Elkhart Time Trial: a Family's Race Against the Clock

I fell in love with time trialing about 8 years ago.  I had no idea of what to expect.  Being a triathlete I was in a state of ignorance of what it meant to "race against a clock".  In road cycling there is a class of race called a time trial.  It is essentially a single rider, released in measured intervals, ride a set distance, and try to beat the other rider's time without knowledge of it.  I have won a managed towin a  state title in this event and have won this particular series once before, and have been top three for about the past 4 years.



At the start, Jerome in the background

Our local bike community holds a monthly series called the Elkhart Time Trials, hosted by Zealous Racing Team. Once a month anywhere from 40 - 80 riders line up to race 7.5(ish) miles on the flattest, straightest road, in central Iowa.  The course truly has it's own personality.  The first event is held in April and then every month till August.  Each month the course is the same but the biggest change is weather.  We can have winds that literally blow the riders off the road, heat that will destroy even the most hydrated, rain, and not to mention the seasonal crops surrounding the road that affects both wind and rider. Points are accrued in each race with 20 points going to first, 19 for second, and  so on.  Each month is tallied and by the end of the series the rider with the most points wins in their respective class. 

Rider's head south to a traffic cone sitting in the middle of a desolate road roughly 3.6 miles from the start, round the turn, and scream back to the finish.  The course is level with a total of 50 feet of gain. The pavement is nice, and traffic volume is very low, as the race course is open to traffic. If the winds are brutal, which they usually are, each rider secretly wishes for the tractor to pull out and lead the way home.  Of course drafting is illegal, and any outside help is also frowned upon.

Well the April race has come and gone. Though this was a special event for our family. This was the first time that all four of our family members raced. My wife Kerrie (who has won the women's class in prior years), my oldest Connor, and now my youngest Cooper has become an official time trialist.  I entered the event knowing I had to hurry my finish to get to ride with Cooper at his start.  It is accepted that experienced riders ride alongside or near new junior riders to ensure their safety and the safety of others.

The weather for the night was a bit unusual in that it was warm!  It was mid 70's with a steady 20mph wind from the south, which was slowly shifting to SE. This was absolutely my dream conditions.  I love to hammer a hard headwind and reap the benefit of a tailwind home.  Overall time record for this race is under 15 minutes, that is an average of 30 mph. For myself I have a PR of 16:01 a bit over 27 mph.  My first race of the series has generally been the slowest so this left me at the start line wondering how I would fare.

We have liftoff

I lined up first, which I never do because I love to have "carrots" down the road.  The timer gave the countdown and off I went. The wind was noticeable, so I kept low and poured as much into the pedals as I could.  I made the turn smoothly, got out of the saddle and put the hammer down.  I was roughly at 24 mph avg at the turn, and my speedometer did not drop below 30 mph after the turn.  The ride remained uneventful, and being first off the line I had clear road ahead.  I crossed the line in 16:44 averaging 26.9 mph. 

I had no real time to recover as I had to get back to the line for Cooper.  He was nervous but steady.  His main concern was whether Jerome could hold him ok for the start.  Which we all found quite humorous.  His count down came and went, Jerome released him, and off he went.  He wasn't much for chatting and he was holding a steady 12 mph in what was now a SE headwind blowing still at 20.  For any normal 8 year old they may have stopped and said forget it. But Cooper assured me he was fine and continued to push his pace.  About a half mile from the turn you crest a hill and see the mirage that is the turn.  This was Cooper's defining moment, he said he was hurting a bit but, pressed to the turn never dipping below 11mph.  After the turn he had a huge smile. He quickly accelerated and was near or at 20 mph for the trip back.

He pushed and pedaled to the line calling out his number at the finish like he has watched all of us do for years. He had done it.  He earned the finish in a time of 31:58, averaging 14 mph.  He was satisfied and happy, but once he got in the Jeep he was quick to fall asleep.  As for Kerrie she won the night for women overall, an Connor won the junior night.  After seeing the results, I found that I won the night overall as well.

