WTRL #143 - Watopia Hilly

WTRL #143 – Watopia Hilly

Course Notes – 3 Laps – 27.6km (321m elevation)

Back to Watopia and 3x around the Hilly course.

From a DS point of view, this course is actually quite straightforward.

– Keep team on an agreed w/kg target ‘blob’ up the Hilly KQoM forwards for 1km each lap.
– Decide how much you wait or regroup whilst on the gentle downhill after the above
– Push the turns and pace through the rest of the lap until you reach the Esses.
– Blob up again here, as turns are just too fraught with potential for splits.
– BIG TIP here: don’t change gear during Esses, the change in cadence and power will get you dropped. Instead, stay in same gear and push over the inclines and take the soft pedalling on the slight drops.
– Rinse and repeat the above, making a call on riders who might be struggling and trying to push the team to higher blob numbers as the race progresses.

This is definitely a course where most teams will likely expect to drop riders. If you reach the 2nd time up the KQoM as a group and riders are struggling, better to jetison them early and carry on, as the time lost in waiting will be more than the time lost by them being missing from the pack in the 2nd half of the event.

This is also a course where pacing pays dividends – stay (just) within the realms of the group’s capability as a whole early on and aim to build your pace on the crucial points on each subsequent lap. Use the relative calm as you head down to end of each lap to reassess.

Full Details below. Distances are full race distance, starting from the pens. Use the PRINT button for a simplified print out.

Don’t Forget to try my TTT Time Predictor and Power Planner – complete with DS Call Sheet. Tricky one to predict this week, especially given the 3 laps. I would suggest that times might be 30s or so slower than the predictor suggests, to account for the extra hilliness.

For the women, the Socks4Watts WRT record smashed the field in the Vienna classes, This shows in the predicted times of many female teams being faster than their previous actuals in my testing. It demonstrates just how well disciplined WRT were during this event vs other teams. Given the changes in pack dynamics and drafting, I doubt this record will ever be beaten.

Distance	Feature Length	Elevation	Notes
LAP 1
800m	1.2km	3-11%	Barely 1min into the race and you hit the first climb.
			Important not to go immediately into red, so pick a w/kg number just under threshold for most of the group. If you have super strong riders, rein them in. If you have weaker riders, encourage them to go deep, with long recovery to follow.
2km	1.1km		Gently undulating descent – Some chance to regroup, but ideally pushing on as a unit. Be aware of lighter riders struggling to stay on group.
3.1km	200m	4%	Little kicker – should not be an issue at speed
4.5km	2.4km		Off the descent and now chance to rotate, caution for the little bump at 5.4km
6.9km	1.6km		The Esses – initial drag of 300m @ 5%, then 3 little dips and rises
			I would recommend agreeing a w/kg figure through here to help keep group together on lap 1
8.5km	1.6km		Sweep downhil through finish arch – time to re-group and decide any change in tactics

Distance	Feature Length	Elevation	Notes
LAP 2
10.1km	1.2km	3-11%	Up the 2nd time on the KQoM – consider adding 0.5w/kg to your target.
			Now might be the time you start to lose riders, if they are someone who is not important on the flatter sections. If you have super strong riders, rein them in. Go with your weakest – to a point!
11.2km	1.1km		Gently undulating descent – Some chance to regroup, but ideally pushing on as a unit. Be aware of lighter riders struggling to stay on group.
12.3km	200m	4%	Little kicker – should not be an issue at speed
13.7km	2.4km		Off the descent and now chance to rotate, caution for the little bump at 14.5km
16.1km	1.6km		The Esses – initial drag of 300m @ 5%, then 3 little dips and rises
			I would recommend agreeing a w/kg figure through here to help keep group together, but consider you are 2/3 through and it might be time to push on.
17.7km	1.6km		Sweep downhil through finish arch – time to re-group and decide any change in tactics

Distance	Feature Length	Elevation	Notes
LAP 3
19.3km	1.2km	3-11%	3rd time on the KQoM – really about best effort now for whomever you have left.
			Time to drop everyone who is not important to a time and push on with 4 if necessary.
20.5km	1.1km		Gently undulating descent – Some chance to regroup, but ideally pushing on as a unit. Be aware of lighter riders struggling to stay on group.
21.8km	200m	4%	Little kicker – should not be an issue at speed
22.9km	2.4km		Off the descent and now chance to rotate, caution for the little bump at 23.5km
25.3km	1.6km		The Esses – initial drag of 300m @ 5%, then 3 little dips and rises. Abandon turns and just encourage threshold plus effort from team
27km	900m		All about using everyone left to race to the finish, consider a final suicide pull from someone out of The Esses and down through the arch, before the sprint.