Race report by Lesley Burch

It must be something special to take a South of the River cycling club North of the Wall …. I mean river. At the rather civilised ATTA winter season starting time of 8am what could be more special than the “Time Trial”.

“What is a time trial? Where did the humble TT come from?” I hear you ask.

For those unsure of what a time trial is….

time trials

1. bicycle race events in which individuals or small teams of riders ride the same route and distance separately for elapsed time. Time trials are generally started at preset intervals and held on an out-and-back or circuit course…..and generally mean the “n+1” rule is applied for just about every piece of cycling equipment you own….TT bike, TT helmet, TT skinsuit etc etc

Historically, one account is that in 1890, the National Cyclists’ Union banned racing on UK public roads in fear of cycling, yes fear of the entire sport. As a result events organised by clubs around this time often involved pursuit of cyclists by horse-mounted policemen who threw sticks into racers wheels. Nice.

What resulted were secret races; an underground of cycle racing where organised races would happen under cover of darkness or first light of dawn with riders dressed from neck to ankle in black (just like ninjas). Races were referred to by code name and cycling press could not publish locations or competitors up to the 1960s. Super cool.

These days us cyclist are still “feared” by the general population but thanks to the ATTA folks it is much more organised, civilised, safe and non-ninja like.

Sundays ATTA 30/60km TT out at Neerabup was exactly like this. The Neerabup course is a “flat” course with undulations throughout which come the turnaround point start to feel like L’Alpe d’Huez (note: not a realistic comparison). Generally calm conditions, which are preferred for TTs, with what seemed to be a rising headwind for the first leg of the out and back course. Lucky for me, with and 8:12am start, not so much so for Andrew Ballam, with a 9:23am start.

The TT had a huge number of SPR folks rising early to bury themselves in the hurt locker for the 30km or 60km options. A whopping 21 (plus an enthusiastic cheer squad in a sniffily Amanda Nabi) including 6 first timers and 8 first timers at Neerabup. That’s 30% of the field!

SPR was extremely well represented taking out the top women’s place easily with Davina Summers leading just under 4mins clear of the next woman out on the course and Jarred Anderson stomping out an impressive 43.6km average and 3^rd fastest of everyone on the day. In the 30km SPR chicks took out 5 of the top 10 women overall with the men taking out 4 of the top 10 overall placings. In the 60km there were 4 of the top 10 from SPR including Tom Ford who broke the course record at a whopping average speed of 41.41km!

Now don’t let the photos fool you, we are smiling at the end but it is nothing more than a grimace, some whimpering or Ballams wide mouthed gasping for air out on the course. It may be tough but it’s an experience and addictive one at that. The ATTA community is welcoming and supportive (except when you’re late to the start line……4mins before your start you need to be there ready to go, you have been warned) and for anyone hesitant on racing in a peloton but keen to race against themselves and the clock why not have a crack. You get a timing chip, a race number, a start time and a PB to strive for every time. It’s fantastic physical training but also important mental training.

Summer Season close at the classic Champion Lakes course is happening in a little over a week with the sparser Winter Season to follow. How hard fast can you do the 20km course? Why not have a crack?

Want to know more or have some questions, drop me a line or find me after a group ride.

so, while the sunday hills bunch were waiting for me to turn up, i was having a leisurely start to the morning after a late one at brendon and jody’s wedding.  this really meant starting 1/2 hour later as i was still on the road by 7:30.  my road, however, was a bike path as i made my way down to armadale to get to champion lakes.  as the race was only 20kms. i didn’t want to drive down so decided to ride down and back to 1. warm up the legs and 2. get extra km’s in on the way home.

with the backpack on containing extra water and a sperm helmet, i headed off to jump on the bike path.  this was pretty busy so used it as my warm up drafting, chasing and overtaking other riders.  eventually got to armadale road where i got off and into a block headwind.  crap.  was hoping my 9:19 start time meant that the wind had died down a bit.  not so and it was a hard slog to get to lake drive.  finally got to the start after my 1 1/4 hour warm up (with efforts) so thought that i should be right.

jono, ash and nick were there having competed earlier in the day.  this was my first atta as the other time trials i had been in were part of the state champ titles and were run through cycling wa.  registration is pretty easy.  find a race you like from their website, put your name down at least a couple of weeks before, turn up on the day, pay you $10 and get a number and transponder.  since this was my first atta, i thought you should read nick’s experience a few years ago.  expect some similarities.

