 5 miles, mainly Sand Bar Ferry, flat and fast (except for the Boundary Rd. U-turn added to bring the course up to distance). Just before the right turn onto Old Jackson Hwy it kicks up a bit
- Old Jackson Hwy is FAST and goes for 11 miles after the right turn off of Sand Bar.
Racers will certainly take advantage of this first 16 miles. Great to get the legs warmed up after what's going to be a cooler than expected swim for some.

- Old Jackson takes a 90 degree bend then dead ends into Atomic Rd, a four lane medianed HWY which you turn LEFT onto briefly. About 1/2 mile down you take a right onto HWY 1 (towards Aiken). This stretch features a couple of 2-3+% grades 3/4 mile long. Watch your heart rate or power carefully as these rollers are deceptive and you'll tend to instinctively try and hold your pace since they are almost false flats. Your power or eventually your heart rate (there's the rub using heart rate - slow to see the damage) will bump up so be aware and stay within your race. Varying rollers and slight uphill grades for 9.5 miles until a LEFT onto HWY 19.
- HWY 19 takes you about 1/2 mile to a LEFT onto Old Whiskey... Old Whiskey is about 2.5 miles of gentle rollers, less than 2%, but these rollers are stairstepping up. LEFT onto Woodland for a couple more miles of easy rollers... point here is rollers; even though they might seem easy, there's no rhythm to them so, again, stay in your zones, stay within your race.
- Woodland takes you to a hard right, almost a "U turn" onto Gray Mare for a fast three miles, slightly downhill, 1-2%. We had a tailwind through this stretch and I understand it's a prevailing wind so hopefully on race day... On a loop course what goes up must go down and here's where you get some of the elevation you gained on HWY 1 and elsewhere back. Plan to take advantage of it! The last 1 1/2 miles of Gray Mare take a decided kick up, 3% or so... watch out.
- Gray Mare takes you to a right on Silver Bluff and then a quick LEFT onto Boyd Pond. Boyd Pond is another fast section, 2.5 miles slightly downhill again with a few good 3% down spots. My computer says we were hitting 40mph through some of these sections as well as the earlier Gray Mare section. All good things must end though...
- A right turn on Horse Creek Rd. immediately brings 2 miles of uphill grade, some of it at 4%. Not a bad climb, but not flat!
- Another LEFT onto Herndon to another LEFT onto Pine Log. Gentle Rollers for about 4 miles, but rollers. The last half of Pine Log is pretty fast, slightly downhill.
- Right on Atomic for a fast 4 miles to a LEFT onto Sand Bar for a 5.5 mile fast finish.

Hopefully I'll get my Garmin back from repairs soon so I can share visual profiles of these rides and have better information to pass on. This is all from memory and notes. Amy will have better info from her Garmin and Saris data.

In summary, fast out and fast back with about 30 miles of rollers and gentle hills in the middle. Road surfaces are spotty, not as good as Macon for instance, but the course is pretty and traffic was very light on Sunday. If you ride it before the race there is a store just after the turn on to Old Whiskey which is about halfway.
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