FYI - Modesto RR results are posted, with the Masters 4/5 included this time.

https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2007-1194

You'll noticed I put "flat" in quotation marks. A bit of sarcasm I suppose, yet my barometer of a flat road race has to do with if I'm able to stay with the lead group AFTER the hills. San Ardo and Dunnigan's hills aren't steep enough or frequent enough to drop the heavier rider on the heavier bike.

Dunnigan Hills: 1395' for the two lap, 93 mile RR.
Zamora RR: 1730 for the six lap, 59 mile RR.

According to my Polar 720...

For comparison, Berkeley Hills RR climbed 5800 feet in 3.7 laps for 71 miles.
Copperopolis, 4600' in 3 laps ~65 miles
Wente RR: 4800' in 4.5 laps 63 miles

The info that I have on the "flatish" courses is:

San Ardo, ~700 feet per 22 mile lap (per my altimeter)
Snelling, ~500 feet per 11 mile lap (altimeter)
Cantua, ~350 feet per 26 mile lap (estimate)
Merco, rough guess of 500-600 feet per 24 mile lap (?)

I'm unfamiliar with Zamora and Dunnigan.

Wouldn't Snelling qualify as a flat road race? Isn't Cantua a fairly flat race? I think I would put both of these races in the flat RR category before San Ardo.

Last year we had a tail wind going up the hills :D

GFMeilahn wrote:Thanks Now San Ardo and Dunnigan are the only "flat" road races left.

Regarding San Ardo, my altimeter showed 700+ feet of climbing per lap, so for the 35+4/5 group at three laps, that is ~2100 feet total climbing on a "mostly flat" course... :shock: :D

Hey - I too am a flat course fan, so I'm psyched that there's one so near to me (I'm in Dublin/Pleasanton). Glad to share the info about this one, it seems like it could be a keeper.

See y'all there.

Thanks for the thorough course description. I LOVE flat road courses, and miss Kearney Park Circuit Race and Santa Nella Road Race. Now San Ardo and Dunnigan are the only "flat" road races left. The criterium the day before in Modesto is a blast! :D

Pre-rode the course over the weekend, and I can't complain - except for those two "Cat 99" 1 foot climbs on the bridges over drainage ditches. No, seriously, flat, damn flat. It was windy on Saturday, so the open fields kicked up a bit of dust and there are long stretches where there is no shelter from the wind. And when an isolated house did block some wind, the eddies from the wind were worse than just catching it consistently. Since it is still early in the growing season (for some crops), there are a number of empty fields being planted/plowed.

Some of the corners had sand in them, but even if that isn't swept away before race time by the organizers and the course marshalls, it wasn't really all that bad. If you're not rolling in the inner gutter, you shouldn't have too much trouble with that. The roads were decent to good, with few lumps and only a rare small holes in the pavement (not rim killing potholes). The only really bad patch of pavement is on the right side of Bacon Road (the first time that you get there) as you approach the Left onto Dunn Road. There the asphalt is torn up very badly and should have some kind of warning signs up or even a flagman. It is almost as if someone went at that patch of road with a machine. In a few other spots it looks like someone has tried patching the asphalt - at least on last Saturday the patches were soft and not really great to ride on. So if that was very recent, maybe it was done in an effort to help us.

The opposite end of the course from the starting area I've decided to name anaerobic corner - because there are good sized cattle barns and feeding areas, and the stench will make you try to hold your breath for a mile or so as you charge down Beckwith road and turn onto Gates Road. A second cattle barn on Gates road just adds to the smell and the length of time you'll be trying not to breath... And on our pre-ride, Gates Road was into a stiff, stiff headwind that carried the joyfull smells of manure and other funks.

Heard a couple of dogs barking while we rode, but they all seemed to be penned/caged up. One man on Covert road was out doing yardwork and his English Spaniel (Springer Spaniel?) did the whole run into the road barking madly at the crazy cyclists (it must have been an EMC2 team fan) - but at least it got no closer than a yard from us. It stopped chasing as soon as we got past the property line - so it was just scaring us away, not in full attack mode. On our next lap by that place, the dog was inside and no longer an issue, so it seems like the owner doesn't let it run freely. I hope that is the case on Saturday or that the residents are being given fair warning about us.

Oh, and as usual - no services right near the start-finish line. So bring your own gatorade and so on, and hopefully they'll have porta-johns.

It appears not. Mail it in like the good all days!! Often less time and often less money, as I've mentioned on other threads.

George

Is there an online registration for Modesto?

Sarcasm, a lost art I guess.

WarrenG wrote:...anyone know the course profile?

I think that Chris Phipps posted a picture of the course profile just before you asked. (hint "pancake") :-)

Good one Chris!

I posted one, it's roughly fifty feet of elevation change per lap IIRC.

...anyone know the course profile?

Thanks guys... plus thanks for all of the extra effort of taking the picture and posting.

Got a flyer today and took a picture of it:
http://www.ncncaracing.com/reports/2007/0520_modestorr.php

fliers were distributed at sea otter, so I would assume that it will happen...