Florida Challenge Triathlon - HIM

I would recommend riding that course if you can...it's a "challenge."

Oh great. I take it you don't mean "challenge" in a good way. Knowing a little about the area, I'm sure it's full of hills. Any info you have would be great!

It's a tough ride for flatlanders. The first 30 miles is rolling terrain then you hit Buckhill w/4 climbs and a few miles later is Sugarloaf. Sugarloaf is not very long but is steep (up to 11% grade) & since it comes in the last part of the ride many will end up walking their bikes up.

If you get a chance, try to ride Buckhill & Sugarloaf if you can't ride the rest of the course so you'll get an idea of the effort required. If you don't get to a chance to ride the bike, drive the course & get familiar with the hills.

It's a great race, last year was somewhat hampered by an approaching hurricane & created some issues but Sommer Sports does a great job...It's a hell of an accomplishment to complete it...just ask my legs!

That's a good point Kendall. It would seem worth it to walk it a few steps and save the energy vice torturing yourself on the bike only to run out of juice.

My biggest concern is the swim. I saw they have a one hour cut-time. My swimming isn't exactly top-notch so I've got some work to do.

Either way, it will definitely be a good race! Hope to see you all there, and Kendall, if you've got any more words of wisdom for the course since you did it last year, I'm all ears!

I've ridden the course, and it is challenging!!  It's a good, fun ride though!  I am certainly NOT a hill person, and my motto is still that hills suck!!  

The swim isn't bad.  It's a lake swim, so other than wind, no real current to speak of. 

It'll be a BLAST!!  Last year there was a big BT turnout for this race too.  I will be jockstrapping again this year, as I have a mary the week before. 

This past weekend, I drove most of the bike course. Lots of hills. Sugarloaf is pretty tough looking, but there were some other hills that looked almost as bad, just not quite as long. Only thing I kept telling myself... where there's an uphill, there's a downhill. And there is on this course, too. For the most part, the roads were in good shape. Some were brand new and looked really nice to ride, but some looked a bit... scary. Buckhill was one.

Overall, it looks like it's going to be a great course. Lots of good scenery. Wish I had my camera with me to take pics, but I didn't plan on being able to get to the course. One nice thing, they've got "Share the road" signs everywhere to warn cars about the frequent bikers out there. That was nice. Hope everyone's training is going better than mine. See you all in Clermont!