GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll: Course Maps

[ed: Here's another article by BJ Basham, part of the series called "Coach's Tips for... ", in which BJ will give you all the inside track on how to race a specific event. BJ knows all these races, and he probably also knows most of the racers hellbent on beating you at them. If you like BJ's contributions, let him know in the Comments section below. You can even ask him questions in the comments, which he'll answer there as well.]

Coach's Tips for... Ride Sally Ride
by BJ Basham
USA Cycling Level II Certified Coach

Another new course on the calendar. This is either a good sign that there are new and untapped resources for race courses or a bad sign that there is yet another industrial park in the DC area. Either way, we get to race so that is always good.

The course looks pretty safe in terms of obstacles. The surface is smooth and the corners are wide. Something I noticed also was that two of the three turns have a natural speed checking pitch just before the turn which means that most everyone should be able to make it around without wearing out the brake pads.

I think that the elements will be the bigger challenge this weekend. Depending on the direction of the course and the wind speed and direction, it could be a challenge to keep the speed high. The buildings around the course are low and fairly far apart so the wind will have free reign on abusing the front of the packs. If you have read any of my earlier posts, then you will know that any place that it gets hard, is the place to think about an attack.

The other element to consider will be the heat and humidity on the day. Racing and training in the heat is not rocket science, but I have dealt with a few athletes who lose sight of what is going on. The things to be concerned with are hydration and keeping your core temps reasonable. These are related in that your body sweats to cool itself, and the more you sweat, the more you need to stay hydrated. But, simply drinking gallons is not all there is to it. If the humidity levels are high enough, that sweat that your body is cranking out will not be able to evaporate very well, which means you stay hot and your body responds with more sweat until you are just drenched, and hot. You can help by drinking cool fluids. The cold drink in your stomach will cool you from the inside. Cool or cold water has also been shown to empty from your stomach faster to be used by your body to do everything that water is needed for when it comes to running an athlete.

A note on what to drink: If your race is short (45 - 60 minutes), you may want to carry plain water on your bike. That will give you the option of dousing yourself if you really need to or rinse the sweat out of your eyes if it comes to that. For longer events, including some electrolyte mixture will help your body to maintain its balance of water and salts/minerals. If that balance gets too out of wack, with way too much water in the system, you can face a dangerous and possibly fatal condition known as hyponatremia which occurs when your body is basically overly diluted with water. For long hot races or if you are going to be out there all day, make sure you mix in some electrolyte drinks with your water. (For more on hyponatremia and sodium solutions, try this article on Hammer Nutrition's website.)

When it comes to attending an event on a hot day, planning is the key to staying cool. Put your bottles in a cooler so that you can start the race with cold fluids. Park in the shade if you can or at least near some shade where you can hangout until your race time, or bring your own shade. The days of working on your Zonker Harris base coat are over. Warmup in the shade. Stay cool while warming up. I once saw an elite level rider warming up behind his car with an electric fan plugged into the car lighter. Most folks will probably remember Armstrong's loss in the TT at the 2003 Tour which was chalked up to losing 15lbs of water during the race. His opponent supposedly warmed up inside a local bike shop with the AC cranked while Lance did his normal warmup on the trainer by the bus. Once Lance was overheated, his body was working like crazy to cool itself down and to do that, sweat was the answer, except the conditions made it impossible for him to keep up with the demands. How do you drink 15 bottles during a TT?

Dealing with the heat is not hard, just plan for it and stay cool.

BJ Basham is a USA Cycling Level II Certified Coach with Peaks Coaching Group. He lives in Fairfax, VA and competes in most of the same races you do. To learn more about his coaching practice and philosophy, visit his website at PowerTrainingCoach.com.

There's been some discussion on my team's email list about gearing for Walkersville, and what the course is like - same as there is before any road race, as well as some of the crits. I can't offer a first-hand course description because I haven't raced it. So I asked the Internet, and the Internet let me create this course map of one lap with an elevation profile (click image to enlarge):

As well as this detailed elevation profile (click to enlarge):

According to these maps (using topo data from USGS), there's over 650 feet of climbing per lap. L'Alpe D'Huez, for comparison's sake, is about 6100 feet of climbing, but without the rolling momentum we'll have in Walkersville. Laps are 8 miles, so calculate your number of laps based on the mileage for your race on the flyer, and multiply it by 650 for your total altitude gain. Cat 4 Women are looking at 2600 feet; Men 1/2/3s at 5850 (just shy of an Alpe). Everyone else is somewhere in between.

The images and calculations are via Veloroutes.org. Here's a link directly to the Walkersville Course Map:
http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=682

This is just data - unintelligent numbers. If you have an informed perspective on the course - whether or not it feels hilly, where the attacks go, recommended gearing - please share it in the comments.

Also, is this useful? Do you want to see it for other races? Let me know that in the comments as well.