Race Report: Withrow TT, Aug

Time again for the monthly time trial in Stillwater. Same course as before. This time out I was more conservative and felt much better on the course. In the first 4 miles I caught the person 30 seconds in front of me and past him. After the 3rd corner, now heading into some good rolling hills, he had caught back up to me and was just behind me. Drafting is not allowed in time trials or triathlons so I was bugged that he was right behind me and staying there. To be fair, he might have been the 15 feet behind me, which is the rule, but it sure felt like he was closer. I backed off a bit and yelled at him about drafting but he didn't feel he was wrong. Who knows who was right. I was annoyed so I sped up to clear him. Now we are starting to catch the guy that's 60 seconds ahead of us and we pass him. 30 second man finally passes me. Then for the next 2-3 miles it's cat and mouse for the 3 of us. At one point I was behind one and boxed in from the side by the other. I decided to sprint clear of both of them but wasn't able to maintain the lead. My heart rate has been around 190 by this point. On the final corner the 30 sec guy is finally clear ahead of me and I make one last push past the 60 second rider and stay there till the finish. My finish time was mostly likely better then the other 2 because I had caught them.


In the end I probably worked harder and rode faster because of the 2 riders then any time I might have lost because of them. At 23.55 mph it was my fastest time of the summer but not my best ever. Steve the organizer took pictures of everyone as they started out. It was a good chance to look at how aerodynamic we all are. As you can see above, my back is hunched over which is bad for aerodynamics although fairly typical of normal road biking. A good aero position would have my back almost parallel to the ground.

After the race there was a raffle for prizes donated from Now Sport. I won a small bike pump.