Last year (2007) when I did the Texas State Time Trial down in Pattison, TX (near Houston), I rode with a small video camera attached to my handlebars. (see picture)
If you've wondered what a bike time trial is like from the drivers seat, this will give you an idea. Since you probably don't have an hour to spend watching, I've compressed the video down to about 4 minutes....so you get to see it at 'supersonic' speed! ...and no, there's not usually music accompaniment at the race.
When you check in for the race, you're given a specific start time, which means your race clock starts counting at that time (wether you've started or not!)...so it pays to be on time! As you get close to your start time, you should see other race numbers lining up at the start tent, so you find the gap with your number and wait. The officials start the riders every 30 seconds. When you're on deck (30 seconds before your start time), you come to the line and a 'holder' stands behind you and holds your bike while you clip both shoes onto your pedals and get ready. The starter counts the last 5 seconds....5...4....3...2...1...and you're off. This race is about 12.4 miles out and 12.4 miles back...you can read the race report from this year below for more info.
My time last year was 1:10:16 (21.2 mph) which put me at the bottom of the cat-5 stack at 48th out of 59 riders....which explains the number of riders passing me.
This year, I was able to improve to 1:05:26 (22.79 mph) which moved me up to 23rd place out of 50....so this time, I did my own share of passing other riders. To reach the podium in this race, you've got to finish in under an hour....maybe next year!
2 comments:
ok...that was cool. Can you do that again at HCTT? I'd love to have that for promo purposes, maybe with slightly less compression? :)
Thanks!
I probably wont try to do it for the first one, but maybe for one of the next two?
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