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Roadies vs. Triathletes 20 & 40K TT It was a cold and wet morning as I drove down Interstate 94 on my way to the 3rd Annual Bike Club Time Trial Challenge in Withrow, MN and I wondered why I was making this trip on my 38th birthday just to subject myself to pain and suffering. If you’ve gotten a chance to get to know me then you’ll understand that I actually like to subject myself to pain and suffering…especially on the bike. Insight into my rational is that to me, I feel alive and heightened senses or exhilarated when my lungs are burning and legs are on fire. I take comfort in knowing I can show up on a rather miserable day, (along with about 65 other participants) and ride when others might opt for the trainer indoors or not even riding at all. Anyone can ride when it’s 70 and sunny but the people who showed up today were all hardy individuals who weren’t going to be deterred from having a good time no matter what. You see some new faces and a lot of familiar faces when you get into the cycling scene on any level I suppose and this was no different. I saw the usual faces in the parking lot and then talked to more people I knew while registering. Ben Popp happened to be one of those faces I hadn’t seen in a while. He and his wife recently had twins and I wondered how he had time or the sanity to be coach/president of the Bike Club and organize this event. Having raced with him in the past I knew he had a good ability to think clearly while the pressure was on so that skill must come in handy in situations like these. It was easy to see he had a motivated crew of helpers and one of them, Mike Brown, took my registration information and entry fee. We remembered each other from the Minnesota State Championship Criterium in 2003. I asked him if I could do the 20k event along with the 40k and after getting the clearance from Ben he signed me up for both events. That meant I didn’t have much time to get ready for the 20k as my start time was 9:07 and it was already 8:45. I hurried out to the car to get dressed and soon was on the bike. I tried to get warmed up but it was so wet, cold and windy that even a harder effort was chilly. Coming back towards the start line I noticed that the race was under way and as I got in line one of the officials said my number was called already and that I should just go so I did. Apparently no real ringers showed up in this shorter distance category because I basically passed everyone and each person I passed either had a stock road bike or one with aero bars. I was the only one with a dedicated TT rig. The course was constantly changing, twisting and turning, and the winds made it hard to find a good rhythm. Did I mention how bumpy most of the road surface was? It was bumpy and had it not been for a good, comfortable position on my saddle it would have been practically unbearable. I crossed the line in about 30 minutes and my average speed was about 25mph. Although since I was late to the start time the official results don’t reflect it. I felt good about this first event and wanted to give even more effort to the 40k to hopefully put in a good time. Chris ‘Dino’ Edin (long time friend and racing buddy) who now holds a lucrative position at HED in White Bear Lake was just warming up as I was heading back to the car to change numbers. We chatted for a while and he showed me the latest proto-type of carbon aero bars which apparently Levi Leipheimer is riding on his TT machine for this season. I spared him the usual request he’s constantly bombarded with, “Can you score me some of those for my bike?!” and wished him a good ride in the upcoming ride of truth. I rode back to the car, changed numbers and hurried to the start area, determined not to miss my start time this time. Jens Brabbit was in line about 10 riders deep and his number was 229 so I knew I was going off 30 seconds after him in the 230 slot. Well, that’s a good carrot to chase as he’s been riding base at 25 hours a week, gearing up for a trip to Europe with the national Jr. Team so if I could keep him in sight then I should be going well. He took off and I was next so after some deep breaths and the countdown I was off and going once more. This is getting long so I’ll spare you the mundane details and wrap it up by telling you I passed a lot of competitors but never caught Jens and no one passed me. Near the end my eyes started to cross and lose focus so I knew I was pushing myself well. When I got home that evening I downloaded the technical date from my Garmin Edge 305 and learned that I’d done 25.78 miles in 1hr 28sec. and my average speed was 25.6mph. Max heart rate was 180 with an average hr of 175. My cadence average was 83 and shows that this is an area I could use improvement. My final placing was 8th overall and considering I was only 4 second behind Dan Casebeer of Grand Performance (former national TT champion) and 3 seconds behind Tim Mulrooney (ex-pro and local legend) I felt that I’m on the right track to reach the goals I’ve set for myself this season. Jen’s came in 5th at 1hr 19sec. just behind Pete Morey in 4th (59:56). In 3rd place was the top Triathlete, a tall guy riding out of Gear West named Curt Wood. I spoke with him briefly afterwards and he seemed to be a real good guy. 2nd place was local strong man Aric Harland in 59:04. Dan Casper (Time Trial Specialist for sure!) won it going away in stellar time of 57:44 so if I ever want to win one of these things I’ve got some work to do. Thanks for reading and hope to see you at another new event! Mark |
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This site was last updated on: June 28, 2010 01:56:27 PM -0500 |