Monday, September 22, 2008

Manawa Course

Some information about the race Saturday: Beginners will run 2 laps of a short loop on the east side, skipping Tony's Playground and the portion out by the power plant. They will ride the entire west loop.

The course for Sport and Expert will include Tony's Playground and the part out by the power plant. We were planning 3 for Sport and 5 for Expert, but we may lower the number of laps.

11 comments:

Shim said...

Dude, FIVE is 35+ miles, this is supposed to be a cross country race, not a marathon. I'd like to be home before dark.

According to USA Cycling an expert cross country race should be approximately 2:00 hours in length. Suggest you go run a couple laps at race pace and think about hitting that two hour mark.

See ya Saturday.

mathguy said...

Greg-I'll talk to Ted. The course is fast, so we were figuring that lap times for expert would be running 25-27 minutes, so the winning time would be 2:10-2:20. Shaving off a lap might be a good idea.

We just wanted you to get your money's worth....

dale said...

Any desire on your part to offer a 3hr marathon from 10:00-13:00 like we did at Tranquility?

I won't be racing b/c of a bad shoulder but others may be interested in a longer race.

Gary L. Nebeker said...

Randy--
Just my two-cents worth: For Sport and Experts would it possible to cut out the part that goes by the power plant? This might allow for a 2 hour finishing time for experts.

Shim said...

Randy, I plan on being out there tomorrow night arond 5:30 if you want to meet to discuss the options.

mathguy said...

We'll go with 4 laps for expert and 2 laps for sport. The guidelines say 105 for expert and 70 for sport, and those laps counts will bring us closest to those numbers. Thanks for pointing out the problem.

Gary L. Nebeker said...

Randy,
I am of the mind that Sport should do three laps. I was out there tonight and recorded 16 miles for 3 laps and total time of about 1:25.00. This is compatible with the length of most the Psycowpath races this year. Again, just my preference and two-cents' worth.

Rad-Renner said...

OK, using Gary's mileage, 5 laps would be about 26 miles, and 4 laps around 21 miles. These distances seem very reasonable for XC Expert and Sport fields respectively. And while I'm not at all saying that Gary's practice laps were "slow", I suspect that "race" lap times will be a few minutes faster.

Also, the limiting factor in running faster in Manawa are the multiple tight curves and technical sections, not tough climbs or rough terrain, so the fatigue-per-lap factor will be less than at other venues. This should allow people to race longer in both time & distance.

Personally, I would prefer a longer race (i.e. 3-4 laps for Sport/Single-speed) as it allows a racer's endurance to factor into the outcome. Two laps would seem like too much of a "sprint".

1by9 said...

Randy, I agree with Gary. 3 laps at Manawa takes less effort than other courses since there are no climbs and the tight turns keep my speeds and effort down. Muskitine, Swanson, Ponca, Tranquility, and Branched Oak all went well beyond 70 minute mark for the sport class.

KEV said...

So we have to go through the playground and over the 2 big logs? Who out there thinks they can clear those not to mention 4 or 5 times. I thought cross racing where we carry our bikes started the following week. I could understand if it added some fun stuff but it doesn't, that section is for playing not racing. What about leaving that and the back section by the power plant out and running 5 laps. I'll race whatever you guys lay out but 5 laps skipping those 2 sections would be fun.Isn't that what we raced last year? If Masters don't want to race for 2:15 or so run them 4 but if you do that you will need to run them separate. That worked at Tranquility and I heard no complaints. There's a lot of sticks and leaves out there also. We had a couple guys including myself have to stop and pull sticks out.

KEV said...

I thought second chance was Tony's play ground. I'd say race the whole thing except for second chance and do 4 or 5 laps. I still think open should run 5 laps.