Here's the hourly forcast for the next 12 hours here at Incline Village, NV:
10:00 pm (now at the hotel) - 47 degrees, feels like 41 degrees, raining. Not bad race conditions actually, low 40's can be pretty comfortable and this rain will make the sandy climb up Tunnel Creek dramatically better - so long as it stays moderate.
9:00 am (race start) - 40 degrees, feels like 32 degrees, with cloud cover.
11:00 am (should be around the top of the bike course, 8,700 ft altitude) - 38 degrees, feels like 29 degrees, raining.
12:00 pm (back down at Incline Village for the run/finish) - 38 degrees, fells like 28 degrees, rain/snow showers.
There's going to be a problem area of this race that I'm not sure how to approach, and it's probably different than your initial idea of why this triathlon may be a little nuts. I say that because it's a different than my initial idea on why this race may pose some unique challenges.
My initial concern as I saw the weather forcast detriorating all week to downright cold for the race tomorrow was the swim. We pulled into Incline Village yesterday and walked down to the beach and there were good 3-4 foot swells rolling onto the beach. The water was chilly, but it's going to be just fine. The swim isn't going to be the cold part of this race. In fact, it may be the warmest.
Those temps I listed are for Incline Village, which sits about 6,200 ft elevation (almost identical to my home in Draper, Utah). This bike course is going to take us up to just below 9,000 ft elevation, via the highly exposed and windy Flume trail and along some trail along the crest of the mountain. So, here's the problem. That "feels like 29 degrees" we get at 11:00 am is actually going to be pretty darn balmy relative to what it's going to feel like at 9,000 ft where I'm pretty sure we're going to be in the mid - low teens while working through the top of the bike course. And the winds - 17 mph down here in the valley - no idea what they'll be up top, but I rode up Tunnel Creek Road to the Flume trail with Lee yesterday and we went from minimal wind, to a whole bunch of it once we got out on the Flume which is pretty exposed. Suspect it will be even worse up on the crest section. And that rain. I'm not a meteorologist, but I'm pretty sure that if it's 10 degrees cooler and "feels like 15-20 degrees" up on the mountain, that rain ain't gonna be rain. So, low-mid teen temps, high winds, and probably snow - should make for a real adventurous race.
2 comments:
So spill the beans, how was it? I wussed out of the cross race because it was too cold and rainy. I am kicking myself because I went to watch and felt like a kid left out of the birthday party. Can't wait to hear your gnarly details.
Sam, pretty sure I had less fun than you and Holly had a Frightmares. It was a good one to wrap up the season though, and exposed some blatant weaknesses that I can try to address next year. Trying to keep up with you is still the best training program around.
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