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03-26-07, 01:01 AM
Each year the Berkeley Bicycle Club holds a sanctioned team time trial open to 150 two person teams with different categories. On 3/25/07, my wife and I competed in the tandem category.
No. of Teams: 6
Place: 5th
Official Time: 54:45.
Results: http://berkeleybike.org/events/bbcttt_2007-results.html#top
The fastest overall time was posted by the men’s 90+ Masters 40:46 – old dogs rule:D . Of the entire field, we finished 117 out of 143. The winning tandem time was 44:58. The team that posted this time won the Berkeley TTT tandem category last year. They ride a Habaner titanium tandem tricked out with lightweight components. Other competition included: two man team riding an Otis Guy, a couple riding a Burley and two couples riding Cannondales.
The course is a 16.6 mile loop finishing at a higher elevation than it starts with three major climbs called the three bears; Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear. Papa Bear is a 1.1 mile 8% grade that comes at the finish. The course is not technically difficult but one must manage very fast descents finishing in right hand turns. I used Waterrockets (BF member) countersteering technique and it worked really well. Our plan was to start out slower and build up power and heart rate over the course putting out maximum power and HR on the largest hill at the end. So how did that work out?;)
We were passed on the first downhill by a strong two-man Red Army team (these guys were not Goldilocks looking for porridge):eek: – we thought we might catch them on the hills – wrong! A second tandem team overtook us on Baby Bear and over time slipped away::cry: . This was quite annoying, but not demoralizing – we stuck with our plan. As we started our climb up Mama Bear, we saw the tandem that started ahead of us. Finally, maybe it was our turn. We passed that tandem at the crest of Mama Bear:D :D . The climb up Papa Bear was tough but we ground it out and finished strong. We felt too good at the finish line. Reflecting on the race, we may have conserved too much at the beginning and middle of the race saving energy for the larger hills leaving a couple of minutes on the table. However, we were very pleased with the result, met some interesting people and had a lot of fun. My wife did a great job as stoker and as usual really hammered the hills:beer: . Instead of porridge, we had a Starbucks after the race.:)
No. of Teams: 6
Place: 5th
Official Time: 54:45.
Results: http://berkeleybike.org/events/bbcttt_2007-results.html#top
The fastest overall time was posted by the men’s 90+ Masters 40:46 – old dogs rule:D . Of the entire field, we finished 117 out of 143. The winning tandem time was 44:58. The team that posted this time won the Berkeley TTT tandem category last year. They ride a Habaner titanium tandem tricked out with lightweight components. Other competition included: two man team riding an Otis Guy, a couple riding a Burley and two couples riding Cannondales.
The course is a 16.6 mile loop finishing at a higher elevation than it starts with three major climbs called the three bears; Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear. Papa Bear is a 1.1 mile 8% grade that comes at the finish. The course is not technically difficult but one must manage very fast descents finishing in right hand turns. I used Waterrockets (BF member) countersteering technique and it worked really well. Our plan was to start out slower and build up power and heart rate over the course putting out maximum power and HR on the largest hill at the end. So how did that work out?;)
We were passed on the first downhill by a strong two-man Red Army team (these guys were not Goldilocks looking for porridge):eek: – we thought we might catch them on the hills – wrong! A second tandem team overtook us on Baby Bear and over time slipped away::cry: . This was quite annoying, but not demoralizing – we stuck with our plan. As we started our climb up Mama Bear, we saw the tandem that started ahead of us. Finally, maybe it was our turn. We passed that tandem at the crest of Mama Bear:D :D . The climb up Papa Bear was tough but we ground it out and finished strong. We felt too good at the finish line. Reflecting on the race, we may have conserved too much at the beginning and middle of the race saving energy for the larger hills leaving a couple of minutes on the table. However, we were very pleased with the result, met some interesting people and had a lot of fun. My wife did a great job as stoker and as usual really hammered the hills:beer: . Instead of porridge, we had a Starbucks after the race.:)