Velocity Stage Race: Day 1 - ITT

I can’t believe how fast time flies. 6 months ago I was sad after ‘cross provincials that racing was done for the season but it was finally time to see if I would come back stronger this year after training a lot more and having more focus this year.

The stages consisted of a 10km Individual Time Trial and crit on the first day and road race on the second day.

The weather forecast wasn’t looking particularly great as we headed for a weekend in Fort Saskatchewan so that was probably the only concern as we left Calgary. When we finally arrived in Edmonton to pick our race packages, I finally remember what I had forgotten…out of all things I totally forgot to pack my base layers. Seeing as it was going to be pretty chilly outside the next morning we drove from Velocity back south to United Cycle so I could buy a base layer.

When we finally arrived at our hotel in Fort Sask. we called it a night pretty soon after checking in. It was going to be a long day the next day with a race in the morning and afternoon so we had to get as much sleep as possible.

The next morning we woke up pretty early so we could get breakfast in on time and then drove to the site for the time trial. This would be my first outdoor time trial. I have done a few 20km TTs on an ergometer for a University of Calgary study I was participating in during the winter so I had a rough idea of the time I was going to shoot for. We all pulled out our trainers to warm-up which I will admit was better than my usual warm-up of riding up and down the road because we got to chat with all the people we had not seen in a while. It always amazes how cycling is so social and how we always have a great time just chatting even though we are usually in direct competition during the races.

As I finished off my warm-up and stretching I rolled over to the start line with a couple minutes to spare before my start time. When it was finally time for me to go, I was amazingly more relaxed then I’ve ever been before a race. The scene for my first time trial was pretty amazing though…I wish I had a camera. The road ahead was obscured by a thick fog so that I could barely see more then about 500m ahead and the air was cool but not freezing. The commissaire said “go” and I took off down the road determined to try and catch the rider 30 seconds in front of me. I got my bike into gear and then there were only three thoughts in my mind; cadence, controlled breathing and “where the hell do I turn?”

I got to turn one where out of nowhere a figure appeared in the fog to indicate my first turn. As I turned I did a quick peek back and could see the next person who started after me in the distance. The next section was pretty rough…it was the Prairie Roubaix all over again. It was really hard to maintain tempo with my bike bouncing all over. I could see the rider in front of me in the distance so I changed gears and tried to push a little harder. I made the next turn and sprinted out before getting back to tempo. There was a slight hill in the horizon and I could see the other rider slowing down a little. Then I got passed by the rider behind me. The rider had a TT bike so I knew I had no chance trying to catch back up to him. Then as I got a little further, Mark J., who started a minute behind me rode by me like I was standing still. I went around the last corner and went out a little harder still but was passed by yet another rider on a TT bike. I was watching my GPS for the last KM where I was going to go all out. My computer said I was only 9km in then the sign for 500m flew by me. I immediately slammed my cassette down and sprinted hard for the finish line.

Finished up my first TT ever and felt OK about it. It seemed the guys on TT bikes were just blowing by me and I was just using my regular road bike. I was glad I was able to maintain some sort of tempo and a fairly good speed throughout but TT are all about experience and knowing your thresholds. As I’ve never done a real TT before I didn’t really know my thresholds or how much a TT should hurt. All I know is my HR was pretty much maxed the entire time…and it hurt.

- Kyle