PineHurts 2014!

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I'm pretty sure I'm in.

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Signed up today...

Redemption is two weeks away...

Hey d00d and others racing, looking forward to next weekend. The 10 day forecast calls for 74 and 60% chance of rain but all of the days before and after are 10% chance of rain so I'm hoping we'll be ok.

Any scoop you can give on the course? I've been scouting out the route. Mapmyride shows the vert for the bike at 1000 feet. For context, is shows Triangle (17 miles) at 600 and the the Raleigh HIM (56 miles) at 2100. So it would seem to be roughly the same hilliness as those (obviously scaled for distance)?

Is the run hilly? How hilly?

I haven't checked on water temp. Anyone have an update?

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Scott, the run is pretty much up and down- rolling up, then rolling down, the entire time except for the last 0.5 mile across the dam wall to the finish. Can't think of anything around here to really compare it to but they are sorta like the hill coming back after the turnaround at Beaverdam (about mile 2 and 5 of the run there). I tried to find my Garmin file from 2009 but Garmin Connect seems to have eaten it :-( Anyway, its just a series of small hills. You get to the top and run down. Get to the bottom and start back up. Rinse and repeat. I recall the Pinehurst bike course very differently to Triangle. The hills at Pinehurst are a lot like the bigger ones in Apex. Check out d00ds files- he rides the Pinehurst bike route a lot.

I don't think this is that easy of a course.

Swim: The swim is nice. Since it'll probably be wetsuit legal, I don't think many ppl will have too much trouble with it. Just make sure that your goggles are tinted. In 2012, you swim RIGHT INTO the sun. I think I mentioned that in my race report.

Bike: I don't think this is an easy bike course. Even the Pinehurst site states that this course "rewards the stronger cyclists". There are hills and some of them are kind of longish.

As you exit T1 and make the left onto Linden, you're going to have an easy 3/4 mile descent that you can use to catch your breath and lower HR. Once you hit the bridge at the bottom, the climb begins. I think it's a little over a mile. I would not recommend hammering it to the top. Once you make the right onto HWY5, smash it! You'll probably have a tailwind all the way to Sandpit. This is a FAST section of road. Turn right onto Roseland and you're going to run into a few larger rolling hills. You'll still be able to go fairly quick on this road, but once you start to climb, I'd spin up since they're kind of long. Towards the end of Roseland, you're going to be on a gradual climb all the way to the stop sign, where you'll turn right onto Hoffman. The start of Hoffman is scenic b/c of the horsefarms, but you'll notice there are several rollers that build upon each other. I don't think this is a particularly fast section, although you'll probably still be zipping along.

As you turn left onto Richmond, you'll have a short section that is false flattish, then you're going to descend for a while. This section is FAST. Just be careful when you hit the bridge at the bottom. The asphalt is VERY rough and there's a lip that rises above both sides of the bridge. I usually bunny hop this section b/c it'll rattle and shake you pretty good. After the bridge, short climb to Foxfire/Derby road. This section is ROUGH. Anything that is not tight will rattle and shake. It's also, IMO, the slowest part of the course. You'll be gradually ascending until you reach HWY73. I HATE this part of the course.

Once you get to HWY73, you're going to feel as though you stepped on smooth ice. The road is great. This part is short, though, and then you make a right onto Jackson Springs Rd. This is my favorite part of the entire course. It's FAST, downhills for a stretch, and FAST. There are a few hills, and they're not easy, but the first part of this road is great. The end, however, is a steepish climb before you cross over to Firefox Rd. This is another GREAT stretch, but this is where the longer hills really start. You're going to see ppl suffering here.

The turn right onto Linden is good b/c you're able to hammer most of this road. BE CAREFUL at the turn, though! It's not hard to take at speed if there's no sand, but there's ALWAYS sand on this section of road...and it's usually 1/4-1/2 inch thick. SetupEvents tries to clear it off, but the wind (or whatever) seems to blow it back onto the road.

Run: I think this is a tough run. The hills are relentless and some of them are kind of steep. I think they may have reversed the direction of the run since I did it in 2012, but it's still a tough run course. I had a bad run there, but it may have just been b/c I over-biked.

Sorry for the LOOOOONNNNGGGG post, but hope that helps!

smoom, the hills are NOT as long as d00d's post. But almost...

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Edited by eppie 2014-10-01 9:15 PM

I don't recall the bike or run being that hard either, but last time I did this race was in 2008, and I know they re-routed things since then. Comparing the bike courses on mapmyride to Raleigh 70.3 route, it does look really hilly! 1200 ft of climbing in 30 miles, compared to 1200 ft of climbing in 56 miles, makes it 2x hillier than Raleigh (and Raleigh was hilly!)

Not that I'm afraid I can't do it, just that I have to realize I'm not going to be doing it at the same speed as I did White Lake!

My only other memory from last time was that the fog lingered and I could not see the buoys in 2008. All I could do was follow the crowd like salmon swimming upstream and hope that they could see something! That actually worked pretty well because my swim time that year was great.

Good luck to all on Saturday!!

PS: thanks d00d for the detailed info about the bike course, esp the rough spots to watch out for!!!!

Edited by keyone 2014-10-01 11:04 PM

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If you're racing, see you there, Carol!

yeah, course is not super difficult, but it is challenging. It's fun, though, and scenic. The morning fog is always beautiful, and it has delayed the start of the race the past two years.

It's supposed to be chilly on Saturday, too! Fall is in the air! Love it!

Awesome info! Thanks very much.

Well, the weather looks like it might comply. It's supposed to rain all night but clear up by race time.

See you all tomorrow!