Mike's Bike Blog

The time trial is known as the race of truth, it's man and machine against the clock. Saturday was the first ever Cronometro Time Trial in Manor, TX (pronounced Main-or). I'd pre-rode the course the week prior so I knew what to expect. Of course the conditions were quite different, last week it was overcast with a strong headwind right from the start.

The conditions for the actual race on Saturday couldn't have been better, sunny skies and a little wind from the opposite direction. Going into it my goal was to hold 24 mph for the 12 miles getting me a 30 minute finish time. With the wind from the opposite direction it threw my pacing strategy out the wind. Instead of starting out conservatively I decided to jump right into it and make speed while I had the wind at my back. The tailwind allowed me to ward off David Wenger (Super Squadra) for 4 minutes. Enrique (NWCC), my 30 second lead out man, and me figured he'd catch me around 3 minutes. So when  I heard the sound of his bell letting me know he was passing rang out at around 4 minutes into it I had a small victory. I did turn it up a notch to chase after him but I didn't want to burn out and turned it back to my planned pace at the hill.

I didn't attack the hill, but rode it aggressive but not all out. I averaged 15.7 mph up the .6 miles, this strategy allowed me to get back up to speed quickly as I crested it. About 1 mph faster than the prior week when I pre-rode the course.

Everything was going to plan until I made the turn on the back stretch and hit the wind. I was struggling with the wind and caught myself losing concentration and was letting my speed drop. I had to dig deep and take it to the rollers. At least I wasn't the only one struggling with the head wind as I passed quite a few people on the back 4 mile stretch. It was close to the final turn when I could finally see Enrique.

The final 2 miles were kind of a blur as I was picking up my pace for the finish. I averaged 26.7 mph on the final stretch. In the end I placed 12th in the 30-39 age bracket and 40th overall, out of 150+ racers. I averaged 24.2 mph, beating my goal speed by .2 mph. The average speed from 7th to 11th was 24.9 to 24.4 mph. I passed more people than passed me. David won the whole darn thing averaging 27.9 mph, congratulations on the win!

I had a really good experience race wise from a pre-plan to execution I nailed it. I'm looking forward to the next one, rumor is there might be another Cronometro in July. Plus it's got me fired up for the Run Far Time Trials that will be starting up in April. I need to get me one of them bells David has on his bike, it was great.

Post ride shot of me, Andrew Collins and Alexis Hamilton