The St. George course

The start at Central sits high and cold, and the road tips away from you before you have picked a rhythm. Everything here feels free, which is exactly why this is the mile that costs people the last ten.

A short rise inside this mile, thirty-odd feet at just under two percent, then the road hands it straight back. It nets out level, so run the effort and let the grade sort itself out.

Now the descent gets serious and holds. Let the pace come to you instead of chasing it, because the road is doing the work and your legs are still writing checks.

Steeper again, the fastest mile of the opening stretch so far. Shorten the stride and keep your feet underneath you rather than reaching out down the slope.

The pitch backs off to about half of what you just ran. Good place to check in on breathing and fluids while the road is being polite.

Big drop, the biggest yet, and the desert opens up around you. You are falling toward Veyo, and the road is about to ask for some of this back.

Highway 18 becomes Main Street as the course drops into Veyo. Ride it, but know what is waiting at the bottom of it.

Veyo Hill. The climb starts about a third of a mile in and stacks up 216 feet through Main Street onto South Leavitt Lane, and it keeps going past the mile marker. Pick an effort you would be happy holding for two miles, not one.

The hill crests early here and the road finally settles. Net it is almost nothing, so use the flat to get your breath and your form back before you look at the watch.

A long, patient grade begins, 114 feet at 1.2 percent all the way to just past mile eleven. It is gentle on paper and less gentle at this altitude with Veyo already in your legs.

This is the steepest stretch of that long grade and the hardest honest mile on the course. The top comes just past the marker, so do not spend anything trying to force it before then.

Over the crest and back out on Highway 18 with the climbing done for the day. Slightly downhill, essentially a breather, and the right place to reset your stride.

The road starts giving it back in earnest. Nothing dramatic yet, just a clear tilt in your favour on open highway.

Halfway lands out on Highway 18 with no fanfare and nothing to look at. Whatever the split says, this course pays out in the second half, not the first.

Here is where St. George earns its reputation. The highway pitches down hard and stays there, and the mile will come in faster than you intended.

Faster still, the sharpest drop so far. Quads take the load on a grade like this, so keep the cadence quick and the stride short rather than braking into every step.

Still dropping on Highway 18, a touch less severe than the last two. This is the stretch to be honest with yourself about whether the early miles were free or borrowed.

Another long descending mile with the road running straight ahead of you. Take the fluid, because the effort feels low and the desert is quietly taking more than you think.

The grade all but levels out for a mile. It reads as a rest, but after four miles of falling it can feel like the road stopped helping, so hold the effort and let the legs adjust.

Downhill resumes and the highway starts pointing at St. George. Twenty miles in, this is the last mile where the descent still feels like a gift.

The single biggest drop on the whole course, and it arrives precisely when your legs are least able to absorb it. Stay tall, stay light, and resist the urge to make up time here.

The pitch backs off to something more reasonable. Four miles left on the highway and the finish is now a real thing rather than an idea.

Highway 18 turns into Bluff Street and you are in St. George proper. Steep again, and the change from open highway to city road is worth bracing for.

Bluff Street into Diagonal Street, still dropping steadily. Traffic lights, buildings, edges of town: the course has stopped being scenery and started being a finish.

Diagonal spills onto 300 West with the descent easing off. Whatever is left in your legs, this is where you find out about it.

Trailblazer Boulevard, then Main Street past the St. George Tabernacle, then the turn onto Tabernacle Street. Downhill to the last step, so let the road carry you in.