Extreme Momentum

ABR Masters National Time Trial Championship – 32K
August 26, 2006 – Garden Prairie, IL
Masters 30+ – 6th – 49:59.960
259 watts – 23.5 MPH

In running, “masters” is a category defined for those over 40 years of age.  Makes sense considering people are often considered “over the hill” at forty.  For whatever reason, “masters” is defined as 30+ years of age in cycling.  What’s ironic about this is that I’m getting routinely beaten by racers in their 40s and 50s.  Contrast this to running, where I was rarely beaten by anyway over forty.

The good thing about being 32 is that it qualified me for another race.  I thought the ABR Masters TT championships would have a smaller field than the typical TT because it fell on the same weekend as the Accenture Chicago tri.  OK, I was right about the field size, but wrong about the competition.

The race was held in Garden Prairie, IL, just outside of Belvidere, and was staged from the Kishwaukee area school and offered plenty of parking and bathrooms.  Getting there from Chicago was very easy, since it was right off I-90.  This race was also my first chance to try my new, carbon Kuota Kalibur in competition.  I got a few comments about the bike from other racers at the start and one even wanted to take a picture of it for his friend. Cool, but how would it race?

The Garden Prairie course is used by a few TTs during the year and is supposed to 40K.  The race organizers entitled this event as 35K, but it turned out to be 32K.  The course was fairly flat, with several 90° turns and a few bridges.  Not too bad considering the roads were in decent shape.  The weather was a completely different story.

Yes, August was here even though it was nearly over.  The weather was 80 degrees F with about 70% humidity.  That meant dew points were in the 70s and you needed a machete attached to your aerobars to cut through the air.  To make things worse, there was a steady 15 MPH wind from the south.

I really felt the conditions on the way out.  The course was not slow, but it was hard to get momentum going.  The bridges over I-90 were worse than I expected, but things got easier on the way back with a tailwind.  The humidity really sucked though. I felt great on my new Kuota, since it took the bumps and I didn’t lose much power on bike handling.  The effect of the weather really showed, since I averaged 2 MPH more in the second half.  After finishing, I was very excited with my performance and even thought I might make the Top 3!

OK, I forgot how good the Masters categories can be.  Some of these guys are Cat 2 and Cat 3 caliber.  I finished 6th, which wasn’t bad.  Plus, my power and speed were a slight improvement over my last race.  If anything, this race got me hungry for more time trials and to work on my conditioning for next season.  Damn, and I’m going to be 33 next year.  I really am getting old.

ABR Masters National Championship TT Results

Downer’s Grove Criterium
August 19, 2006 – Downer’s Grove, IL
Cat 5 – DNF

OK, that title line is about as low as you can get, but I was pretty upset after getting pulled from the Cat 5 race after only 10 minutes, especially when we weren’t that far behind the lead pack. Talk about a total bummer on your birthday.

I was pretty jacked to get into town around noon. Registration went smooth and I decided not to race the Masters 30+ (my legs were still gone after my Nike memories on Thursday night). Warming up on the surrounding roads was easy, plenty of bathrooms, XXXers in the house in full force. Things should have been a blast.

I wasn’t surprised they split the Cat 5 field. Actually, it was probably a good idea. Started out fast, but it took at least 1 lap to get the feel for the course. I began moving my way up as the legs warmed up. On about the 4th lap the officials started pulling us over. My first thought was their was a major accident ahead of us, but then it hit me that we were going to get lapped. Uh, not quite…

I’ll save my frustrations for paying $33 for a 10 minute race in a polite, but poignant letter to the event organizers and USCF. Comparatively, my race on Thurs. was $30 for 30 minutes, in which I got a nice moisture wicking shirt, 3 former 90s rap chart toppers along the course, and lots of Goose Island beer at the finish. Kudos to Nike; thwwwwttttt to the DG race organizers. Thankfully, I’ve had wonderful experiences in other bike races (there are some awesome organizers out there), otherwise I sure would be disappointed as a newbie in the DG race.

Gee, 10 minutes. I wish the express checkout lane at Jewel went that quick…

MATTS Bryce Master 35K Time Trial
August 12, 2006 – Harvard, IL
Cat 4 – 5th – 54:24.44
263 watts – 23.7 MPH

Now entering my fourth outdoor time trial, I felt like an experienced pro at these races.  Sure, I was still in my first year of racing, but I now understood how the races operated and how my body responded to distances up to 40K.  The Bryce Master TT was only my second race after breaking my wrist back in April.

Located in Harvard, IL (the dairy capitol of Illinois), the Bryce Master was a typical ABR TT.  About 100-200 racers of all ages and levels, staging from a park, and starting at one minute intervals.  Unlike the Apache TT a few weeks earlier, I preregistered so I had an earlier start time.  That way, I was able to plan my warm-up a little better.

Getting to Harvard is about 1.5 hour trek from Chicago, because of the 2-lane roads that must be traversed.  The race was staged from the Milky Way city park on the westside of town.  Parking was at premium, since high school football practice was underway and half the lot was under construction.  There were several roads to choose from for a warm-up and the weather was perfect (Sunny, 70s, with a 5-10 MPH NE wind).

I had misjudged my travel time, so I had just 45 minutes to warm-up.  I had time to hit the bathroom and head over to the start, which was on the opposite side of a busy US 20.  Luckily, the race was about 20 minutes behind, so I had a little more time to warm up.  I gauged the people starting around me to determine who I might pass and who might pass me.

Starting downhill with a tailwind is always nice, but that means the finish would be uphill into a headwind.  I caught my minute man within just a few miles, but was also passed by the guy behind me.  Looking at my power data, I held a pretty consist 280-300 watts the first few miles.  The course was on fairly smooth roads with a couple of wide turns.  Just before the turnaround, the course traversed a bumpy, uphill road.  Here my speed and power output dropped by 10-20%.  After the turnaround, I hit the headwind and just locked into autopilot working on picking off the racers in front of me.

My power output and speed were lower in the second half, but not by much.  I paced myself pretty well the entire race (average speed was 23.7 MPH).  I hammered the final few hundred yards into the finish at about 30 MPH.  I was very happy with my performance and ended up placing fifth in Cat 4 and leapfrogged several riders who had beaten me earlier in the season.  Still in my first year of racing, I was definitely catching on and excelling.  Plus, at 31 years of age, now considered a master!

On a final note, this race experience got me seriously thinking about going carbon for a TT bike.  I planned to focus on TTs the next few years and wanted equipment to maximize my potential.  I loved my aluminum, homebuilt Felt, but I took a really beating on bumpy roads.  Time to start shopping for a carbon bike.  Consider it a graduation present to myself.

MATTS Bryce Master TT Results