All smiles, first race in the bag

 This was a great start for our family and it was a blast to be a part of.  All smiles and happy legs.  We  look forward to the upcoming races and hope to defend our respective titles.

Data File: Loop 1 is my race (note I always start it a bit before the timer says go, and don't stop it immediately after the line)  Loop 4 is Cooper's ride
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1126258087

Kent Park: A Season Eye Opener

Kent Park Road Race is hosted by Atlas Racing and benefits Children's Center for Therapy. It is held in Kent Park near Oxford, IA and is perhaps the unwritten season opener for Iowa road racers.  The race itself is a challenging early season race with a humbling appeal.  Once again my son, Connor, and myself entered the Cat 4 field with hopeful thoughts. This is my 4th time racing this event and I have had good success in the varying fields. This was the 1st time racing with Connor in the same field which posed new challenges for me and will continue to be challenging for every event I choose to jump into.


The final descent - you can see the start on the right and the quick left to the finish at the end of lake



1st quick descent and climb

The course itself is a blast to ride.  It usually has three distinct challenges; weather, hills, and fitness. The event is held in a park on a closed 4 mile loop.  We do 6 laps (24 miles total) of well paved, smooth road. The race start is staggered with Cat 1,2 together, then 3's, Master's, 4's, 5's, Women, and finally Juniors.  Each wave is separated by roughly 1 min.  The course is a downhill roll into a hard left turn, then sweeps right and up a 16% grade to what will be the finish line at the top.  As you recover through the line the road sweeps right then dips hard left where the pace quickly accelerates.  For the next 2 miles it is a relatively flat road with subtle sweeps and accelerations up very small hills.  This quick section is tree lined and today happened to have a tailwind. The road pitches left and the fun begins. 



Descent and climb #2 pure evil - the climb is in distance

The left turn brings an onslaught of wind and the first of three miserable climbs. The first descent is fast and sweeps right,  taking a line from outside to inside and sweeping right can reward the rider with gaining position at the top with little effort. With quick exit climb at only 7% the riders are able to carry a bit of speed. At the top the road again sweeps left and quickly drops the rider into a steeper descent.  The speed is incredible nearing 40mph down, though the exit is not as easy.  The road quickly pitches to 14% and the long climb of roughly 3/4 mile begins. Exiting the climb the road again sweeps left and leaves the rider vulnerable to the wind, which today was howling.
 A right hand sweep again drops you into the last major climb before the finish. Again the climb is 14% for about 3/4 mile.  Exiting the climb and sweeping to the left gives you the fastest descent, again over 40mph, past the start line and a fight to get position for the finishing climb.  This is done 6 times unless you are lapped then you get one less!  Everyone in the race finishes on the lead lap.


Descent and climb #3 absolute hell

Weather for the race:
10 am start 40 degrees at start warmed to 60 degrees by finish, Sun, wind at 25-30 mph out of the South
Cat 4 group 15 riders
 The race as I saw it:
Connor and I arrived early and were able to ride 2 laps prior to the race start. He had been battling a chest cold for the past two days and both Kerrie and I knew this may not be a good race. Connor has also been doing a new structured workout leaving him with some new pains and soreness, though when questioned he said he was fine. As for me the warm-up was not entirely reassuring. I am in the midst of Ironman training which is now 6 weeks away and could really feel the heaviness in my legs.  It was a day for both Connor and I where the heart and head were willing but the body was not.

Connor not, so happy..

At the start I did something I regretted for the next 60 minutes. We rolled easy picking up speed with the subtle downhill, then, I hit the gas. Yeah that was not smart. But I thought I had good reason which I shall explain. First, I love to race. I don't care so much about the results, so I wanted to see who wanted to play. I had a Sakari rider pull up next to me at the base of the climb and was excited about my eagerness. Second, I was definitely not the strongest climber in the field and that first climb across the line it was my thought that if I could get up first, that by the time I hit the top I would be mid-pack and ready for the race to unfold and sit in until the second to last lap, where I planned to attack big again.  That was the plan.  Well, for reasons in the first paragraph the race did not go to plan.

