Cape Fear Cyclist Time Trial

Sunday, 17 Aug 08

Instead of riding the DEC TT course to get ready for our time trial next month, Rowdy, Larry & I decided to go down to Hampstead and ride the CFC TT . They were putting on their first time trial and they invited all their members and guest to come out and race. We wanted to give it a try and see what we could do in an actually race against lots of other riders. We decided that I would leave first that way I wouldn't have to pass either of the other DEC riders. I was still a bit unsure how I was going to ride. I was still a little tired from yesterdays ride, and from staying up late watching Phelps on the Olympics. While Rowdy warmed up on the trainer, I stood around talking and handed out the flyers for our time trial. Once I got ready and jumped on the bike I had about 10 minutes to warm up and line up for the race. I did about a 1/2 mile of spinning then lined up. Not much of a warm-up if you ask me, but the riders had already started and I was set to go out just after 9:13am, 30 seconds after the previous rider. My 30-second man didn't didn't look like much of a speedster, so I decided to start the race as hard as I could and see how fast I could catch him. Sorry Jim, but that's the way things go. I caught him inside of the first mile and just kept pushing at about 90%. It took me most of the first half of the course to catch my minute man(lady), Liz and after that I set my sights on her husband Wayne, he was easily 30 - 45 seconds away, but I was closing on him. We made the turn and headed back to the start/finish with a slight tailwind, so I shifted gear and picked up the pace a little. It took me a few minutes to start catching riders, but once I did, I was catching them quickly. Each time I passed a rider I could see another rider just ahead, so I set out after that next rider. That worked out fine, until about 1.5 miles from the end. By then I couldn't see anyone up ahead so I just put my head down and hammered to the finish. My goal was to break 30 minutes, but I thought that would be tough to do. I figured that if I made it to the turn around in 15:30 or less, I could cut 30 seconds off my time with that slight tailwind. Well, as luck would have it I made the turn in 15:30 and with the push back I crossed the finish at 29:49. Good enough to finish 7th overall and in the process I ended up beating a few notable riders. I personnally was a little surprised, but I knew that I pushed myself as hard as I could and I'm sure that made the difference. Rowdy and Larry finished well, but they couldn't crack the 30 minute mark. We all enjoyed ourselves and each had a better day than planned.

More next week after the TdG.
Ride On!
-Super Dave