Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Another first for me, my first official time trial event

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1855Cru
08-17-11, 08:16 PM
I did my first ever Time Trial event this evening at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was a 10 mile TT, which was 7 laps around the track. I've never been to a NASCAR race but it was pretty cool to ride my bike around the track :)

I was pretty pleased with my performance, I don't have the offical time yet but my Garmin says 25 mins 56 secs at an avg speed of 23.0 mph, definitely the fastest sustained avg speed i have ever done. You would think the track would be flat but it is actually undulating a little. Here is a link to my Garmin info. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107390992

I was on my Cervelo R3 road bike with no aero aids like bars or wheels so I think I did pretty well. There were a lot of riders who were in full skin suits and high end aero TT bikes which made a cool sound as they whooshed past me, a very humbling feeling :)

It was a great event that I will try and do again.

Sayre Kulp
08-17-11, 09:18 PM
Cool! Sounds like a lot of fun!
1855Cru
08-18-11, 03:38 AM
Yes it's a really well run series of events. You have 15 sec delayed starts, where you are clipped in and someone holds your bike upright (another first) then there is a countdown with red and green lights before you start, very professional :)

More info here http://carolinatt.org/v4/ As you can see from past results some of the top riders avg more than 31mph!! Amazing but something to try to aspire to :)

CraigB
08-18-11, 04:09 AM
Congrats! That's a very good time/speed. Nice job.
volosong
08-18-11, 01:16 PM
That's cool. Your Garmin printout shows your speed changes as the topography changed. Very consistent for each lap. Your cadence was very consistent too. Wish I could do that. Well done.

Looks like the event was run at night. Was wind a factor?
1855Cru
08-18-11, 02:36 PM
There was a light headwind coming down the home straight but probably not more than 5 mph or so.

It really was a fun event, quite a lot of people and we were allowed to use the NASCAR garages to set up chairs etc. Many of the more serious riders brought trainers with them to do their warmups. It was a very social event with lots of riders sitting and chatting with each other and lots of families were camped out on the grass between pit road and the home straight. Also there was a Team TT after the individual TT. It was fun watching the teams ride in a tight paceline at speeds that seemed well over 30 mph. I look forward to seeing the results when they are published later today or tomorrow.