race report by peter.

hmm.  time trial.  the race of truth.  just you and the bike versus the road.  no wheels to sit on and no last minute sprint to claim glory.  i was pretty realistic though as the last time trial i did was…about this time last year at the state time trial championships.  so, i knew that i would be rusty and realising that my training would not include any actual time trials, i convinced ryan to make every spin for the last 4 weeks or so, focus on doing tt efforts.  then to get used to the road, the tuesday and thursday morning rides i managed to take the tt bike out and just hang off the back of the group. 

now i actually have a tt bike.  about 5 years (2 yrs bc – before children) ago i was doing triathlons, so managed to get a proper tt bike.  these things are awesome and a must if you want to do tt’s or triathlons.  the straight line power that you can put out in the right setup craps all over that of a conventional bike.  they suck on hills and are twitchy on descends, but cut through the wind like a plate of baked beans.

so the state ITT was always going to be a fun affair.  luckily i am in the masters division so only had to do 25kms.  the open men did 39kms and the open women did the same as the masters.  at least i would be able to know if i got “chicked” or not.  last year, holly beat me by 1 sec.  and she was the third fastest women, so i got multiple chicked.

we didn’t have a big sign up for this event.  in open men there was dannyboy and a couple of new members, jonno and michael.  in the open women’s we had the entire field.  davina, lisa, anna and bec.  unfortunately that was not enough for a championship so the masters women was combined with the open women to allow a champion to be decided.  in the masters men, there was myself and paul o.  on the day, michael, anna and paul o (understandably) were a no-show so we were pretty light on spr-wise.  we grabbed the new smaller tent and still set it up as it gave the few of us a place to park ourselves before and after.

so, tt bike – check, skinsuit – check, tt sperm helmet – check, adequate/appropriate training – ummm fail.  let’s do this.  regardless, i wanted to support this event anyway and south west tend to put on well run events so i knew it would be good.

a bit of time on the trainer to warm up and soon i was slipping into my skinsuit.  first time for me in a one-piece and first time with the sperm helmet too.  nothing like trying out your new stuff at your biggest event.  snug fit for both, but hopefully that means i will slip through the air a lot quicker. 

the women were off first and lisa had requested that she be first so that she could quickly head back to perth as she had tickets to some little rugby match that was going on.  the U19 men were next and the masters men after that.  open men took the stage last as their course was different and went well past our turnaround point.

so lisa was off first, the masters women in between and bec and davina off last.  after that there was a  bit of a wait till they set the U19 men off but pretty soon it was my turn.  there were 6 guys off in front of me so i had a few rabbits to chase.  with 7 guys behind me though, i was going to be running scared the whole time.  at one minute intervals you can sit there and just watch this guys disappear down the road and wonder if you will ever make it up.  hope the guy behind me is thinking the same.  with john holding my saddle, i was clipped in and ready to go.  bit late now for anything i had forgotten.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1 hello world of hurt.

i had decided not to go out too hard, especially as the wind seem to be on my back for the first bit.  i needed to have some in reserve just to keep me from being overtaken.  i found a rhythm and tapped out a bit of hurt.  it was feeling pretty good and the tailwind was pushing me along at well over 40kph.  i could still see the guy in front of me when the road allowed and i thought i was making up some time.

after about 4 kms, the road changed a bit and headed ever so slightly uphill and was slightly rougher as well.  i suddenly felt sapped and my legs didn’t want to play anymore.  it wasn’t even a hill, more like a slight bump in the landscape.  i was flicking down through the gears like a car radio, trying to find something that i liked.  i stated to worry that i was about to get overtaken but didn’t dare look back.  the sperm helmet works to give you the best aerodynamic advantage if you are in the right position.  that is, body down but head facing forward.  not the most natural position, but i have been forcing my head up at spin for the last month.  my chiro certainly noticed when i went to see her on thursday. 

anyway, my aero helmet said “no turning around” so i just pushed on despite my legs arguing otherwise.  my minute man was still just up the road, but all the gains i seemed to make on the nice smooth section seem to be disappearing fast.  there are a few slight undulations in this section and i thought i could gain some ground on the climbs, before the only real hill on our course.  it came at the 10km mark and i remembered this from when i was dropped at the dardanup open race a few weeks back.  as we got closer  i thought i was going to be within stinking distance but i suffered on the climb a bit and didn’t make up any ground.  i did manage to pass holly’s dad who started about 5 min in front of me so i kind of got to avenge the 1 sec drubbing i received from her last year.

