TRIA Orthopaedic Center Your Cycling Blog

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 

Kristin Armstrong,Minnesota Bicycle Festival,Nature Valley Grand Prix,St. Paul,Stage One,TT,Time Trial,Women's Professional Cycling,road racing   Tags: Gran Fondo, Kristin Armstrong, Nature Valley Grand Prix, Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12, St. Paul Time Trial,   Comments Off  

By Aaron Smith, the editor of the local blog Minneapolis Mussette, which reports on the Minnesota bike racing scene and related bike culture.

He’s just finished decimating whatever time I’ve posted as ‘personal best’ up Ohio Street. After time trialing down the Lilydale flats, kicking it in the big ring and devouring that punchy little switchback, Brad Huff is now sitting at ease. One leg on his top tube, the other unclipped, Huff’s now poking fun at one of the mechanics on his team with a fake Russian accent.

If I had tried the same I’d probably be doing my best to keep my Gu’s down.

Larry and Sophie – proprietors of the excellent Fix Studio in south Minneapolis, have just rode with me to my first Nature Valley stage and are introducing me to their good friend, Brad Huff. I’m a little wide eyed, but Brad takes it in stride as Larry asks him about how the legs feel. Larry’s expertise as a soigneur has garnered the respect of many riders at the NVGP (as well as beyond) but it’s apparent that Brad and Larry go way back. Huff describes a tightness in his right calf, nothing of concern. Larry asks him to tell the Jelly Belly soigneur to take special care of it.

It’s apparent that Huff is not the traditional PRO athlete. At this point in my journey, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the professional cyclist. I had not even raced yet and pipe dreams of taking a prime and ‘dropping the hammer’ filled my mind during the traditional Tuesday and Sunday group rides. The conversation turns to my lack of experience and I ask Huff if he has any suggestions for a budding Cat 5.

“Just stay near the front – no sense getting mixed up in the back.”

Later that evening I find myself on the final corner at the Lowertown Criterium yelling rather loudly for the Jelly Belly team. Local Adam Bergman takes a flyer off the front of the break and is looking good. This isn’t the Metrodome, this isn’t the Excel Center – there is no consistent shrine to these brave men and women who race. Even so, I feel it’s for the best. The interaction allowed and even encouraged between the fans and the PROs provides for a unique and altogether better experience for the spectator. Being a fan of this sport, as obscure as it sometimes can feel, gives you something you can’t obtain by being a fan of the ‘mainstream’ sports. A very important connection between you and the lycra-clad tornado flying by.

You can bet I’ll be right at the sidelines on that finishing straight screaming my lungs out cheering for the Jelly Belly team. With Brad’s great track record in the crits, it’s certain that he’ll be right up in the mix and most likely even taking one of the two exciting metro area criteriums. I hope to get to meet up with him again and wish him the best of luck, and I betcha I will too. Maybe this time I’ll be able to keep my jaw off the ground after watching him sprint.

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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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