The art of Time Trial
Posted on by Gary Land
As good as it gets
CQ had set a new course this year at Tent Hill, I’d become pretty familiar with the previous course but wasn’t sure what to expect of this one. And now I have to say I like it. Gaining elevation all the way from the start to the turnaround, then getting it back on the return leg, then repeat. When we got out there it was raining with only a light wind, so after surviving last year’s horrendous cross winds I was feeling pretty confident. We had a great set up for our warm up, care of the Hanson family tent, unfortunately most of the time I had allocated to warming up was used to get my bike compliant with the UCI requirements as enforced by CQ on the day. Basically this involved the addition of cardboard and gaffer tape to handlebars and seatpost, Benny suffered a similar fate. Anyway this was probably helpful in getting my heart rate up to the desired level once I got on the ergo.
Painface
Soon enough we were on the start line. First team off in elite men, our team car being driven by the lovely Ellie (aka my wife) accompanied by pro photographer Tom Hanson and our independent observer (to ensure no foul play). We stuck to our game plan and sent Dave off first to settle us into a good pace without letting the adrenalin get the better of us, and then after a few minutes started rolling turns. 80ks is a long way to time trial, and it is always interesting how much everyone’s physical and mental condition varies through the race. It was clear that Benny and I were feeling pretty good on the first quarter punching into the light headwind, and when we turned the first time the tailwind with the slight decline was a revelation. We blasted through the next quarter, the speed drifting into the high 50’s, feeling really good. Unfortunately we started catching the masters women’s teams which had gone off before us, and had a couple of very close calls as the traffic banked up behind their follow cars. Eventually we got through, had lost a little time and rhythm, but got ourselves back in the groove. Dan and Dave were getting stronger as the race progressed, and I figured I would be starting to fade a bit by the final leg, Benny was on a great day and just bombing all the way. At the final turnaround we had a little confusion with our entry speed/timing and Dave hit the deck, taking a chunk out of his hand. This definitely wasn’t part of the plan, but Dave recovered well and we got going again pretty quickly. We were heading for home now, with no idea how our performance was because all the other teams were behind us. With 5ks to go my legs were totally finished and I knew I’d given all I could. Benny drove it to the line and the clock stoped at 1:47:19
