LKN Tri bike course change

Posted on the event page that they will send an email out as soon as they get the course corrected.

Guess it doesnt make much sense to ride the old course ahead of time.

Mike

Oh yeah, didn't think about that! I read about the road closure, but didn't even think about the required course change.  Too bad, it has been so easy to ride out of the back of River Run onto E. Rocky River to Shearers and do the course.  Oh well, that climb on Grey Road up to Shearers is pretty steep.  It is about a third of a mile averaging 6% and would be the steepest hill on the course.  Steeper than the Faith Road hill or Midway Lakes hill that are both in the 3.5% to 4% range (although they both have a couple of short, steeper segments).  I am beginning to think there is enough climbing to make the road bike a reasonable choice.  I'll have to see if I can ride it on both bikes to see which is faster.

Greg

Grey Rd would definitely add more hills but wouldn't it also cut about 5 miles off the course.

That's probably about right and I think shortening it that much would make this tri more suitable for the Triathlon Development Series since the ride length would shrink to around 12-13 miles.  So, I don't think they will do that.  The best thing to do is just reroute through River Run exiting out the back entrance about 100 yards from Shearer Rd.  From there they could use the regular course.  I don't think it would add more than about a mile or so and there are smooth bike lanes in the neighborhood for the whole route.  Grey Road has gotten pretty rough over the past couple of years with the new pothole repair method they are now using.  Many of the patches are really rough on the lane going inbound to Davidson.  I haven't ridden Grey going out of Davidson in over a year, so I don't know for sure about that side of the road.  I suspect it is the same.  Also, to use Grey Road, they would have to use another cop to stop traffic for everyone to make the left off of Davidson-Concord Road.

I hope they extend it a mile or so and just go through River Run, it would be a much better ride.

Greg

Course change is out and it is the shorted Grey Road route.  13.3 miles. 

Now that's a big bummer.  This tri is so well attended because it is one of the longer sprints around the area.  I don't see why they didn't just send everyone through River Run, would have made a lot more sense.  The construction of the roundabout has basically just turned that part of Davidson Concord Rd. into a curve.  I ran past there yesterday morning to check it out.  It is still open in both directions, but I suppose there must have been some sort of issue with sending cyclists through the construction area.

I am going to ride Grey Rd. in that direction tonight if I have time.  It will be my only chance since I will be out of town until Friday night before the triathlon.

Greg

That's good to know, and you're right about E Rocky River being rough.  I quite going that way about six months ago after I launched a water bottle very securely resting in a holder on my seat tube.  Hit a nice pothole and almost lost it at 35 mph.  Glad Grey Rd. isn't as rough on the northbound side.  What about the climb?  Per my earlier post, my recollection is that it is a good bit harder climb than Faith or Midway Lakes.  Not that that bothers me, I LIKE climbing.

Greg

This could be an interesting morning.  I just found out the Cannoballs Cycling Team is having a big event on Saturday, Aug. 22nd starting at 8AM leaving from Bailey Rd. Middle School.  So, it looks like the roads are going to be pretty crowded!  Last year, they went right out of the school and onto the new section of Robert Walker, then turned left onto Davidson Concord and right onto E Rocky River Road.  From there, they turned onto Shearer's Rd.  Assuming they go through River Run instead, we will be sharing the road with them for about 3-4 miles unless they turn off onto Johnson Dairy or Rocky River Road. 

If they do NOT go through River Run, the only decent route to the usual riding area is Grey Road.  Geez, that will be one crowded road.  That was a pretty well attended ride last year with at least 500 participants.  Unfortunately, they don't have a map of the route posted on their website.  Here is their URL if interested:http://www.cannonballs-cycling.org/

With a departure time of 8AM, I would estimate they would be on Grey Rd. within 5-10 minutes and there would be riders strung out for another 15 minutes by the time all of the stragglers and BOP'ers get past.  So, if you have a swim start around 7:30ish, it could be a problem.

Greg