TRIA Orthopaedic Center Your Cycling Blog

By Holly Mathews
Kowalski’s Markets Collegiate All-Stars Team
University of Wisconsin-Madison

When most people think of a time trial, it seems they usually think of 40km. While this may have been the norm, that gold standard seems to be changing to much shorter distances.  Regardless of distance, I think the proverbial “You either love time trials or you hate ‘em.” stands true, but it would be premature to tag myself with either extreme given that this was only my second individual time trial. This morning was a race of truth and I learned a lot.

The team got to the course with ample time to get warmed up, get changed and be ready to go. I was the first to go from the Kowalski’s Collegiate All-Stars Team and I found out the hard way that keeping an eye on time is just as important as hydrating, warming up, having equipment ready, this, that, and the other thing.  If my heart wasn’t already pounding when the clock was close enough to see that I had less than one minute to be ready on the ramp, it was then.  I threw my extra clothes to John (our director sportif), ran up to the platform with my bike, clipped in with 5, 4, 3, 2… and off I went.

Other than the start, the race went pretty much as anticipated—roads were rough, conditions were not optimal, it hurt the whole time and the last hill stripped my legs of the little they had left.  My performance placed me in the lower half of the field, but I’m moving forward because it’s the only thing I can do. There is a lot more racing to look forward to and I am thrilled to be here at a race of this caliber, riding with some of the best in the sport.

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By Kristin Armstrong
Peanut Butter and Co. Team TWENTY12
Four-Time Nature Valley Grand Prix winner, 2006-2009

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, I completed the biggest achievement of my career by winning the gold medal in the women’s road time trial competition on August 13. It was a childhood dream to compete in the Olympics and is one of the most amazing days of my life representing the United States at the highest level an athlete can reach.

I love cycling and I love competition. After a year-long break to start a family, I’m proud to be racing this year on a team that I also am part owner of: Peanut Butter & Co. Team TWENTY12.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix is one race I’ve always looked forward to each year. Typically, I excel at the time trial, but the opening stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, the St. Paul Riverfront Time Trial, is very different. We aren’t allowed to use time trial specific equipment in this race! This nuance creates a unique challenge for me. As a time trial specialist, I’ve always benefitted from using aero bars, disk wheels and a time trial bike frame specially designed for speed. The dynamics of this technical course, plus riding a traditional road bike for the stage, slightly changes my strategy for the race. It still favors time trial specialists like myself, but my training for the time trial will focus on my road bike rather than my time trial machine.

Every cyclist has an opinion about time trials: You either love or hate them. While many cyclists prefer not to do a long, solo effort, the ability to time trial effectively is handy whether you actually do stand-alone TT events or not. How can you benefit from this training?

• Time trial training helps any rider who has an opportunity to break away from the pack in a race. The ability to push your cycling skills and knowledge to the edge and hold it there for extended periods requires mental and physical toughness.
• Riders can train for both skills. If you know you can nail a steady speed, power or heart rate output for an extended period of time, you’ll have more confidence in the saddle. When time trialing, I mentally challenge myself to tap every ounce of energy I have and fight through any physical pain in order to compete and achieve my goals.
• Time trial training can also benefit recreational riders who never pin on a number and race. The power and aerobic capacity that make you a successful time trialist also make you a strong all around rider.

The key to success for the St. Paul Riverfront Time Trial is to stay smooth, calm and powerful on the course. There is no hiding in the pack or drafting behind teammates. Each rider must test herself against the course. This course is all about power and efficiency as riders traverse the out and back on Lilydale Road and then face the steep climb and turns up Cherokee and Ohio Street. Finesse and endurance will help everyone get to the finish. Without the aid of time trial bike technology, riders will need to stay focused. Riding time trails is a great way to get strong and will help your solo training or during the Gran Fondo rides when you find yourself breaking the wind.

In our world, we call time trials “the race of truth.” Although my peers and I will complete more than 200 miles of cycling in the Nature Valley Grand Prix, this 6.1 mile race can be a decisive factor – showing who the true contenders are for the overall win. Losing just a minute in this time trial could cost dearly in the final standings.

Cheers from spectators – especially up the hill climbs and at the finishing straight – always help motivate riders to the finish line. So bring your breakfast and coffee and watch us go for it!

Kristin Armstrong (born August 11, 1973) is a professional road bicycle racer and Olympic gold medalist, the winner of the Women’s Time Trial at the 2008 Summer Olympics and also 2 World Time Trial Championships. Before temporarily retiring to start a family in 2009, she rode for Cervélo TestTeam in women’s elite professional events on the National Racing Calendar (NRC) and UCI Women’s World Cup. She announced a return to competitive cycling beginning in the 2011 season, competing for Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12 at the Redlands Classic.^[1] Armstrong earned a bachelor’s degree in sports physiology from the University of Idaho in 1995, and currently lives in Boise, Idaho. Kristin Armstrong and Lance Armstrong (known to women’s cycling fans as “the other Armstrong”) are not related.

About Time Trials:

An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: contre la montre – literally “against the watch”, in Italian: tappa a cronometro “stopwatch stage”). There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials (TTT). ITT’s are also referred to as “the race of truth”, as winning depends only on each rider’s strength and endurance, and not on help provided by team-mates and others riding ahead and creating a slipstream.

Source: Wikipedia 

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After the first day of racing here in St. Paul it seems like the legs are starting to come around to the efforts which I am asking of them. With Monday full of travel, and then just trying to get things moving yesterday, I think today was when everything started to finally come around.

