Hey everyone,
I haven’t updated in more than a month so I won’t have the most accurate race report available. The second stage of Fort Davis Hammerfest consisted of a short 16 mile out and back time trial on the outskirts of town. The course went uphill for the first half into a headwind, then downhill for the second half with a tailwind. The start times would go in reverse order of the general classification, so the riders who finished last during the hill climb would go first at the time trial.
Meanwhile, after the hill climb, Clay, Daniel, and I rested for about an hour at the cabin before heading out to lunch. We stopped by a local deli and got a few sandwiches, while Clay got a salad for himself. The 17% gradient at the hill climb certainly took a beating out of our legs, and the four hour interlude between the two stages gave us a small respite before we had to go full blast for the TT. For those of you who aren’t familiar with time trials, time trials test the athlete’s ability to go nearly all-out at a heart rate slightly below lactate threshold for an extended period of time without the benefit of drafting behind anything. Strong riders who can push through the wind and sustain a large power output tend to do well during time trials, while lighter riders may get pushed around by the wind and may not have the ability to generate enough power. Knowing this, I knew I would have a disadvantage to the larger riders during this stage. Equipment would play a role, too, since the wind would favor those who had time trial bikes made especially for these types of stages. As a new rider, I did not at the time, and currently still do not own a time trial bike, but I plan on getting one eventually. Riding the stage with a standard road bike would probably put me behind 5-7 minutes on the stage. Nevertheless, I told myself that I would just have to try my hardest.
Dalton's Cervelo P2 TT Bike.
After lunch, we headed back to the cabin to let Clay and Daniel prepare their TT bikes. Clay had recently gotten a fit on his new Cervelo P2, a bike from a company that has a good reputation for aerodynamic bikes, while Daniel had a Blue T-14. Daniel also brought along a 100mm deep section front wheel along, but he feared that the cross winds wouldn’t allow him to ride with it, since they might’ve blown him over. For those of you unfamiliar with bike equipment, a 100m rim means that the depth of the rim is 100mm. Cross winds will alter the handling of the TT bike since the increased surface area of the front wheel will create a greater amount of wind resistance to a cross-wind, adversely affecting handling (you’d get blown sideways).
Varela's Blue T-14.
You can notice from the pictures that TT bikes have different handlebars. If you look closely enough, and compare the handlebars to those of a standard roadbike, you should also notice that the handlebars are in a much lower position as well. This allows the rider to obtain a good aerodynamic position on his bicycle, since wind resistance plays a large role in the force a cyclist must overcome.
After we got the TT bikes ready, we headed out to the other side of town to the race course. As soon as we stepped out of the van we could feel the strong winds blowing against us. I held out Daniel’s Blackwell wheel in front of me to see how it would move in the wind – it moved like a sail, so Daniel opted for a shallow rimmed wheel instead. After we looked at the start times, we saw that Clay would go first, Daniel second, and I last. We took out the equipment and Clay warmed up on his trainer, while I sat in the van and waited for my start time to come up.
The waiting area for the stage.
After Clay and Daniel started, I used the trainer to warm up myself. My legs felt dead tired from the hill climb earlier in the day, but I knew I would need to put in a hard effort to keep up with everyone else. In a little less than an hour, Clay came back and told me that he put in a hard effort into his ride, and had hopes of taking the stage. A few minutes later Daniel came back and told me he had passed five people, but unfortunately got passed himself by the leader of the GC, putting him further behind. However, with Daniel’s strong ride, he would likely remain in second place and in contention for the overall GC.
Varela in his skinsuit.
When my start time came up, we lined up in reverse order of the GC. There were about fifteen people in front of me, and I would be starting in the first third of the start order. Fortunately, most of the people came without TT bikes so the race would mostly be fair. However, I did see a few riders decked out with TT bikes and they would definitely have an advantage. Why would Cat 5 riders have $2,000-$10,000 bikes just for time trials? It could be the case that some of them came from triathlons and were new to road racing, or maybe they had TT bikes for some other reason. I had my own clip-on aerobars but I’ve never ridden with them so I decided not to use them.
Dalton warming up.
As soon as I started I could feel the crosswind blowing my bike to the left so I had to try to keep myself upright lest I be blown over. So, I kept my hands on the hoods of my levers instead of in the drops, which in retrospect I should have kept in the drops as to maintain an aero position. Before I made the first left hand turn into the headwind I happened to be passed by my 30-second man…he would go on to have a respectable ride.
A rider on the course.
Even though the wind was blowing at 25mph into my face, I was able to maintain 16mph and I decided to keep the rhythm until the u-turn. Looking back, I probably could have done 17 or even 18, but since it was my second time trial, I hadn’t yet fine-tuned my pacing for these types of races. Anyway, after about a mile I saw another rider over the horizon and I used him as a carrot. At first I thought it was the rider who caught me, so I didn’t think I would catch him. However, as I got closer it appeared to be my 90-second man and I passed him easily. As soon as I passed him I saw another rider on the horizon and it seemed that he was going even slower than the rider I passed, so I passed him about a minute later. After that, I immediately saw another rider so I paced myself to catch him before the tailwind, as I knew that I would probably lose a lot of time in the tailwind.
As we took the roundabout at the u-turn, I passed my third rider…so I knew that I at least wasn’t in last place! At the halfway point I had been passed by one rider with aerobars, and I passed three riders, which exceeded my expectations (my goal was to pass one). The wind was so strong that I was able to ride at about 34 mph on the way back! I maxed out my gears and was spinning at a cadence of about 100 so I really couldn’t go any faster (my max gear was 53/12. Immediately I knew I would lose time to those who had higher gear setups, such as 50/11, 53/11, or even 55/11 on TT bikes.
On the way back I was flying, but the riders on TT bikes were flying even faster, and I got passed by four more riders on the way back…all on TT bikes. I was puzzled at first, but after a little thought the situation became clear. Air resistance increases exponentially with the velocity of the rider. Therefore, at higher speeds (such as in the tailwind), the aerodynamic benefits of aero equipment are much greater. Anyways, I didn’t get passed by any riders on normal bikes, to my relief. One of the positive things about the race is that I recorded my fastest ever solo 16-mile effort at 19 mph. The only bad thing about the race is that I stayed in the hoods the whole time and I could have done better if I had stayed in the drops. However, I know that I am getting better through looking at my data. Thus, so far I seem to be on track.
After the stage I was a little giddy that I actually passed a person, though a little dismayed at getting passed. I talked to one of the guys who finished near me on the Hill Climb and he told me that he had also gotten passed by all the riders on TT bikes, to his astonishment. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t show up at tomorrow’s road race. After I said goodbye, we drove back to the cabin to clean ourselves up before dinner.
For dinner we ate at a place called The Chuck Wagon, and I got a full barbecue plate with brisket, roasted chicken, sausage, ribs, Texas toast, and fries. It had to have had more than 2,000 calories in it. However, it was the best barbecue that I have ever had and it was rich and smoky in flavor. After eating dinner we went back to the Cabin, hit the hay, and awaited the results that would be posted the following morning.