a quick descent that took me a bit by surprise when the bike felt like it was about to leave the road due to the bumps and we were almost at the turn around point.  at least here i could see the rest of the masters men as i had already waved (not very aero) to lisa and davina heading the other way.  i could see that most of the guys i was chasing were pretty bunched up and weren’t that far in front.

i came towards the u-turn and totally stuffed up the deceleration.  i had down-geared and started free-wheeling way too soon and probably lost a few seconds spinning out to keep moving.  18min 32 sec at the turn and i was now homeward bound.  i was going to make the effort to chase down the guys in front of me.  i was heading home so had managed to get past that fear of blowing up before the halfway point.  the wind was a bit erratic through here as it seemed to swirl around the small hills we were circumnavigating.  i came past another guy before the hill and could see a couple more on the actual climb.

 i decided to try to pull back as much time as i could and hit the climb pretty hard.  this is harder than it sounds as the tt bike isn’t that good out of the saddle.  the upright position means that my arse is still pretty much on the seat, but now my knees are hitting the bar extensions.  i made it to the top and started to power down the other side.  there was that awfully familiar feeling of a hot flush when i realised that the double push had sent me into the redzone.  i tried to settle down, but to no avail and next thing i know i was dry retching and had a couple of small vomit/burps.  nice.  a flush out with the drink bottle and a few second of easy riding to settle back down before i could make chase again.

ok, no more hills, just a few more rabbits and a finish line.  i found my rhythm again and began to tap out a nice pace.  the next 2 riders were pretty much on top of each other, and i passed them both as one had just overtaken the other.  now i kind of lost track here and am not sure how many guys i passed.  i just remember the last one had a car trailing him with hazard lights on.  i assumed that it was the commasaire’s car but i wasn’t really thinking about anything but getting home. 

i passed this final guy just before the road opened up and we hit the farmland again.  the wind picked up a bit and i was now scared that i was going to be overtaken by someone.  still wasn’t game to look behind so i just concentrated on the road ahead and thought of the long efforts that ryan made us do.  i could see the town up ahead and was willing my legs to just keep going.  i needed jens there to tell my legs to “shut up”, but i was coaxing them on with the promise that it will all be over soon. 

1km to go and i tried to keep the pace on.  500m to go and i increased my effort and tried to hold it to the line.  i could see the finish, it was hurting, i can just remember ryan at spin making us push harder for the last 30 sec of a 5 min effort.  i gritted my teeth and kept stomping on the pedals until i was finally there.  amazing how much 25kms can really hurt you.  glad i am too old for the open division.

my intended warm down of an hour on the trainer was replaced with a lap of the bock and a need to just get off the damn bike.  my return time was 18min 32 sec.  exactly the same as the way out for a total of 37min 04sec.  i wasn’t really aiming for a particular time and just wanted to go as hard as i could.  i was pretty happy as my average was 39kph and i was exactly 1min faster than last year.  if this trend continues, i will win the masters division in three more years time.

the women were back in and davina took out the title in a faster time than me (chicked again), so now we were just waiting for jonno and dannyboy to come home.  they were on a longer hillier course that me and were aiming for around the 1 hour mark.  dannyboy was just on his road bike so was doing it tough in comparison to the new swish looking giant trinity that jonno was astride.  they both came in at 1:02:34 for jonno and 1:09:54 for dannyboy.

Pos		Lap 1	Lap 2	Lap 3	Total	Speed	Comment
Open Men 39.4km
13	Jonathan Bolton	0:18:40	0:25:20	0:18:34	1:02:34	37.8
17	Daniel Berry	0:20:41	0:28:18	0:20:55	1:09:54	33.8
Open and Masters Women 24.1km
1	Davina Summers	0:18:33	0:18:11		0:36:44	39.4
2	Bec Halliday	0:19:17	0:19:08		0:38:25	37.6	PB
4	Lisa Wood	0:20:24	0:20:25		0:40:49	35.4
Masters Men 24.1km
7	Peter Mah	0:18:32	0:18:32		0:37:04	39.0	PB

 

the rest of the results can be found on the atta website here.

it was a good day and well run by swcc and atta.  i actually enjoyed myself despite the way that i wrote this report and can see myself actually doing a few more of these events in the future.  jerry is our club contact if anyone is wanting to have a go at the atta events and he can answer any question you may have about time trialling.

photo’s thanks to luke.