Maybe some of you have gotten the word, no doubt others haven’t, but this year’s Cherry Roubaix state road race course has been lengthened and made significantly tougher than past editions.The boys from the Haggerty Team have come up with a course that they, no doubt, feel favors their climbing abilities and puts us downstaters at a disadvantage. I have ridden the course and can attest to the fact that those not ready for some serious climbing are going to be sucking wind before the first lap is over. Back are the dual camel back hills on Narlock Road as well as the mountain top finish at Sugarloaf. New climbs on Hohnke Road and Schomberg road northbound in addition to grinders on French, Bodus and Schomberg southbound are going to put the hurt on the flatlanders. Each lap is 23 miles of sheer joy for the mountain goats among us. My recommendation for the next six weeks is lots of hill repeats and the loss of 5 pounds of body weight.
It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for us to schedule a training/recon ride of the course between now and race day. A lap or two of race simulation would give us an idea as to our race strategy as well as gearing and equipment choices. It would be good to do this before Cherry Festival as the roads get a bit more busy during that time period. I would suggest Sunday, July 1 but am open to other dates to accomodate as many riders as possible. Who’s up for it?
One Comment
Hi Mike. I was not aware!! I am dissappointed since last year was a good all-arounder course in my opinion and I was really primed for it this year – loved last year’s course! I will ride a lot of hills over the next few weeks and plan to be down 10# by race day. Ciao.