a new course was released this week with quite a few significant changes from the qualifier. the race starts at the city, but now finishes in kalamunda. there is a loop around kalamunda/mundaring/darlington that will be negotiated once for women/senior riders and twice for everyone else. our training ride will only do the loop once, but you have the option for 2 laps if you have the time.
as with the qualifier, the course heads up the zig-zag. as it is a one-way road heading down, we will not be using this road for training. instead, we will head up gooseberry. there may be other minor changes that we need to make for training, so make sure that you have a good look at both the training map and the actual race day map so you know where the differences are.
the initial recon ride on the 3rd july will not be at race pace as it will allow people to understand where the course goes and the turns that you will need to make. on race day, i expect that the traffic management will help you navigate the course, but up till then, make sure you don’t get lost during our training rides.
as per the qualifier training, it will be neutralised out to helena valley road, then race pace from when it crosses roe hwy. the final actually does a hard right hand turn just after roe onto midland rd and tackles ridgehill from the other side. however, we will skip that and head across to gooseberry. there are a few other subtle differences, but they have been made for safety reasons. we do not have closed roads and will be travelling in packs probably at speed. however, you must obey all road rules at all times. this is training, best not get in a serious accident before your big race.
for training, we will head up gooseberry a second time and race to the service station at the top of kalamunda. there we will have a 20 min regroup allowing people time to get food/water or toilet. after that, it will be a controlled return to the city via lesmurdie/welshpool road. if anyone wants to do a second lap, then they can regroup at the servo and head off when they have their group together.
have a look at the map below and upload it to your gps enabled device. this training is open to anyone, not just qualifiers, but please be aware that unlike our other rides, there are no regroups till after the second time up to kalmunda. please be aware of your own abilities and make sure you have adequate food/water for the ride.