I crossed the line, near the front end of the group and I began to look for Connor to make sure he was with me.  I did not see him in the group. He crested off the last wheel and was clearly struggling. I dropped back and quickly found he and I chasing once again.  I tried to stay steady and keep him on my wheel to bring him back to the group.  Through the sharp left turn, we began the mission to get into the group.  For the next 1.5 miles we chased finally catching him up into the group before the first fast descent.  That is when I heard the sound. Much like a toilet bowl flushing.  Coming out of the first climb Connor was struggling to breathe and was unable to hold position in the group.



The finishing climb - post race

We quickly lost the group but I hoped the race would come back.  It was not to be. The race quickly became a character builder.  We will call it a nice training ride.  We chased with some effort for the next lap but couldn't make a dent and I could see the pack slipping further away. By the third lap, we had resigned ourselves to ride out the race. We were caught on the end of lap 4 which meant we only had one loop to finish up. It has been a long time since I have been lapped but I know that it does not represent the effort of Connor nor I.  It just wasn't there.

Connor and I had a good talk following the race.  We try to take lessons to build and keep life in focus. We crossed the line with smiles and finished safely. On paper he beat me to the line but I don't care about the finish. We spoke briefly about my jump at the start, he wasn't happy with it, but forgave me.



 Connor is just starting his journey this season.  He will get stronger, healthier, and smarter. He has his goals and it is races like this that he will draw upon to strengthen his resolve. Kent Park ate us up.  I spent another 45 minutes just riding to finish some extra training, while Connor changed and recovered.  Congratulations to all finishers on a tough course, on a tough day.  

Connor's power profile below
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1111485919

Froze Toes...More like Blown Over

Welcome reader to my first race review of 2016.  As some may know I consider myself both a cyclist and triathlete, and compete in both actively.  I have posted race reports before and encourage you to check some out.  This will actually be the first time I am reviewing a cycling race so I will bring the race to you as I saw it unfold from inside the Cat 4 race.

Prerace smiles

In bike racing we are separated by Categories.  These range from Junior, Cat 5 (entry), 4, 3, 2, 1 (pro).  A racer can hold a license starting at age 9.  I have been a Cat 4 racer for a while now, not that I am sandbagging, but I have been waiting for my oldest son to reach that level. He is 14 (race age 15) and is competing in his first year as a Cat 4. I have deemed myself his personal domestique (a worker bee) for the season or until we move up a category to 3's. Since he is also a junior he races with a handicap in a sense.  His gearing is different than mine.  He is limited in the amount of gears he has to choose from.  This is done in order to help teach the youth of our sport to spin, learn fundamentals, build strength, among a multitude of other reasons.  I say this because when he is racing against me or the others in Cat 4 his gearing is a distinct disadvantage. He has to use drafting, teammates, and leg speed to overcome what the older guys have in gears and power. 

Connor (my son) has come a long way and this race was a sort of coming out party for him as a bike racer, or if anything a "wholly crap it only gets faster from here" wake up call.

I found me wanting to get out of Iowa and away from the trainer and found a race in Columbia, MO.  It was called Froze Toes and it is the closest open road race that I could justify us driving to (only a 4 hour drive from our house).  We left early in the morning and headed south to hopeful

warmer temps.

A windy 'Murica

Weather on arrival:

60 degrees, sun but with overcast moving in

28 mph sustained winds from the SW


The Course:
A 31 mile loop with 4 turns headed north, turn to east, then 15 miles of hell with turns to the south, then west for an uphill finish into the wind. This is a rolling course with mild hills, and a finishing 2 miles that could rival the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix.


The Race:
I had spoken with some other racers upon our arrival who had completed the race earlier and gotten a good heads up of what to come.  It was my feeling that the group would hit the gas and not let off until the 3rd turn of the race hoping by then they had a small break.  A small group working together in the winds could get away leaving the bigger pack fighting to organize and catch them and most likely not being able to do so. Well this strategy did get employed in our race.


