Lake Steven's 70.3 new bike course

I'd have to go ride the new loop to be sure, but from the map, it looks like the ride is more difficult than before -- and it was already pretty tough.

The part they removed - Dubuque Road, was the backstretch of the 2-loop course and really was the only flat part of the course.

Not having ridden out there yet, but if I understand what it says on mapmyride

The old course (http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/21188066)

had ~2k feet of climbing, with 4 "category 5" climbs over the 2 loops

The new course (http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/32884562) is nearly the same in climbing elevation with one less "category 5" climb.

I think this means the new course has more moderate hills, but one less "big" hill... in any case, it means I need to train more

I posted this on the Lake Stevens race thread, but knew I had read this question somewhere else and here it was! Anyway, here are some thoughts on the new course, assuming it actually is the new course.

My cousin and I rode the course yesterday as described on this link,  http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/32884562/

Here are my two cents. For comparison purposes, I did the race last year for the first time and my cousin has done it at least twice more than me.  For a long time during our ride yesterday we were both excited because we thought this new course was going to be easier and faster than the last one.  That lasted until about mile 36 and then our opinion changed in a hurry.

The loop out to Granite Falls is wonderful. Very scenic and the hills are more gently rolling than the usual part of the Lake Stevens course.  Definitely some speed to be grabbed there as it seemed to have a lot of downhill even though the elevation chart indicates otherwise.  There were a few small potholes on the way to Granite Falls though, so keep your eyes open for those.  Miles 24-29 are back on the old course so it's the normal stuff.  

At mile 29 you leave the old course heading south on Woods Creek Road for lots of downhill over the next 7 or 8 miles. Then it gets really interesting.  Just past mile 36 you come to a Y in the road.  The course on the map says to go right and you're staring at a horrifically steep looking hill winding up into the trees. Fortunately, it looks worse than it is.  It's a pretty short trip to the top and you're back to normal undulations.  

Just past mile 38, there is a hard right turn onto Ingraham Rd. Shift down before you make that turn because it immediately turns into a steep granny-gear hill and there is no time to shift if you haven't done it already.  That hill is a pretty long.  After that, there is more up-down-up-down until you make a right turn onto 171st.  On 171st, the first mile+ is a steady grinder of an uphill.  Not terribly steep, but not easy either because it doesn't let up.  It just seems to keep going and going.

You eventually make it back to Dubuque Rd to rejoin the old course just in time for those sharp, short up and down hills then the screaming downhills before turning right onto Machias.  From there, we wound up going back the same way as the old course instead of turning left onto Division like the map indicates so I can't report what miles 53-56 are like.

The bottom line for me is, if you want to get a good average speed on this course, you better get it in the first 36 miles because it's going to be hard to come by in the last 20.  At the same time, if you push too hard to gain that speed, it would be easy to let the hills in the last 20 eat you alive.  Those hills in the last 20 are no joke and if you're fried before you get there, it's going to be a long run.

I'd love to know what others think if they have a chance to ride the course at some point.

Brad

I dunno call me a wimp in my old age, but I don't see myself doing that race again.  Both the old and new bike courses are dangerous.

- the entire Lake Stevens area lacks shoulders on just about any road
- the course has huge ups / downs leading to 50+ mph downhills on the bike
- the course is open to traffic (mostly large jacked up trucks in that area, too)
- the locals don't have much love for cyclists

I had a lot more fun at the Black Diamond half-iron out in Nolte State Park, but that's just me. 

I agree - I rode the course this morning with a group and we were all pretty happy with the first 36 miles. The ride up to Granite Falls was great and leaving Granite Falls was good, too.

It's really the section from 36 to 47 that were just plain difficult. It feels like it's all uphill, even though there are a few downhill sections, and there's a very sharp RT turn onto Trombley (about 42.5miles) that could be interesting.

I'm not cycling my best right now, but even so, I'm thinking this is actually quite a bit harder than last year's and I hope that the posted route is not what gets used for race day.

Dan

Hi all,

Thanks for the input on this course.  This will be my first attempt at LS, but not this distance.  I hope these hills will be great preparation for IM Branson in September.  I did that one last year without riding the bike course beforehand.  The humidity and hills of the bike got to me to the point that I walked the aid stations during the run.

Really - the bike course will be open to traffic? 

I suppose there will be a mixed bag of tri and road bikes.  I used a standard rode bike last year at Branson, and plan to use one at LS.

