Masters Natz - end of May 2016 - USA (NC)
 

Rented a massive home for the team. I'll be 50-54 all 3 events. Arriving Sunday afternoon prior to week. Anyone local there doing a Monday recon ride of RR course??? We will want to do a couple laps that day. Anyone have knowledge of climbs/descents/narrowness/whatever? 44x23 is my little one. I hear crit course is basically a flat loop outside an arena. TT no clue.

I'm somewhat local - about an hour and a half away. I'm planning to ride the RR course some time in the next couple of weeks. I think there are several rollers on the course but nothing larger. If I am not working on that Monday, I'll see if I can come up to meet you for a ride.

The crit course, from what I've seen, isn't really a loop around an arena. Rather it's a triangle with two very tight turns in the Wake Forest University football stadium parking lot.

i'll probably pre-ride sunday or monday...pretty low-key. i'm probably not looking to do multiple laps, though...that may be a couple hour ride at a casual pace.

let us know, thnx!
msg me if you wish to meet us on that Monday
prob about 10-12 of us that day

Local (Greensboro) and racing as well (40-44). Would meet up to preride for sure.

Coming in Monday, recon/opener Tuesday. Flipping coins on looking at the RR or TT course.

Anyone staying to watch the pro races? I'm volunteering Saturday evening for the national champ races and then racing the crit Sunday.

not me. would be nice in an ideal world.

i've heard through the grapevine that the combination of masters, para and pro caused a huge cluster in terms of road/course usage, and that that is not likely to happen again. maybe not even be in NC next year as a result.

Hmm, that's strange. Most of the courses are different.

The Masters and Para RR course is different from the Pro course. The TT courses are all the same. The Master's and Para crit courses are different from each other, and they both are different from the weekend Winston-Salem Cycling Classic Course.

That's not surprising. The amount of road closures they must have going for that week+ is nuts. Plus the WS Cycling Classic is the following Monday, and honestly trying to figure out which race is which and when they're all happening isn't at all easy. I think the organizers/USAC/whomever organized all of this might have tried a little too much too soon. I hope it all works out, but it does seem to be too much crammed into one spot/week.

yes, i'm aware. the sources i have know people well-placed at USAC and in the promoters' organization. it's just the combination of everything that is too much. seemed like a great idea but the reality is proving to be less than ideal from the support of the community. it's a reason why we didn't even learn course details until a few weeks ago--lots of battles.

this nailed it. community's been pissed already--let's see how they feel after the event.

would be odd to have this event only spend one year there as bids are usually for at least 2, but there is precedent: e.g., the amateur nationals cluster at tahoe last year.

btw...what are road conditions like?

i assume chip-seal. good condition? bad? cracks/seams/frost heaves? potholes? good to ride on or kinda *****ty?

thanks!

I still have to go pre-ride the RR course, but I assume the roads are similar to the rural roads around here, which means they are likely in mostly OK condition. There's not a lot of chip seal around here. Most roads are pretty smooth, though it does vary. And there may be some cracks or potholes, but nothing too bad.

I should get out there this weekend or next week at the latest and will report back.

It now looks like I may not be racing Masters Nationals.

Last night, while doing some openers for my planned race today, I felt a sudden and sharp twinge in my knee - the one I messed up several years ago. This was the worst pain I've felt in that knee since I got over the injury almost four years ago. I iced it down, but I was hobbling around the house last night and had trouble getting up the stairs. I had to step up with the right leg, bring left leg to that step, then step up with the right leg again...

It's a lot better today - I can go up and down stairs and get out of my chair pain free, but I'm reluctant to push it too quickly. I'm not racing today, that's for sure, but I'll get on the bike on Thursday and Friday to see how it feels. I have to make a decision by Friday, when the price climbs from $100 to $150. I already missed the first registration deadline, when the price jumped from $75 to $100, but I'm not paying $150 per race.

some fields are full, double check before showing

looks like only the M45-49 RR & crit are full, right?

nice to have some solid fields. guessing there was a bunch of pent-up demand from the west coast bias the past 5 years.

longer than that, really. Before that it was in Kentucky for three years. It's been 10 years since it was on the east coast. Generally most folks around here don't consider 10-12 hours being driving distance.

i can't really speak for 'most folks', but i'd say kentucky and seven springs counted as 'east coast' events. i'm being pretty liberal with that term -- mainly meaning east of the mississippi or west.

ogden, utah isn't west coast per se, but what i've observed over the past 5 years of nationals is that if people CAN throw bikes in a vehicle and drive, it makes them more likely to go, even if that is 10, 12h in a vehicle. once they have to pack up bikes and ship them/fly with them, it seems to be a much bigger hurdle.

as an anecdote (=not data), i know many people who drove 6, 8, 10h to bend from other points in the west (cali, nevada, utah, idaho, oregon) or 10+ hours to utah, and all but a couple of them are NOT going to nationals in NC.

i know it sounds crazy, but especially for the guys who do the stuff that requires a 2nd bike (TTs), it's a privilege to have nationals anywhere that is *driveable*, even if it is a long drive.

haha. NE folks didn't consider KY east coast. I only know a few folks who made the drive. We're spoiled with race proximity though, and most NYC don't even have cars.

I wouldn't even consider NC east coast to be honest.

I'm still toying with going to masters track in Indy. Though it's so far an outside chance it's feels gossipy to write it down.

You do realize North Carolina is second to Florida in coastline along the Atlantic? (Third behind Florida and Maine if you go by tidal coastline figures.)

I think you mean SC, but that's in the south not the east coast.

The east coast ends at the jersey shore. Below that is the deep south.

So states on the eastern coast of the US are not "East Coast" - makes perfect sense!