As soon as the group rolled past the neutral line someone stomped on the gas pedal.  With the wind at our backs we were cruising at 30mph and I found myself pedaling with relative ease.  I had made sure Connor was up ahead and looking to make the front group. I was going to sit back in the pack save myself for the headwind and work my way to him eventually. Well, remember what I said about his gearing, at 30+ mph he is out of gears and unable to make life easier by shifting, he had to spin his legs at over 125 rpms for 10 miles or so. While in contrast I am pedaling easy at 90rpm or not pedaling at all.  About 4 miles in I could see the break forming and there were 3 groups beginning to take shape.  I found myself in the 3rd group and quickly made a move to the second pack.  I found Connor in the 2nd pack and could see he was spinning to stay but looked strong.


I moved to the front of the pack to slow the effort a tad.  A lot of energy was being used to try and catch the break and I knew that most, if not all of them, would come back with the winds we would be turning into soon. Controlling a pace can be difficult but I think the riders were happy to slow a bit from 30 mph to 27 mph.  I found another rider to share some of the work with and he agreed to work to keep the pace steady.  Our group was about 25 riders with about 10 riders off the front and about 10 riders off the back in the 3rd group. For the first 10 miles 3 to 4 riders in our group worked to keep pace and I did my best to make sure Connor did not work at all and stayed on my wheel.


Post race smiles

As we came through the first turn to the East the group maintained pace and we could see the lead pack still.  This was a short section with the wind and man did it feel great.  As we came to the 2nd turn the race was now on. The group pushed the pace immediately exiting the turn and blew the pack apart with the strong crosswind.  Connor had to use the other riders to maintain position. Unfortunately with the pack strung out he caught the wind and got blown off the back.  I saw this happen and could see the dark place starting to come across his face.

I sat up and let the group go to slow myself down so I could shelter him and get him back to the finish line, because 16 miles of 30 mph winds alone, sucks. He managed to push himself to me.  I shared a gel pack with him, gave some words of encouragement, and told him to not give up because the race had just begun and the riders would come back to us.  I consider myself a diesel engine on the bike. I can mash the pedals hard for long time.  And in this moment that was what it was going to take to get back to the group.  We never lost sight of them and possibly only 1/2 mile of lonely, desolate road separated us. Once he caught my wheel, riders began to loose the pack.

My constant pace saw Connor and I gaining on the dwindling group ahead of us. One by one we caught riders.  I never relented the pace and Connor never left my side.  With about 1 mile to the final turn we caught the pack again which had dwindled its numbers to about 7, but I had managed to collect about 15 riders and bring us back together.  There was still a small group off the front of us and we would not catch them. So Connor and I decided to go with a pack finish.  Going into the final turn the roads turned to absolute crap. the were rutted, filled with potholes, and very difficult to find a solid path on.  I moved Connor to nearly the edge of the road and found the most stable of lines.  We were only allowed the use of one lane of road with crossing the yellow line being a disqualification.

The sign of a good race

The riders were not too jumpy and we pedaled easy until about 1000 meters to go.  I got Connor to move up to about 3rd rider in our group at the bottom of the hill. I chose to ride behind him and block as long as long as I could. As we began to crest the hill to a false flat, Connor held his position, but the hill kicked up just enough in the final 200 meters that the pack began to press and the field sprint was on.  I watched as Connor shed his last little bit of energy and finished well but nearer the back of the pack.  I was the last one in our pack to cross the line.  Connor placed 22nd I was 26th out of 45.  In our pack we had roughly 6th place to me.

For those data geeks:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1067768307

Intel is always important and I try to be very aware of positioning, so when I lost the main group I was unable to figure where we needed to be. But for Connor our goal to finish in the pack was met.  He proved he has the skill and desire to succeed and it should be a great year to come.

Kudos to all riders for being careful and racing well.  This was a well organized race and a solid group of riders.  There was only one flat tire and no crashes that I was aware of in our race. 

 

Just a couple of turkeys