I did all right getting over the barriers and the course was wide open hp course, which suited me. I did okay for the first 20-25 minutes, but started to fade. It was a hard 50 minutes. There was four sets of barriers (two forced run-ups) and numerous up and down sections along the low ridge overlooking the Mississippi river. The main thing is that I rode it all clean, only clipped a few barriers and never went down. My only mishap was on the last warmup lap...botched a clipout and crashed in front of the barriers....ouch.
Stats: 53 minutes, 176 avg HR, 186 max HR. 47min above 170 bpm. Doesn't that sound like fun?