POSTS
Nova Marathon course beta... for mere mortals take two
I went out today to get in some more riding on the Nova course. Put in three laps and was really pleased with my times. They were all within a minute and thirty seconds of each other with my last lap only 9 seconds slower than my first. That's definitely where I want to be on Friday. It dawned on me when I was completing my last lap that this is the most singletrack I've ridden in one day since the Spoke Pony exactly one year ago today. I guess history does repeat itself...
I tried Dave's eGel suggestion and it worked great. The first two laps I had three eGels and topped it off with water. A lot easier to swallow, but still a little thick. The third lap I did two gels and the rest water. That worked great. As an added bonus you don't have that last little bit of gel stuck in the flask because it's too thick to come out.
As for the wheels, they're awesome. Based on what I know of Dave's wheels I expected nothing less. Still, being on them for 40 some miles is a good "test" run for them. I hooked 'em up with WTB's 29'er Nano Rapter. Light weight (for 29'er tires) and they roll extremely fast. I know, I know, Stan doesn't recommend WTB tires with his tubeless setup, but I've never once had a problem with them other than one ripped tire. A quarter inch gash in the tread is going to be a flat any way you shake it. I need to give Dave a call, I saw him on the trail today and didn't do a "stop-and-chat". Don't want him to think I was being rude. I was on my third lap and really in the zone so I'm sure he'll understand.
And now, for what I'm sure you've all been waiting for, the course profile. MotionBased cheated me out of a couple of miles for some reason. My GPS read just under 42 (each lap was 13.9x), but when I loaded it onto the computer it's showing 38 miles as the distance. Also, the South Ridge has some sort of vortex thing going on. My signal went out as soon as I passed the South Ridge sign every time - that's the reason for the straight drop toward the end of each lap.