With the Church Creek TT coming up this week and Eagleman 70.3 on June 13th, it was time this past Sunday for the annual course pre-ride. The weather was hot but the wind was building as it always does on the Eastern Shore.
We started out at 11:00am and over the course of the next 2 hours the wind began to howl. Thank goodness that Eagleman starts in the early morning....although that doesn't necessarily mean that the wind won't be around at that time! For those doing the TT this weekend, I think the later starters will definitely feel the difference in wind from those starting out at 9:00am.
Both the TT and 70.3m course were in pretty good shape, the rumble strips on the shoulder of Rte 16 may pose a bit of a problem for the later waves of the 70.3m (like the 30-34 AG in wave 8) as it narrows the shoulder somewhat and could make passing riders more problematic. In general however, the course will be ready for some fast times.
Normally the wind comes from the northwest and so for both courses you start out with a tailwind. For the TT you get the headwind after the first turn on the TT course on Hiproof Road and then onto Smithville Road, fortunately the last 7miles is a tailwind along MD 16. For the Eagleman course the headwind really hits at about Golden Hill Road (Mile 32) and Egypt Road (Mile 40). This past weekend, that 8-12 mile section really was hard and no doubt it will be on race day. Just that small section of the course could make or break the whole day!
All in all it was a good pre-ride, it got us all familar with the courses, me for Eagleman and CCTT for Ace, Stu and Ali.
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