Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Race pics

Paul McEntire has put the photos up from the Turkey race.
Go there and see his work.  And buy a pic:  http://paulmcentire.zenfolio.com/p494407182

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Game on

This is it.  The last DoubleShot Duathlon of the year.
We're about to head back out.  It's wet and muddy, but everything is as ready as we could make it.

See y'all soon!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Weather Update

Just looked at weather dot com.  The hour-by-hour forecast looks good.  Should stop raining early tomorrow morning.  By Saturday morning it is supposed to be sunny and cool.  Upper 40s to low 50s.  We have a pretty good number of people registered so far.  You can still register online until 6p tomorrow evening.  And you can register on race-day, but get there early.  Packet pickup will only occur race morning.  
Free coffee from DoubleShot Coffee Company.
Free beer from Vintage 1740.
Free hotdogs from Native Bicycles.

Thank the rest of your sponsors too:  http://www.doubleshotduathlon.com/Sponsors.html

The weather

Don't worry, the race is still on.
You're probably going to be glad I didn't run the bike course on horrifically technical trails though.  I have a feeling the trails are going to be wet.  And when I say wet, I mean muddy.  I'm not sure.  The trails have been draining really well.  But talks of flooding today through tomorrow afternoon make me a little suspect.  We'll just have to see what happens and do our best to deal with the conditions.  It'll be fine.  I'm sure the trails will be the worst while we're out there marking the course and probably be perfect for you guys during the race.
Registration closed last night at midnight.  I'm going to re-open registration until 6p Friday night, but registration has gone up $5 for all you procrastinators.  
As for the race, we'll be out there rain or shine.  Potentially we will have a swim portion now and I'm thinking if it really comes down like they say it will, Turkey mountain may shrink a couple inches.  Those climbs might be a little shorter.
If it's muddy, which I hope it's not, the run course should be interesting.  You know how I like to run you up and down steep hills.  There's a really steep dirt hill on the run course that might become a slide.  Fun fun fun!
More info as I know it.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Turkey Course Specifics

I went out and marked the bike course today.  It's marked with red-and-black checkered ribbon on your left.  If you pass a ribbon on your right, you either missed a turn or you're going the wrong way.  They're all on your left.  I marked it sparingly, mostly in the corners, but I tried to make it clear and obvious where the course will lead.  Here's my best word map:

Start between the parking lot and Elwood in the new sod.  Ride north straight toward the hill and up the hill.  I rode up Lipbuster today and even though it's rutted worse than usual, it is ridable.  Cut west through the upper parking lot and follow the trail along 61st and then toward the Snake Trail (or the Racetrack).  Watch for a turn in to your left about half way down the doubletrack toward Snake.  Ride that down into the tallgrass field where you'll cut off to your left again on some fairly new trails.  We rode these trails the opposite direction at SIX IN THE STICKS.  This short, windey singletrack section goes around a tree and over some rocks, over a high tree root with chainring marks, and through a creek bed, ending at the trashy doubletrack that leads down to the pipeline.  Follow this (couple jumps on the way if you're brave) down past the pipeline, falling back in the woods to your left just before it gets really rocky.  This singletrack goes by the westside YMCA, by the board jumps and teeter totter, around a bowl that is a dry falls, and down to the bottom creekbed by the Pepsi plant.  Take a right there (unless you want some Pepsi) and after you roll up over the big lift and around the downed tree, take a hard, 180 degree left turn up the hill.  This hill is ridable and once you get on top you'll wind through the woods, by one homeless tent, by two more tents, and end at the Spider.  From there, climb the Ridge Trail.  At the top, hang right all the way to the ridge line and follow it back west.  The downhill is sketchy.  Rocky, rocky, rocky.  Personally I CAN ride down this, but it's not worth it to me.  Probably faster to run through it.  The second half of that downhill is so eroded that the bowl we used to ride down is a bit scary.  Holding a line over to the left is better... slightly.  You'll end that descent at the trailhead of Ho Chi.  Come down the bridge trail that Womack and Mikey built and back toward the parking lot.  Under the powerlines you're going to take a left.  Through the field and back into the woods on your right, down the hill to the paved trail.  Take a left there but just until you get to the first right that has a trail sign with a red blaze.  Follow that trail to the Bomb Shelter and up to the field just south of the parking lot where they put new sod.  That's where transition will be.

It's a two-lap course.  Probably around 10.2 miles total.  I didn't have my computer today.
Let me know if you have questions.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Turkey Bike Course

Ray Hall, I have some good news and some bad news.  The good news is, the bike course is a two-lap and each lap is a little over 5 miles, so it's a little long.  The bad news is, it's a pretty easy course and will be super fast.
Everyone else, I have some good news and some bad news.  The bad news is, the bike course is a two-lap and each lap is a little over 5 miles, so it's a little long.  The good news is, it's a pretty easy course and will be super fast.

Like I said, the construction has really limited our options, but I've done my best.  I'm expecting it to be fun, fast, and competitive.  It's supposed to rain cats and dogs today, but I'm going to go out and mark the bike course tomorrow.  Red and black checkered flagging.  
This Sunday there is an adventure race at Turkey that starts at 8a.  The RD says the winners should come in around 11 or 1130a, so I guess people will probably be on the trails racing until 1p or so?  I don't know.  But if you plan on going out there Sunday, please try to stay out of their way.  
Remember, both the run and the bike will go along Elwood and up the hill.  The bike will break off to the west side at that point and the run will drop back into the woods to the east.  The run course will not be marked until race day.  But don't worry, it will be well marked.
I hope a lot of you are planning to come out.  Big prize money:  $400, $300, $200 top 3 male AND female winners.