One of the early season races near here is a 16 mile, 4 corner TT.
A big square, 4 miles to a side, held in the near ghost town of
Willard, WI. I say near ghost town because not all the houses are
abandoned yet, but the abandoned rail right-of-way is long enough
gone that it is difficult to tell where it went. It does have a
public structure large enough to host the event, and the fact that
hardly anyone one lives there anymore is a plus for the event.
This is a rural area and one of the defining characteristics of the
race is wind. Regardless of where it is coming from, there is nothing
between there and the course to slow it down.
I have been doing the race on our tandem with my kid. This year I asked
if she wanted to solo. She thought about it awhile, and said she did.
I fitted her mountain bike with aero bars and took her out for a couple
of rides. Riding with her elbows on the pads was disquieting for her
at first, and she worried about not being able to easily reach the
brakes. But she adjusted. She rides with her heels on the pedals and
we've discussed why it is better to ride with the ball of the foot over
the pedal axle blah blah blah. I thought about adding toe clips to limit
the heel pedaling, but decided against it. One must choose one's battles
wisely.
She weighs nothing and I knew she'd have trouble into the wind. We
talked a little about where it is im****tant to be slippery to the wind
and where it is less im****tant and she could ride more upright.
She was a tendency to ride in the biggest gear and slog up hills. We
talked about choosing an easier gear when the riding is hard. I was
tempted to tell her that cadence was a red herring. But I didn't.
I went off first and started well. This race uses two start lines and 15
second gaps so there are lots of rabbits to chase. This was a good
spring for skiing, which doesn't mess up my knees like bike riding does.
So I've been ****fting some of my exercise time away from the bike. I
think I'd been out for maybe 100 miles total before the race, so I was
in fine FM form. Even so, this is a good course for larger riders. The
hills are rollers and a lot of wind favors guys that can plow through
it. So I reeled in a fair number of earlier starters and didn't see
anyone come past me until past the half way point.
I finished OK, not great, 31st out of 78 starters. I know, I know, I
need to start stocking the fridge with bags of blood. Especially if
I am going to be so reticent about actually riding my bike.
After fini****ng I turned around and headed back out on the course
looking for my kid. I found her about 4 miles out. This was just
after the worst headwind leg. She had been passed by almost all of
the later starters. I asked her if she was OK and she said she felt
pretty good. She started 15 seconds after me and was probably not
too far past the halfway point when I finished. I think she had a
hell of a time in the headwind. She weighs nothing and, even with
the aero bars, was riding a bike with the aerodynamic efficiency of
a dog turd. But if she had a hard time she wasn't going to let on.
She finished the race and took first place in her age category as
the only entrant. This was her first solo bike race, and she wore
the medal for the rest of the day.
The race had a special prize for the true fatty master. It was for
the most speed/pound. I thought I was a contender for that. But there
was a large guy that had about a 10% advantage in the numerator, which
was enough to overcome my slight advantage in the denominator. So I
went home empty handed. C'est la vie.
Bob Schwartz
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