the earlier times were up and there weren’t many pb’s on the board.  jono had ripped up a 29:52 (ave 40.2 kph), nick a 30:32 (ave 39.3 kph) and ashley posted a 31:40 (ave 37.9 kph).  now the thing with ashley is that he doesn’t have all the fancy gear.  no tt bike, skinsuit or sperm helmet so i had all this advantage over him.

i lined up behind jeff from cyclebuzz after we watched someone dramatically dismount (read: crash) when finishing their final lap.  there is this grassed area to the left that you are supposed to take to avoid the starting riders or continuing riders.  the exit off the path is a little bumpy so i thought i better be careful there.  already thinking about the finish was probably not the best place to be when i hadn’t even started yet.

the wind seemed to actually pick up a bit and jeff and i commented that it must just be a gust.  watching his disc wheel get pushed around wasn’t really that inspiring and i didn’t really think that it was just a gust.  jeff was off and i moved forward ready to go a minute later.  the 5km course meant that there were multiple riders on the course at any one time and so before i took off, a number came past the start line.  so now i had riders that were on their third or final lap in front of me and jeff somewhere up ahead.  ten seconds to go, a quick look behind to make sure i wasn’t going to get taken out by an overtaking rocket, and i was off. 

i had never riden the course before but had been warned that the east side contained a number of twists and bends.  one in particular needed a handful of brake to stop you being ejected into the lake.  there was already a skid mark there from earlier in the day.  the western side of the course was dead straight and even had the meter-age along the side for the rowing course.  the two ends were short enough to not really matter.

i successfully negotiated the twists and turns and managed to not end up in the lake.  davina had also warned me about a number of manhole covers after the tight corner and these made you select your line early to avoid an uneven ride.  turned the corner at the end and got hit by the cross wind coming off the water.  this end that was too short to matter was mattering.  even worse was when you past by the structure which blocked the wind for a second so you got hit with it again.  on the back straight and i could see all the way along and a number of riders ahead.  the wind was pretty much just straight in your face and i started to feel it in my legs.  damn, this was only the first lap.  i had to make a concerted effort to keep my head looking up to prevent my sperm helmet from becoming an air brake and my chiro told me off a few days later.  i managed to overtake a rider or two who were on their final laps, but it did make me feel like i was going faster.  right turn at the end of the straight and onto the other end that was too short to matter.  damn, there is a hill in it.  well not really a hill, but the path rises up to join the bridge from the island.  just enough to make you either push harder, or get out of the saddle to maintain speed.  i stayed seated as it is all about being aero.  onto the tailwind section and the speed increase was a welcome relief.  as i was still on the first lap, i was still learning the circuit.  a couple more twisty sections and i was back at the startline.  07 min 55 sec.

the next lap was a bit better as i started to learn the circuit.  knew where to brake and when not too and started trying to find the best line through some of the corners.  the wind wasn’t letting up and i was also drinking quite a bit of water.  07 min 49 sec.

third lap and things were starting to hurt.  things like legs mostly.  the wind made it a struggle on the back straight but i thought i got through the technical section well.  i had to just keep on pushing and realised i was hanging out for the last lap.  07 min 50 sec.

so the riders on the course were also changing by this time.  the earlier ones had finished and were replaced by the later starters.  i was passed by a couple of strong boys with their carbon discs whoosh whooshing as they flew past.  i didn’t care, i just wanted to finish now.  made it onto the back straight for the last time and was determined to give it a good hit out.  unfortunately this was about the time i had my little vomit burp.  ok, back off for a sec so that i don’t actually spew.  i had hit red line and there is always that period of time where you can either explode or recover.  i was hoping for recovery.  i didn’t have a heart rate monitor or bike computer on so had no idea of what speed i was averaging or even worse, how much i was slowing down now.  i think i mentally gave up about then and just drifted along for a bit before i got my head back in the game.  there was less than half a lap to go and there would be lots of time to spew after i finished.  i picked my pace up again and finally got to the end.  08 min 08 sec.

damn it, i had dropped 18 sec from just losing interest on teh last lap.  oh, the small spew probably didn’t help either.  so for those that can’t do the maths in their head, my final time was 31 min 42 sec (ave 37.9 kph).  so with all the fancy tt gear, i was still beated by 2 sec by ashley.  i was also junior chicked by jess allen who came in 35 sec ahead. 

so i handed my numbers back in and got ready for the ride home.  bit of food and drink before jumping in with a group which came back through thornlie rather than the freeway.

so, after all that it was actually a good event and like most things you get out what you put in.  i haven’t been doing that much tt work lately so i didn’t really go in with any expectations.  the organisation is excellent though and it does give you a good gauge of how you compare to other riders you know.  currently, i am a fair way behind but looking to improve so will be doing a few more in the future.