The biggest change is the Fuego XL (Lifetime opener) is on FRIDAY instead of Saturday.
Single speed first wave after the elites in XL… That’s going to be fun going up Couch Canyon. Strategy to keep a gap between the rest of the field and the pro women?
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Nice. I’m going to be doing my first ever road race there on Thursday (I’m a recovering triathlete and will be doing the cat D first time racer category). Anyone else racing the road race this year?
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Well I don’t know if I’d call it “fun” The word I’d describe does start with “f” though.
Also new bridge at the bottom of Couch too. So at least that bottle neck won’t be as bad.
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How far into the race is Couch Canyon? Going to sea otter for the first time and doing the Fuego XL. Any tips or advice welcome!
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I’ll be doing the circuit race this year but I did the road race last year. My only advice is to be prepared for climbing. It’s not a huge amount necessarily but in ~40 miles it’s about 4,000ft of elevation gain.
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@K42 Elevation changes at Laguna are no joke. (I used to do motorcycle track days there on a 250cc 2 stroke twin and the climb from 5-6-7 is no joke.
@Bdchunk Pace yourself, except when you shouldn’t. It’s a race up the aforementioned 5-6-7 to the gate that drops you on to trail for Couch which is the first single track section with limited passing opportunities until you top out of the climb, then some fire road until it’s time for MORE single track again with limited passing options.
Be prepared to ride at a pace slower than you’d like and gas it to pass on the fire roads until you get into a group that’s more your speed. There’s a four mile climb from the bottom of Barlow Canyon to the entrance to the circuit. Single track for the first mile and a half with a section or two that is steep and sandy. Just gotta keep the cadence up and spin up.
The most frustrating thing on course is the sand washes. So…MANY…Sandwashes. They just suck your speed away.
So pacing is all I can suggest and Trainer Road XCM plan.
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I think 21 might cut off Couch Canyon as it is about a 4 mile section.
About a half mile into the race and then again at the start of the second lap.
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The elites are all that matter, but if that were true they would be putting single speed between men & women elites 
The tandems are going ahead of the age group men this year too for the 21 miler.
I would be curious as to why they do this… they dump riders onto a steep down and up singletrack and purposely make it difficult to pass? But it’s not like a hard start will even help… they get a head start.
It makes unnecessary chaos. But at least they went back to waves unlike the mass start that had people standing around for 10 min waiting to get on the trail.
The only other options are…
have the start run clockwise so that the first mile is on the tarmac including the climb up the corkscrew before topping out at T7 and then dropping into Couch. OR
have the first lap skip Couch (like they did with the gravel race last year). It still featured on Lap 2, but it pushes the choke point to the turn on to trail 44 (currently the 2nd single track section.)
Couch is a great feature to ride, but a really crappy way to start a race with 1,000 riders even if there are waves.
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I have no problem with Couch Canyon at the start as crazy as it is. Though people going crazy at the start to then be in granny gear the way up is annoying.
I was referring to putting tandems before the fast age groupers. I’m curious as to why they put them before everyone else?
MTB
Fuego XL Friday April 19th 70 Miles (Updated course as the 2023 course was 68 miles?)
Fuego XC Sunday April 21st 21 miles
Road
Road Race Thursday April 18th 68 mi/40mi/30mi
I merged your new post with the existing one you made earlier this month.
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I don’t even know all the threads I created 
…
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I giggled a bit at that as well 
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Calling out the increase in mileage of the Fuego XL from 68 to 70 miles. Kind of hoping that the change is flipping the start from counter clockwise up T5 to Entry to Trail 47 over to Clockwise start that enters the course at Turn 9. That would thin out the pack before hitting Trail 47 to 48 and back onto 47 (Couch Canyon)
You’d only have to do that at the start, heck you’d only want to do that at the start, but I think it would be worth considering just to make the funnel on to single track less crazy.
What they might be doing is what @Jolyzara mentioned in the Leadville 2024 thread and going up 49S instead of 50. That would add some distance for sure, but takes out Lookout ridge 49 drops you out on to Pilarcritos which is parallel to Lookout. 
The XC “short” course drops to 21-ish this year (last year was longer than advertised so who knows). My conspiracy theory is they don’t want to mark multiple courses (it is why the “gravel” race is also on the XC course) and the XL will be three laps on the same course rather than two. Which would make the race that much more brutal climbing up to Leguna Seca an extra time. They change the course every two years and so we are due. But who knows…