I like to ride my bicycle - for long distances. I have earned the California Triple Crown and finished the Furnace Creek 508. My goals include qualifying for RAAM and ...(read the blog to find out).
"The bicycle has a soul. If you are able to love it as it deserves, it will give you emotions you will never forget."
Mario Cipolini
"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."
John F. Kennedy
"The important decisions in my life I make while out riding my bike."
Former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi
"Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.” Lance Armstrong
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Jack Frost Time Trial Report
"Five...Four...Three...Two...One...GO!"
Joanne powered us off of the starting line while I clipped in my right foot. I then stood for three pedal strokes and we were now racing in the 2009 Jack Frost Time Trial.
We had a rabbit, the tandem that left 30 seconds before us. We were quickly up to speed pushing my heart rate up to 160 bpm. We kept our eyes focused on our rabbit as they made the first right hand turn. We intended to take this turn as fast as we could even if the orange cones marked off a very narrow lane. Half way through the turn, Joanne got spooked by the high speed and the narrow lane and stopped pedaling for just one moment. Without thinking, I yelled out the standard tandem caption's question "What are you doing?". I immediately felt bad, but it was too late to bring back the words.
After the corner, we could see that our rabbit was approaching the second turn, a harder right-hander. I glanced at my clock and noted the time. I wanted to see if we were gaining on them, or they were dropping us. It was neither, we were exactly 30 seconds behind. As we passed through the apex of the turn, I yelled "Hard" and we powered out of the turn. Now we had five miles of straight, flat road and a rabbit to catch.
But, suddenly, Joanne yelled "Move to the right!". This could only mean one thing, we were being caught buy the tandem that left 30 seconds behind us; they were catching their rabbit. I move to the right, but we also redoubled our efforts to hold them off as long as we could. Perhaps we did delay the pass for a few seconds, but it did not matter as Scott and Angela McCanna passed us looking strong.
Now that we had a bike right in front of us, I moved off to the side so we would not be in their draft but also tried to keep pace with them. We were able to hang on for a while, but soon they slowly pulled away. We tried not to let them go, but they were stronger than us. Soon, they came up behind our rabbit and passed them, but it seemed we were closer to our rabbit then before. Perhaps we could catch them.
Then, I heard those words again, "Move over to the right!". We were being caught by another tandem! Again, we tried to hold off the enviable, but soon another tandem passed us. Now, there were four tandems within sight. With so many, it is easy to motivate your legs to keep in contact and we did all of the way to the turn around point, a 180 degree turn to come back the way we just came.
All four of us made the turn without incident, but I must admit that it seemed to me that we were the slowest negotiating the turn. So I was surprised to see that our rabbit had not pulled away from us. Good, we were half way done, and still in contact with our rabbit. And, there was quite a distance between us and the tandem behind us.
But, we were now racing into a slight head wind, and Joanne and I do not do well in head winds. But, it seemed that we reached down for something extra and put it into the pedals. We were determined not to let the head wind increase the distance between us and our rabbit.
We were now 20 minutes into the race, which I expected to last just over 30 minutes. We could not allow our muscles to feel tired as we would then slow down. We had to keep our minds focused on pedaling and trying to catch our rabbit. Several times I yelled "Harder" to Joanne who always seemed to find some extra leg strength somewhere. But we were not closing, nor were we being dropped. Just a little extra and we can close. "Harder" I yelled again. Joanne responded and we slowly closed.
Then, we passed the One Kilometer sign, the Flamme Rouge. Good I thought, this torture will soon be over.
Soon, we came up to the last turn, a sharp left turn with the finishing line now just 200 meters away. We took the turn as fast as we could and then sprinted for the finishing line.
We never caught our rabbit. They managed to hold us off for the 12.4 miles of the race. But, they did not drop us either. It seems it was a draw.
