I’ve signed up to the 120km road race - first time I’ve raced anything other than a triathlon. I’m pretty unsure on a racing/pacing strategy since I’m used to steady state TT stuff in tri - this is a whole other kettle of fish with rolling hills and a decent mountain climb. I’m keen to plan a strategy without forking our $$$ for Best Bike Split - any advice welcome!
Anyone else in?
Hi Peter,
I’m in, but probably doing it as the mass start Amy’s Ride rather than racing for qualification in my age group. That’s what I did this year and it was a cool ride. We got held up for 10 mins at one point waiting for the elite men’s race to come out of the busway, so if you’re keen to race it I’d definitely recommend starting in your age group instead.
I think the official course announcement is today, but they’ve had an announcement event already so some people must already know next year’s course. I assume it will be somewhat similar, so if you want to look at data from this year’s event, you can stalk my TR calendar (- TrainerRoad) or the Strava activity (111.4 km Ride Activity on April 14, 2019 by Daniel Y. on Strava).
Mt Coot-tha is a slog but really only a 10-15 min climb, so it’s tough but not that sustained. The busway section of the course is fairly flat and very fast, definitely a time when you’d want to be in a pack.
There were lots of sections were on closed inner city roads and toll road tunnels, which was pretty cool and made for a fast pace - especially descending in the tunnels, though of course you then need to ascend back out of them 
The toughest part for me was the rolling hills around Rochedale. They also ran out of water at one of the aid stations there, but I assume they’ll be better prepared next time.
The event actually seemed fairly small - it was its first year, and they started each men’s and women’s age group separately and then the Amy’s Ride folk. I found myself in no-man’s land a few times after the hills started to break things up, but the age group riders are probably more organised. Hopefully there will be more riders next year too.
Regarding Best Bike Split, a free account should be enough to do some basic analysis on the GPX once they release it. That’s probably most useful for thinking about the climb up Mt Coot-tha, because apart from that I think group dynamics and drafting might play the biggest part in strategy.
Hey man thanks for the solid answer! Have just been checking out your links - looks like you had a great ride last year.
They actually just released the map for 2020 in the last 24 hours - I assume you’ve probably seen it. Seems to look pretty similar to last year terrain-wise - Course - Tour de Brisbane
Thanks for all the advice - and yeah, I’ve signed up for the age group race - why not hey? Hopefully they sort on-course nutrition out better this year! I hear they’re expecting double the registrations.
Cool to see another local Trainer Road user in Brissie - have followed you on Strava - might see you out on the road sometime.
I’ll check out the free options with Best Bike Split - I’ve used up my free month so I assumed I’d just be locked out but could be wrong.
