Beijing Parcours Recon

This much we know: the Beijing Olympic road course will be very, very selective. And very scenic.

The main thing you need to know about is that it bounces up and down over the last 150km quite a bit. After an 80km relatively flat warmup, the course heads up and over Juyong Pass and through the finish area... then does it six more times. OK, Juyong Pass features an approximately 350 meter gain over 11km, averaging some 3%. But the constant climbing and descending promises to shell everyone who isn't especially proficient at either.

Much has been said about the prolferation of climbing, but often the details matter quite a bit. There isn't much information out there about the precise grades, and my 3% estimation is the result of math on my part (be afraid). Update! see additional details in comments... Another question I'll throw out there is, are there any nasty ramps? There appears to be a dip at the top of the climb, followed by a quick hump up and through the Great Wall. I've been to the Great Wall, and can tell you that the hills around it are often ridiculously steep; even the wall itself can be a hump, on foot. But I can't say for sure what the road to Badaling looks like. For what (little -- shock value?) it's worth, here's the profile:

Another point: descending. For every 11km going up, there's another 11km going down. Descents are highly variable; everyone can go down a straight road. But if it's more technical, this could give a handful of riders a leg up. Finally, the finish is after the descent, followed by 1km heading back up the pass. If the descent is selective, look for Sammy Sanchez to try to get away and solo home. Boy would that make my evening...

Kristin Armstrong did some recon of the race last year and had some interesting observations about the course. Oh, and one last thing: the start should be really cool. Beijing is a great tourist city, and the course takes in a couple truly unique places. It begins at the north gate of the Temple of Heaven, the iconic Ming Dynasty temple with its distinctive round Prayer Hall for Good Harvests... rebuilt in the 19th C. with equally iconic old-growth Douglas fir trees from Oregon. The race then heads past Tiananmen Square, on the north end, where it will pass under the visage of Mao Zadong from the Tiananmen Gate, separating the mortal masses from the Forbidden City. From there it's north and east, out of town (if that's still possible) in the direction of the airport and the Wall.

Oh, one last thing: love the sport logos! [e.g., the bike symbol above.] This is a play on some sort of curvy, ancient Chinese script, I believe from the Qin (don't call us Qing!) Dynasty from 200 B.C. My Wikipedia research refers to it as Seal Script... but it's been a while since I had any first-hand contact. Anyway, it's a really visually cool representation of Chinese characters still in existence, albeit hardened off to their more angular modern form. If you ever do the tourist thing over there you'll see it at plenty of ancient sites. Modern China is a conundrum wrapped in a riddle and ladled over with thick, gooey frustration sauce... but for history buffs (guilty) it's a veritable gold mine.