Hello riders!
I pre rode the 300k route today (Thursday Feb 2nd) and found some new information regarding the Mesa Marathon. I previously reported what was stated on the signage, and it still is! Usery Pass and Power Rd (both on our 300k route) have new lighted signs stating that the roads will be closed from 2-4 pm as well. This throws a monkey wrench into our ride. I mulled over the possibilities and here is what I think will be the least problematic at this late date.
First: Explain my thinking
Second: Give you a choice of what to do
I’ve run a bunch of numbers to determine when riders might arrive at the base of Usery Pass. This is 125 miles into the event and roughly 4800’ of elevation gain. I have also run randoplan.com (result linked here: https://bit.ly/3wOkvW4) and with zero stop time and an 18mph on-bike average on flat ground, the wind and climbing would result in a 3pm arrival time at Usery. So, riders would need to stop at least 1 hour from the start, to and including, lunch to get to Usery @4pm. Put another way, it’s roughly 1.5 hours from the lunch location to Usery. So, if you were averaging 18mph on flat ground, you should not leave lunch until about 2:30 pm if you don’t want to wait for the road to open.
There’s another possibility that the road will reopen earlier than posted. The Marathoners will have departed Usery at 06:30, so they will have a LOT of time to get things cleaned up. But, I can’t be certain of that, thus this message.
With all of this said, I’m going to give riders the option to start at 8am (nothing in-between) if they want to burn up the course. If you choose this option, the sag at mile 46 may not be there for you. You would treat that control like normal – Receipt, GPS, or photo. Most riders will not see any issues with the new road closure and the sags will be timed for their arrival and a 7am start.
If you choose the 08:00 start time, you will need notify me. No exceptions.
To put this in a table with multiple options, here are the parameters:
Miles to Usery: 125
Time off bike up to, and including, lunch: 1 hr. You can adjust accordingly if you think you’ll be slower/faster at Controls
Avg speed is the average speed you would maintain on flat ground. randoplan.com uses this to compute your travel time based upon this flat ground speed, wind speed and direction, climbing and descending. I’ve used it for a long time and find it to be quite accurate. No estimate is perfect, but I need to do something practical otherwise I’d need to cancel the route. I know this is a bit complex, so here is a table with average speeds, start times and the resultant estimated time a rider would reach Usery given the stated parameters. Based upon this, only the fastest riders starting at 7am might get delayed if they ride too fast with a 7am start.
YOU MUST LET ME KNOW THAT YOU HAVE RCVD MY TEXT AND HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION.
You can always reach me at 602.702.2132 or mikesturgill@cox.net
I apologize for this last minute kerfuffle. I am happy that I did the pre ride today so at least everyone is aware of it. It’s quite frustrating when no one at the listed numbers will return calls to inquire about possible workarounds, but it is what it is.
Thank you for your understanding. It should be a gorgeous day out on the road. The desert is pretty lush right now with the rains we’ve recently received. The hills are quite green!
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Start Time |
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7:00 |
8:00 |
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Avg Speed |
Usery Arrival Time |
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17:55 |
18:55 |
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17:20 |
18:20 |
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16:48 |
17:48 |
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16:21 |
17:21 |
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15:56 |
16:56 |
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15:34 |
16:34 |
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15:15 |
16:15 |
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