What is the London Tri bike leg like?

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  Tiring Tri ing Posts: 242

  April 2007

  
  London is a fast, flat, wide course. I did the Olympic distance up to the edge of the City (i.e. not the Westminster route). There are more hills than you'd expect because you are constantly going through underpasses or over bridges, all of which are steady up for 200m and then down for the same distance (a rise/fall of about 8-12m each time). It's dead straight (other than entering/exiting the Excel centre you only turn at the ends i.e. 4 times in 40km) so you can build up pretty good speeds, so it's a real course for using aerobars and just getting your head down. After a while you can get really tired legs on the uphills, particularly if it's hot (last year was 32c) - because you can push up to top speed you really feel tired trying to maintain the momentum up the 20th bridge or underpass. London is a good bike course for a very fast time; you just need to make sure that you have enough left in the locker for the run.
  
  
  
  good luck
  
  

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  rpopper65 Posts: 171

  April 2007

  Echoing that and adding that the inclines on the course aren't so much hilly as slow, gradual inclines, as Tiring Tri ing says, for underpasses and such. I did the Westminster route, which has the benefit of giving you a really long, straight, flat stretch from about the centre of the City all the way to Westminster, then a very tight turn around back on yourself and then the same long, straight, flat stretch going back. Over all, it's not a hugely technical course nor is it very hilly, but it will require you to be adept at swictching gears in some spots, but you'll see the inclines coming a long way off, so there shouldn't be too many surprises.

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