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The Michigan Senior Olympics is this week and my bicycle time trial is this Friday and Saturday. The 5K race is Friday and the 10K on Saturday. Last week while on vacation I took my bike so I could keep my training up, and feel prepared for the race.
I’ve been riding 3 to 4 days a week usually 20 to 30 miles at a time, but had not practiced time trialing at all. So last week I had a great road picked out and set out to simulate a race.
First en explanation is in order for those of you who do not know anything about bicycle racing. Time trialing is different from riding a bike for pleasure or to see the sights, even “fitness”, training or racing rides. A time trial is a race against the clock and the person with the fastest time wins. In road riding or racing riders ride in groups at a fast pace and draft behind each other just like the race car drivers in NASCAR. We cheat the wind and the person at the front of the paceline does most of the work. Each rider takes a short turn “on the front” and the whole group rides at a much faster pace than a lone rider. In time trialing it is just one person on his/her bike against the clock. Each rider is sent off to race usually at one-minute intervals and timed over a measured course. This is a very hard race to perform and usually calls for an all out effort every second of the ride.
To make it even worse the distances in the races I’m entered in are for short distances, 5 and 10K (3.1 and 6.2 miles). In order to race effectively you must be at full effort within a second or two. However a full effort from a dead cold start is near impossible. Usually riders need to get in 5 to 10 miles before the legs even fully are warmed up and can give a full effort.
Getting back to my race preparation then, I warmed up with a nice 5 mile ride into town. Then on the way back to the cottage I stopped and readied myself for a race. I mounted the bike and took off at a rapid cadence (turn over of my peddles) and got up to race speed quickly, near 22 mph. Holding this pace around curves in the road and up and down small hills in the road is difficult. I found out that by changing my position in the saddle of the bike I could actually push myself past the point where normally I’d have quit was a real pleasure. I could push and push myself watch my bike computer and keep up my pace for the whole 3 miles. Crossing my finish line I clocked a cool 21.9 mph, I was happy with both the effort I was able to sustain and also my speed.
The next day my legs hurt, but it was a good hurt! Not so much I could not function but I was tired and a bit sore. I knew I’d given a great effort that previous day, which made me feel even better. But I put off riding then for a couple more days to let my muscles rest and rebuild. Then two days later I took my 33 mile ride, not as intense as my simulated race but there were some pretty good long hills which tested my still recovering legs.
Now if I can get in just one more “maintenance” ride (not too hard not too easy) before Friday I’ll be all set. The forecast is calling for rain each day in the afternoon even on Friday, so I may or may not get a ride in before the race.
I’ll be sure to post the results, good or bad this weekend! Which me luck!
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