waterrockets 

200 teams for this team time trial -- anyone else around here signed up?

My team goes off just before the fast guys, and Pat McCarty and Phil Wikoff leave only 12:30 behind us, so I'll likely get to hear the roar of some CF parts fly by in the final miles

I'm teaming up with my brother-in-law, Houston_Biker, who's been riding very strong in his 2nd year in the saddle.

tfro

We were going to go, but my GF remembered this week that she had signed up for a half marathon this weekend already. So I guess we'll have to wait until next year.

waterrockets 

I hate when I forget I'm doing a 1/2M

I guess it gets you out of a freaking long-ass drive though.

El Texican

What happened?

tfro

Yep, the drive was what held me back from signing up earlier, good thing I didn't do it.

Are you doing the pro-rated scoring system where you add the number of brats and beers you have the night before and divide by your time in minutes?

waterrockets 

tfro's gf is doing a 1/2 marathon instead of the TTT

dave99ag

The last time I did the TdG I beat Lance and Eddy. Man, that was a great day.

Probably won't make it down this year, but hope to next year.

waterrockets 

Nice! I don't think I'll be beating anyone you've heard of...

redal

Was this 1997? I passed Lance on the bike that year at a celebrity relay triathlon in Malibu. Yes, I knew he had just successfully fought cancer and he was at the race for fun and to benefit the charity. I wasn't even sure if he was training since it was right before he announced he would race in 98. The next year he torched me and the entire field by 10 minutes in the circuit race stage of the Cascade Classic.

dave99ag

This was actually back in November 1996. He was still undergoing chemo or had just finished. Lance was in good spirits and was very approachable after the race. I got photos with him and Eddy. They also signed my race number. I think my teammate and I beat them by about 7 minutes. I can always say I've beaten a 7-time and 5-time TdF winner. Nevermind that one had cancer and the other was overweight at the time.

waterrockets 

Well, we got to the line 45s late (my cyclocomputer clock is off a couple minutes)... still, in the final results, it I don't think it bumped us a place at all. My clock time was 1:08:03, official was 1:08:48. I'm happy with that.

Our goal was 23mph, and we went 23.4, and probably ended up in the top 15 of over 200 teams (a bunch registered this morning I think).

Big surprise, Pat McCarty and Wik won it with 59:38, I believe, which is nearly 27mph. (Official distance is 26.6 from what I've read).

We pace it pretty well. My teammate went out a little hard, I reigned him in a bit. I had a strong 3rd quarter, and he recovered from his 1st quarter, then we both pulled out some whoopass on the finishing straight 5 miles. We were only caught by two teams, and only one of those was in the P/1/2 group.

Fun race

tfro

Sounds like fun. I didn't know so many people showed up, I'll have to put it on the calendar for next year.

dave99ag

Good job. It's always a fun course at the end of the season. Do you remember the course record? I want to say it's a few minutes faster that what Pat and Wik did today. That's still hauling arse no matter what.

waterrockets 

I've never heard the record. While Pat and Wik are fast, I can see some Euro Pros pulling 10 minutes out of it

tfro

I'll take 12 mins off that next year.

Once I googlemap a shortcut.

ElJamoquio

Hilly?

waterrockets 

Yeah, it qualifies as a challenging course. Not epic or anything. There's one 5-minute climb, at about 6.5%.

Much of the course is actually pretty technical. Half of it is along a river, upstream. So, that part is pretty much flat with hills for inlets, but it's heavily forested, poorly maintained, and there a lot of blind corner descents onto bridges that have no railing at all.

There are also five miles of the worst chipseal in the world. It's so rough that it will really drag your speed down if your tires are beyond 110psi. The pebbles they used are 3/4"!

jvan12345

Hey rockets - check out this website: https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/37717...7203820#P-1-15

Found the link on the txbra website. I'm pretty sure I saw a few pics of you on there (assuming you are wearing the same get-up you usually do). If I'm correctly guessing who you are, your brother in law looks like he's suffering much more than you. That must be near the end of the climb you were talking about.

Looks like fun - I'll definitely put it on my "to do" list next year....and make sure my tires are running 110 or below - that chipseal sounds nasty.

jvan12345

Ah, you already found the pics

Should have read one thread down...

waterrockets 

lol, yeah, this is split among a couple threads Thanks though

I can't wait to see the results, and see if we really did get 15th. Not that it's a great placing, but it's good for a guy who can't TT

the shark

Anyone who did the Time trial should email them to move to a chip system so they get results up a lot faster and correct times. There was a lot of confusion on Sunday with times and they changed some etc.

I did not care as we were not competitive, but it is easier with chips and would not cost that much more.

waterrockets 

Yeah, I waited for the results for what they said would be "five minutes," and that took 2.5 hours. I should have just left.