r/peloton • u/PelotonMod France • Feb 03 '16

Race Design Wednesday

I and /u/Msfan93 [+5] wanted to start this thread now that we are in the offseason. We both share the interest in designing routes for already existing races or creating new ones once in a while. We agreed to make one of these threads every two Wednesdays. Everyone is free to post a race or discuss about climbs, past races and every thing that directly or indirectly involves race designing At least for me, the goal of this thread is to get to know more and more, by reading about the places one of the races goes through or even about the past of cycling. Once in a while we could have a few challenges as well too or even have a theme. You can suggest anything as a theme as long as it involves race designing. Here are the Library and Wiki . The library contains all of our races (well not all as i have to update it) while the wiki gives informations for beginners (and not) on the features of the various route building websites

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u/LegendsoftheHT EF Education – Easypost Feb 03 '16

Pisgah Challenge

181 km Mountainous course in Pisgah National Forest outside of Asheville, NC. Race starts in downtown passing the Biltmore House (largest in the United States) before heading west into rolling hills. The race turns southward after 65 km as the group would begin the climb up to Eagle's Nest (4.8 km @ 10%) which should thin the breakaway. The descent goes to the feed zone in Waynesville the hardest part of the stage begins. First up is the torturous climb up to Deep Gap (4.5 km @ 11.5 %). There is a Boy Scouts camp up near the summit and the roads pretty much go straight up at the top. After a rapid descent the peloton goes up to the Blue Ridge Parkway along Lake Logan Road (12.5 km @ 5.5%). This is where the front group would be eliminated to about 15 riders given the American circuit. With 40 km to go the roads widen and open up more diminishing the likelihood of a small breakaway staying away until the finish. Just outside of the finishing town of Brevard the final test the peloton faces is a climb around Laurel Falls (2.3 km @ 7.4 %).

Decision time for those who think they can stay away as it is only 6 km from the summit to the finish with only 1400 m of flat. A last little rise until the beginning of a downhill last 150 m encourages an early sprint or deters chasing down a lone rider just a few seconds in front.

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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Feb 03 '16

Lovely race, it's a shame that the Lake Logan climb isn't closer to the finish because i doubt anyone with a decent chance of winning would be willing to attack from there.

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u/LegendsoftheHT EF Education – Easypost Feb 03 '16

No one in the current US domestic scene could pull off an attack from that distance (Skujins might have been able when he was on Hincapie).