Oil Man bike course

I did Oilman last year and the course was not completely paved. I have been on it THIS year and it is great!!

U do have to be careful with traffic as the shoulder room is minimal in some places....but it is a great course.

Yes it is a closed course on race day.

Happy Training,

Karen

Thanks Karen.  I knew the road was closed during race day but my concern was training.  I live in the Woodlands and ride on Hwy 149 but as it goes into the national forest, at least for a few miles, there is no shoulder.  The new road is great though, just curious how far into the national forest until the road opens up more.

I rode most of the course (begin/end at Wal-Mart) yesterday.  For the most part, the surfaces were very good.  There are a couple of stretches of chip-seal, but nothing bad at all.  I was surprised by how smooth the roads were, especially with the past comments about this course.

Definitely more hills than I expected.  Nothing major, but quite a few rollers.  Glad I rode it beforehand.

unless something has changed it has never been a closed course.  The deer hunters will already be off the road and traffic is always somewhat light out there.

Good on you for riding it.  There is hardly any shoulder and people fly through the turns in the national forest.

Good point.  On a side note, there might be rain Sunday; let's hope they don't cancel the bike portion and make this an expensive Aqua-Run.

Channel 13 said Sunday night/Monday morning.  I'm hopeful.

Oh and Aaron we could use an iron distance race with how well your company takes care of the details.  I'd imagine that's quite the logistical headache though.

I think you could pull in enough people.  You sell out every Tri you put on.

The challenge would be finding the right venue.  I do think Kemah might work, or somewhere new like Lake Houston (I've never been in it so no idea what the water is like)..... although West Houston works better for me, but we don't have the big water areas.

Also, does the 800-1500 hold true if it was tied to another distance.  If you added a HIM on to Kemah would you need as many to make it work?

Back to the original topic- the bike course was great!  Very smooth and scenic.  Hills were just that- I only think there was one remotely steep climb.  There was some traffic but not too bad.

For those that did this race- I have a cheap cycle computer and know it is not real accurate but when I finally saw a marker- mile 40- my odometer showed nearly 45.  That was pretty discouraging as I thought I was  making pretty good time.  However, next thing I know we're done and my computer shows a little over 56.  Short course? Really bad odomoter? Mismarked?

My 305 was about 2 miles ahead of the markers too.  I think I noticed at about mile 30.  It went all fritzy on the run so I haven't really looked at my data yet.