I rode the 2013 course a few days ago. (Sorry for the duplicate post, those of you who read another forum.)
It is
significantly harder than in 2011 or 2012. Part of the reason is there is more climbing, but more of the reason is that the dirt roads are very, very soft. They have raked all of the roads with a machine, creating several inches of loose stuff on top of the roads. Almost nothing was packed down. Carney-Cassidy and Stage Road in particular are absolutely brutal climbs with the surface as loose as it is. Hopefully the dirt will have time to pack down before the race, but if not, expect a lot of racers on the ground and general suffering.
Road raking machine:
Meetinghouse Road:
I put up a bunch of video of the ride here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YV5d...XX3Oog-BeuIE0P