Hope to see some of you there!

The turn by turn directions for the official route at:
http://c28911.r11.cf1.rackcdn.com/2010/09/LakeStevens_Bike2011.pdf

are the same the OP mapmyride.
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/32884562/

Thank you both for the route info.

Just adding the info on the Climbs; Yee Hawww!

http://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/view/road-cycling-map/washington/lake-stevens/32884562

I only did the Oly distance at Chelan so I don't know how the half-iron route compares to Lake Stevens. That said, many portions of the new Lake Stevens route are much more difficult than the road along the lake at Chelan.  I do think the Chelan road is similar to much of the first 30 miles of the Lake Stevens course, especially the route out to Granite Falls.  However, the last 20 miles has some seriously sharp hills that - at least the Oly - course in Chelan didn't have.

Brad

Thanks Brad. Did you do the bike at IMCDA, I think you did but not sure. Do you think this matches up a bit? I will not have time to go drive the ride or see it before the race that is why I am asking. Thanks for the info.

Good question.  Now that I think about it, one loop of the CdA course does seem somewhat similar to the new one-loop Lake Stevens course. By that, I mean the first half is relatively gentle although there are some uphill grades. The hilly section of CdA comes a bit earlier in the course and has that long stretch back to town that returns to the more gentle roads. Most of the hills - and definitely the steepest ones - on the Lake Stevens course are in the last 20 miles or so. I don't think there are as many hills in that portion of the Lake Stevens course as the hilly part of the CdA course, but my memory might be skewed since we did the CdA loop twice  . My recollection is the steeper hills in Lake Stevens are fairly short. I don't recall anything there like the so-called "Wall" in CdA.

I've done both.  Lake Stevens is harder per mile.  IMCdA has a lot of long flat sections that people don't mention very often.

You also have to ride more aggressively downhill on Lake Stevens to carry your momentum back up the hills.  CdA tends to have turns at the bottom of hills or long flat-outs that don't reward that kind of riding.

I was riding the course yesterday (Sun, July 24) and the group noticed a "road closed" sign on the side of the road near Granite Falls. We didn't think much of it until...

This morning (July 25) I was riding with a friend and detour signs and "road closed" signs were posted from mile 12.5 up to the actual road closure at mile 17.

It turns out the road is completely closed until Sept. 2 and will only be open for a brief period on race day. So riding the course without backtracking several miles is no longer possible before raceday.

Here's a link to the website discussing the project: http://www1.co.snohomish.w?a.us/departments/public_wo?rks/services/roads/project?s/robemenzel

Any bets on what road conditions will be when it actually IS open?

Or perhaps a mountain bike?

Looks like the course has changed again - Just got an email with a revised course, looks like it's now 2 loops, does not go through granite falls and cut out much of the original (original, new... whatever, the course as it was last week) starting from mile 30 - 45... Anyone know what the elevation profile is of the new course? Flatter, hillier, the same'ish?

Edit: Actually, looks like the old, old course - I've never done lake stevens so I'm just guessing based on the info I find on mapmyride

Yes, it's the 2010 course. You should be able to find profile information at mapmytri or mapmyride

I seem to recall there is 150ft more climbing with this route, but you lose the hard right-hand turns and the 1.25 mile hill.

After riding the "new" course a few times, I'm thinking the 2-loop is better because the hills are spread out more evenly over the course. I'm riding it tomorrow to see if my assumption is correct.

I'd love to hear your take on it after you ride the old course again, especially since you've ridden the new one a few times.  I've ridden both, but the new one was two months ago and the old one was last year's race so my comparison abilities are a little fuzzy.

I must say I'm a bit disappointed because I really liked the loop out to Granite Falls.  On the other hand, that construction zone wouldn't have been any fun and could have been very bad.

I rode a single-loop of the course today.

My feeling is that this is far easier than the single-loop course. The first 12 miles are exactly the same, the first "big" climb comes much earlier in the course and there are plenty of rollers & the 2.5miles on Dubuque Rd before the next "big" climb, which is then followed by 10 miles of easy riding before doing the OK Mill long, steady ascent again.

The overall elevation gain may be higher than the single-loop course, but the distribution of the climbing and the lack of any really long climbs makes this a faster course that is easier on the legs.

I'm planning to ride the full double-loop Sunday morning with some faster riders and will have a chance to test my impressions one last time before race day.