Just to set some context to this whole experience....I have never competitively raced on a bike. To date I did less than 750km on a bike; race bike or TT bike...so you can say I am a complete newbie.
Aero position on bike? Well, on my Tacx I managed a few sets of 4 minutes and had to rest afterwards, so generally speaking not really aero position yet.
Some 10 days back I received a mail asking if I would like to take some time trail photos of a competition in Almere. Sports photography (see my website) is my other hobby that is taking some rest at the moment. As the triathlon madness is currently raging through my head, I replied to the email that I would rather be on the other side of the lens and would rather compete in the race myself, and so I entered the competition.
I kind of know what time trial (TT) is....but how do you race in TT? What is the tactics? Do I have all the right equipment?
I have been reading a lots of things about aerodynamics in many triathlon magazines, and every article mentions that the best investment in aerodynamics is in the aero helmet....so I was on a quest to find one for this Sunday. There are many aero helmets on the market, but I decided to get the Lazer Tardiz, and managed to get one.
Here is the image of it:
Helmet is very comfortable, light, and I on purpose got the white one and not black as felt black one could overheat in summer with lots of sun....
My Cervelo P2 bike was ready, I only made a small adjustment with the stem, changing its length from 90mm to 80mm, but post race think I need further reduction to 70mm.
Zipp wheels were ready, nicely cleaned, and pumped to what I though was a good level of some 8bar.
Yesterday evening I started to get a little nervous about the race today. I wanted to get a good result. My target time was 1:20, while I heard I should target 1:10. So far on all of my rides I averaged 27 kmh, so even 1:20 would be a great achievement.
My second worry, always with cycling, is the fear of falling and kissing the tarmac. Looking at the pro riders, and how they fall, and what they break is not the most comforting thought for a beginner in road cycling races. Anyway, I managed to convince myself that in TT racing as there aren't many people around you it would be a little easier to stay on the bike.
Sunday morning came and the good and very natural nervousness was still there. Nothing wrong with that. Weight this morning....88.2kg. Lowest since I can remember....which is now -38.4kg in one year.
Breakfast done, bike and all other equipment was packed in the car, and I was off. Arriving in Almere well ahead of time, and picking up my start number.....13. My first race, and I really didn't want a number 13 but thats what it was.
In TT races each rider starts every 30 seconds. My start time was set to 11:03:30, and after some warm up I was at the start, and off I was!
Tactics for today? Well, start slow with heart rate of up to 150ish, and after some 30km, take it up and see how fast I can go.
Parcours, is pretty flat all on normal road where normal cars would be riding but as we were in the polder and it was sunday morning not many cars actually came by.
As the wind was almost non existent it felt like we had head wind all the time. However in the first 15ish km's more than last 25km....so in the beginning it was slightly tougher but very manageable. HR was good, and speed was just above 32kmh. Was going good! And above all I was very pleased about being able to hold the aero position on my TT bars.
Towards the end I geared up and was really pushing....would have been interesting to see the power in watts, but as I don't have a power meter that will be something for the future.
Last 25km's, I managed to get into 40kmh speeds, and that brought my average up. My HR was just above 160...
P2 was great, and at times I really experienced aerodynamics of the bike as I was riding fast and cutting through the wind.
According to my Garmin 800, I finished in 1:07:55. Great time, great race, me very very happy.
Organization of the race was OK. You could see that it was done on very low budget, which is OK with me. No need for big tents and sponsors every time. Results were online very quickly, which is something to applaud for. One thing that I do think organization should improve on is the number stickers. Please find a sticker that can easily be removed from the helmet....
Official result on the website states Paolo Polla in time of 1:07:58, and an overall position of 97 out of 127 that started.
GPS track
40.8km
Time: 1:07:58
average HR 157
average speed 36kmh
top speed 42.5kmh
average cadence 94
Looking back at the data, I realized that I started pushing harder a little too late. My legs did feel tired but not completely exhausted. Also I could have tried for a higher cadence towards the end bringing the higher HR which was possible. All learnings for next time.
And some photos thanks to Kaj.
All in all, a great experience. Great race, and happy about the result.
Lastly, thanks to the organization as well as volunteers for organizing this fine event.
Next week on the programme is the swim-run in Purmerend. 1km swim, and 10km run.
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