May 2: Scouting

Duke Cycling woke up early this morning, feeling great.  After breakfast, Mike Mulvihill arrived from Park City with an arsenal of deep dish aero wheels.  

We took a little time to set up cassettes and brake pads, and check out the ultra-lightweight Mad Fiber wheels.  These wheels weigh in at about 1kg for the pair, and have a ~60mm rim depth.  Our biggest question is whether these wheels will be stiff enough.  We'll find out tomorrow post-TTT.  

Following setup, Jeff ventured up North Ogden Canyon Rd and explored the loop around the Pineview Reservoir.  As the rest of us would find later upon driving the route, Jeff learned that the climb is steep, and that the wind will play a large role both on the circuits around the reservoir as well as on the descent and the run-in to the finish.  It's going to be a fast finish, maybe 10-15 minutes from the top of the climb down to the finish line.

The TTT team (Rob, Mike, Matt & Matt), Kaleb, and Rusty headed to Antelope Island again to scope out the course.  We rode out and back along the 20 mile course, and got blown back and forth the whole time.  It seemed like the wind was coming from primarily from the N/NW, but somehow also produced a stiff crosswind on the first half.  Riding the course with race wheels and TT helmets was key for figuring out exactly how the wheels handle in cross winds, and how little it's possible to hear while riding.

After returning from our recon, we checked in and picked up our race numbers.  It looks like Duke's TTT will go off at 10:32am tomorrow (~20 miles), and Duke's ITT specialist Kaleb Naegeli will roll at 12:47pm (~12 miles).  Stay tuned, we'll be live-tweeting throughout the races tomorrow!