indieVelo's Mid Loops East course is an 15.4km (9.6 mi) route with 92 m (302 ft)-a "mostly flat course with a few short punches to help break a race up."
Route Description
indieVelo’s developer introduced three new punchy courses to The Island in July 2024 that will be popular with race organizers. The Mid Loops East route has great potential for multiple lap or custom distance races encompassing a Velodrome Hill climb and two punchy climbs on the way to and from the South Lake Loop.
This course uses the popular velodrome, which starts with half a lap before plunging down the hill toward the coast. Savvy racers, stay patient here and remain safely in the pack draft. With the descent and braking corners, a breakaway is very difficult to achieve here. Save your energy for the punchy climbs to come.
You reach the flat coastal road at 1.4 km (0.87 miles). Watch for attacks here and mind the winds, but you’ll benefit from conserving energy in the draft and keeping gaps to breaks ahead small. The left turn away from the coast at 5.6 km (3.48 miles) is the first key feature in the race, with a challenging ~60-second climb that will split the peloton. The climb peaks at a 7% slope in the first half but lessens in the second half and is very draftable.
Summiting the climb in a group will be faster on the descent than soloing off the front of a group here. Experienced racers will work on the descent and flat section around South Lake to consolidate any time gaps to chasers behind that they earned on the climb.
The next key feature of this course is at 8.7 km (5.4 miles), where you depart South Lake heading back to the coast but first encounter a short ramp climb that briefly touches 15%. Punchy racers can gap others here and hold it on the descent if they sustain the attack. Beware of the sharp right turn mid-descent, which will scrub off speed. By 9.5 km (5.9 miles), you have returned to the flat coastal road, heading back toward the lap finish on the velodrome.
With just 1.5 km (0.93 miles) left on this route, the last key feature of the course arrives when you turn right from the coast, heading up the Velodrome Hill climb. Expect a ~90-second climb at race pace with drafting available the entire path. With a mere 250 meters (820 feet) to the finish banner, timing your sprint will be critical to your finishing position once you enter the velodrome.
Thank you, Beta-tester Rob Miller!
Route Profile
For more indieVelo coure recons check out the indieVelo-Route Descriptions page!
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
