WTRL #161 – Beach Island Loop
Course Notes – 2 Lap – 26km
Still a very new route to WTRL and also one of the shortest/fastest, taking ‘only’ 30-40mins for most teams.
It is also largely flat, compared to many to others. Whilst this sounds good in theory, it means that everyone has to push REALLY hard for the whole time, to keep the pace high.
Get organised quickly, using a strong team leader to take the first drag off the beach. After that, given the short duration, riders need to trust that they CAN do 30-40s turns at 130% FTP and commit to high speeds and powers on the front.
Full Details below. Distances are full race distance, starting from the pens. Use the PRINT button for a simplified print out. I try to keep these notes to the point and only show things that actually effect the team significantly, otherwise there is just too much to try and communicate.
| Race Distance | Feature Length | Elevation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0km | 1km | 1-3% | Out of the Pens and time to blob up before the long slow drag off the beach. Pick an stronger rider to lead this early incline, just to keep the speed reasonble whilst the team gets organised. |
| 1km | 4.2km | Other than the drop off the back of the Volcano, there nothing to stop a team doing good rotations using the Power Planner. | |
| 5.2km | 500m | 3% | The only significant ascent that could split an unwary team – on this first lap, be mindful of back markers and temper the team effort to an agreed w/kg. |
| 6.6km | 200m | 3% | Another short bump as you go across the bypass, heading back to the beach |
| 11.7km | 200m | 3% | Climb out of the underwater section – stand and push at threshold w/kg on Lap1 |
| LAP 2 | |||
| 13.3km | 900m | 1-3% | Back under the finish gantry for Lap 2. Take stock and again, put a stronger rider on the front. Time to up the effort by 10W across the team, especially if you still have more than 4. |
| 14.1km | 4.1km | Mindful of the Volcano drop , but again doing good rotations using the Power Planner. Up the effort by 10W and knock 20s off the turns – Time to negative split. | |
| 18.2km | 500m | Gravel Switchbacks – this is the time to really push on and make gains on other teams. Add 0.5W/KG to the team target, if you drop someone here – push on with 4+ | |
| 19.6km | 200m | 3% | Speed bump 2nd time |
| 24.6km | 200m | 3% | Final climb out of the tunnel – last big effort before race to the line. |
| 25km | 500m | Start to build for the sprint finish – pick a lead out rider and ask them to go at position 1 power for as long as possible. | |
| 25.5km | 400m | ALL OUT TEAM RACE – EVERYONE FOR THEMSELVES |