This morning after almost one hour of riding, I arrived at the start of the 10-kilometer time trial just like I wanted to; confident, hot, sweaty, and armed with a solid plan for how I would approach each of the following 10-kilometers. I was aiming to finish the first test of the week in 13 minutes and some seconds, even a 13:59 would have been “successful.” In my last time trial, I set a goal which would have placed me in the top 25 finishers from the previous year, and I beat that goal. So today, I was confident for the time trial and my goal. Unfortunately, I was never able to find my rhythm on the course, and ended up finish a long ways down, losing nearly 1:45 to the fastest man, Tom Zirbel.

With my race getting off to a rocky start, I rode from the time trial back to our host house in Mendota Heights. The 20 minute ride was the perfect cool down, allowing me to pedal a light gear with a good cadence as I cleared the lactic acid from my legs.

The middle part of the day was lazy and relaxing. After getting back, I made a quick lunch, before taking a nap. After awaking from my nap, I jumped onto the massage table for a quick rub. Off of the massage table, and I was back to the couch where I remained for the rest of the day. I passed the time by checking in on the news, and then picking up a good book. Off the couch, it was a light pre-race snack, and then back to the couch for a few minutes before kitting up for the evening’s criterium.

Kitted up and ready to go, I rolled out with my roommates for the short 25 minute ride into downtown St. Paul for the criterium. It is no secret, and I make no fantasies about my criterium racing skills. In the world of domestic stage racing, crits are certainly my Achilles Heal. Driven by the morning’s frustration, along with a host of other emotions, I managed to ride one of my strongest crit’s of the season. Although I really accomplished nothing of note in the race, I did manage to stay in what seemed to be the top half of the field, finishing within the main pack.

As the legs start to come around, I am still a long ways down in the general classification, and I am hoping to continue the positive trend, moving farther towards the sharp end of the racing, maybe even off the front in the next few days. We will see what the future holds, but for now, I have a few more minutes on the couch before I crawl into the sheets for some much needed sleep.

Thanks for reading. We are off to Cannon Falls tomorrow afternoon for some autograph signing at the library, which will be followed by an all out throw-down over the course of a challenging 107 kilometer parcours.

Keep the Rubber Side Down,
C-

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Bissell, OUCH-Maxxis Dominate Opening Time Trial of 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix

By James Lockwood

While the order of the stages changed from 2008 for the start of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, beginning the five-day, six-stage race with the Saint Paul Time Trial did little to change the outcome of the stage. Bissel Pro Cycling dominated the standings, and Rory Sutherland came out of the stage in second place, followed by Peter Latham (Bissel Pro Cycling).

Unlike last year, though, Bissell hopes to use the momentum from the stage win and dominating presence in the top 10 to take home the overall classification this year.

“Last year, we did the same thing and didn’t finish too well,” said stage winner Tom Zirbel, who put in a blistering time of 12 minutes, 36 seconds and the 7.2-kilometer course, beating Sutherland by 13 seconds. “We have some stronger guys on the team this year. Hopefully, we learned from last year and will do better.”

Last year, Bissell came out of the time trial with Ben Jacques-Maynes wearing the leader’s jersey and his team dominating the top 10 standings. In the end, though, Jacques-Maynes finished fourth overall, losing time to overall champion Sutherland in the fifth stage Mankato Road Race.

That result had OUCH-Maxxis’ Sutherland pleased, if not overly happy, finishing second to Zirbel.

“I think we are in the best position,” said Sutherland, whose teammates John Murphy – second overall last year – Karl Menzies (2006 champion) and Tim Johnson also finished in or near the top 10, all within 30 seconds of Zirbel. “If it comes down to the climb in Mankato, I would rather be chasing Zirbel than chasing Ben. I think I am a better climber than he is.”

Sutherland cautioned, though, there was a lot of riding to do before getting to that point.

“There are 15 guys who could be in the yellow jersey after the crit tonight,” said OUCH-Maxxis’s director Mike Tamayo.

Among those 15 include Jaques-Maynes and his brother, Andy, and their teammates Frank Pipp and Peter Latham. Latham briefly held the best time before losing it to Zirbel 12 minutes later. He finished third on the day.

Cracking the top 10 and disrupting the Bissell-OUCH showdown was Team Type 1’s Mike Creed, a recent addition to the team after financial turmoil ended his tenure at beleaguered Rock Racing. Creed finished the stage in sixth, 22 seconds back.

“It’s unbelievable,” Creed said of his performance and place on the team. “I was really, really surprised. I just got the bike. It felt good from the start.”

Happy to be racing on the team, he said his expectations riding against the juggernauts of Bissell and OUCH-Maxxis are in check for the overall classification. “We have some strong sprinters on the team. Crits will be our focus,” added Creed.

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The time trial is often called “the race of truth”. There will be no hiding in the pack or drafting behind teammates as each rider must test themselves against the course alone.

This will be a no-frills slug fest, with riders flying up and down Lilydale Road in this individual race against the clock and back by popular demand is the finish on top of the Ohio Street hill.

Although the riders will complete well over 200 miles in the Nature Valley Grand Prix, this 4.5 mile race will likely be decisive. Losing just a minute in this time trial could cost a contender five places in the final standings.

Men’s Start List / Women’s Start List

Event Schedule:

8:30 AM – First woman starts (TT Start Times)
9:45 AM – First man starts (TT Start Times)
12:00 PM – Racing ends

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