Jack Frost Time Trial

The Jack Frost Time Trial is 12.4 miles long on a nearly flat course in Vancouver, Washington. We have never ridden it before, in fact, we have never ridden a time trial before.

We woke to clouds and wet roads, but no rain and no wind. We loaded the tandem up in the van and headed north, keeping our eye on any flags that we could see from the freeway. In Salem, they were hanging limp, but as we got closer to Portland, the flags revealed that there was a northernly wind.

"So, what is our strategy going to be?" Joanne asked on the drive up.

"Well, there are two right hand turns near the start and then it is straight and flat. Let's be conservative on the turns and then ride as hard as we can. If you need to slow down, bang on my butt and I'll get the message."

We arrived at Vancouver Lake Park at 8:30 and drove the course. It is a simple out and back with two right hand turns on the way out and one on the way back as the finishing line is before the starting line. We saw some slight rises, a bit of gravel and lots of cows.

We parked near two other teams, our friends Scott and Angela McCanna from Salem and Time and Georgia from Vancouver. I expected both of them to have better times than us, but I held a hope that we might be able to come in before Scott and Angela.

After a few words from my coach, Sandy Earl, we warmed out on the road for just a few minutes. Sandy had picked out our starting gear and we tested and confirmed it. We pulled into the starting area a couple of minutes before our 9:50 am start. Richard and Nancy Seton were starting 30 seconds ahead of us, and Scott and Angela 30 seconds behind us. Tim and Georgia were starting 30 seconds behind Scott and Angela.

When the official yelled "Go!", we hammered on the pedals. After just ten strokes, I shifted to the big chain ring and we were at speed. My heart rate rose quickly up to 165 beats per minute and beyond. I could see the Setons ahead of us, and it seemed that we were already gaining on them. The first corner came quickly and we took it at speed; we did not shift down. Now, there is a short straight before the next, sharper corner. Again, we took it at speed and blasted out of it. I turned to look behind me and saw that Scott and Angela had already nearly caught us. They were close!

I focused on my peddling and hopefully picked up some speed. We slowly pulled up toward the Setons, but it was an effort. My lungs were bursting, my legs screaming and still we applied more effort. We caught them just approximately one mile before the turn around and heard their shouts of encouragement as we passed by.

At the turn around, I swung wide and tried to make the turn as fast as we could. Looking up, I saw that Scott and Angela were just in front of the Setons.

The day was nearly perfect. The temperature was cool, but not cold and I could not detect a wind. We raced back toward the finishing line with our lungs gasping for air. After a bit, Joanne advised that Scott and Angela were gaining. I tried to hold them off, but after a few moments, they pulled up along side and move up in front of us. I yelled encouragement as the Setons had and fell in behind them but off to the side.

Scott and Angela pulled up to about 30 yards in front of us, and then we kept pace with them for a while. I thought that perhaps we might be able to catch up to them if we worked just a bit harder. Not knowing where the strength came from, we slowly inched up toward them. We came along side and with an extra effort, we passed them by! We put everything we had into putting some distance between us and them, but they stayed just behind us as we had stayed just behind them earlier.

The final corner was approaching and I had visions of two tandems coming out of the corning and racing side by side to the finishing line. But we went into the corner first and came out first. From there we sprinted and crossed it line in 31:05.37. Scott and Angela were less than 4 seconds behind us but as they started 30 seconds after us, there total time was faster than ours.

We rode side by side cooling down reliving the race. They had taken off nearly two minutes from last years time and they were really pumped! We were very happy with our performance; we could not have ridden any harder.

Posted 10:23 PM by John Henry