Race Report: Church Creek Team Time Trial, Cat 3/4

There's not that much to report for individual time trials, but at least team time trials give you a bit of drama and excitement.

Alternative Title: Siggy Wears Women's Clothing, NCVC Wins a Bike Race

NCVC had signed up a squad for the 3/4 event at Church Creek - originally Andreas G., Pete L., Marc K., and Drew1. Andreas couldn't make it, so late last week I told the guys if they didn't find a replacement, I'd join in.

I looked at the flyer last night and saw that there was a "no swapping registration" clause. Whoops. Well I made the drive out anyway in hopes that ABRT would have some sympathy. They did, so all of the practicing my German accent was for naught. I didn't need to convince anyone I was a 40-year old German dude.

I did, however, have about 8 minutes to poo, change, snack, and rehydrate in 90+ degree heat and sun. That was fun. There are fewer things more fun than driving to bike races through the Saturday morning rush hour of beach-goers.

Lining up at the start, I had intentionally left my saddle bag ON my bike. Nobody seemed to care except that one younger ref that's a stickler about everything, so she yells a lot unnecessarily. In a mass-start race, I get the saddle-bag rule. In a 40k time trial, though, I'd prefer to keep the saddle bag on my bike thankyouverymuch.

With a saddle bag, if I flat, I won't have to wait in the 95 degree heat and bright hot sun on the side of the road in B*mfuck, MD with little water or food wearing only lycra until a sag wagon came by. There were what, three moto refs on a 40k course? Imagine how long it would have taken to get a pick-up because you flatted. That's unsafe in this heat.

Luckily I didn't need the saddle bag anyway, but c'mon. This is a poor interpretation of the "nothing attached to bicycles" rule for TTs, considering nobody checks how tightly bolted clip-on aerobars are.

Off the soapbox and onto the race, huh?

We started out a bit iffy. Pete and Marc raced in the morning, so Drew and I said we'd take slightly longer pulls and would keep the other guys between us in the lineup to get equal recovery.

That sorta worked. The wind was pretty strong, so we couldn't keep the speed up as long as any of us wanted to. About 15-20 k into the race through the horribly bumpy section ("smooth roads" my @$$), Pete started having some trouble after corners and through the thick wind. We regrouped a time or two, then he started letting us rotate in front.

Somewhere along the way, two things happened that changed the race for us. First, we heard from a ref that we were at "2:30" from the team in front - DVR/Bike Rack. Since we started 2 minutes down, that meant we were 30 seconds back. Secondly, we lost Pete. He'd given us the verbal warning and you could see the warning signs, so that was okay.

Marc was riding incredibly strong for his second TT of the day, but didn't have the pop and power to hold as high of a speed in the wind. Drew and I told him to take short pulls and hold on if he needed to stop. We were both fresh and feeling okay.

With about 15k to go, we reached the super-smooth, wide road with a fun tailwind. GAME ON. Our speed ramped up significantly and we found the rhythm.

Marc started letting Drew and I rotate in front of him, which worked out surprisingly well. We could hold the higher tempo better, and after a rotation or two we were flawlessly trading pulls in front of Marc with little wasted space between us. We'd each pull for about a minute, holding anywhere from 28-31 mph.

The course was marked well, so at 5k to go Drew says, "...one lap at Hains." It's exactly what I needed to hear.

We started taking slightly shorter pulls to keep the pace hot. Going in to 1k-to-go Drew took a strong dig. When he pulled off, I said "just hang on." I tried to give him a few seconds to get in the draft by clicking a few gears (I was on my road bike) and heard, "GO!"

So I did, and we rolled in around 33mph, in 56:13. DVR/Bike Rack was just rounding the corner, so we knew we'd made up substantial time on them compared to the halfway mark. Evo took a few minutes to roll in, so we were confident there.

Turns out 56:13 was just enough for the win. Coppi had fielded a mostly-Cat 3 squad in the "open" event, at 56:21, which was a good gauge for us too.

We all agreed that our first half of the race was a bit staggered. Each of us had his own tempo, but we found the rhythm eventually. It's not always that bad if you accelerate into the finish, though.

- -

So about the "woman's clothing" alternative title: I don't focus much of my energy on time trials, so I do not splurge much cash on aerodynamic toys. I was wearing a hand-me-down skinsuit from a former NCVC racer. She wore a women's medium and it fits me pretty darn well.

I also was using cheapo aerobars that I bought used from a guy online for about $20. I had a panicked moment when I lost a bolt yesterday, but Jeff Trinh at Revolutions Cycles (plug) in Georgetown searched through his spare bolts and found one that worked for me. Mr. Trinh saved my butt there.

Lastly, I was using Nate H.'s aero helmet since he missed registration and decided to do a half marathon instead (crazy stuff, running, if I may say so). Nate went out of his way to even deliver it to me during a ride yesterday.

Racing (and winning, albeit only two other teams officially) a TTT with teammates is fun, and being part of a generous community of fellow bike racers is pretty darn nice, too. I think I owe some people some beer.