The Haystack TT has become an annual event for me and this
year I decided to throw in the TTT as well.
I have never done a Team Time Trial before and we had a great CAT 3 team
ready to go so it was a no brainier.
Haystack TT is a 16.5 mile loop in north Boulder, pretty flat except for
a few rolling hills.
The individual time
trial went well, I started first for the CAT 3’s and was passed by the guy that
started 20 seconds behind me at around mile 6 or so. Apparently I was not pushing hard enough
going with the wind, I let him pass but was ready to hit it hard once we turned
back into the wind. I passed him again
only a few miles up the road and he looked like he was hurting already. I cranked pretty hard all the way through the
finish, but only managed to put 12 seconds into the guy behind me, so he ended
up taking the win by 8 seconds. Was a
good race but I had to get ready for the TTT in 2 hours. I ate some lunch and found my team for a
little cool down warm up with them.
2nd place CAT 3
Dist – 16.4
Time – 34:40
MPH – 28.3
NP – 344 watts
Sonic Boom had a great CAT 3 team
of 5 guys Andy, Walter, Travis, Eli, and myself. The way a TTT works is your team gets to work
together (draft) and your time stops when the 3rd guy crosses the
line. There are various ways to
strategize your team, ours was to ride the big guys out front with the wind
going east, then let everyone pull for short intervals and finish strong. The squad got out and practiced a few
weekdays prior to the race to ensure we knew everyone’s strengths and
weaknesses. We started the race with Andy out front myself behind him and Walter,
Eli, and Travis behind me. Andy, Walter,
and myself took the pulls with the wind and soon we could already see the two
teams ahead of us BRC and Primal. Once
turning south everyone took hard pulls out front keeping the pace very high
passing the BRC team very quickly and closing the gap on the other teams ahead
of us. Travis took a hard pull right
before an uphill section and soon fell off the back, Eli hit it very hard
turning back west and he too fell off the pace.
We were left with Andy, Walter, and myself for the last 5 miles or so,
we gave it all we had and made it through the line in first place by over 30
seconds on the 2nd place team.
I was done after that second time trial in one day, but it was so much
fun and a great team to ride with. We
rode the race exactly as planned and could not of asked for anything more, plus
we took the win, great job guys really a team effort.
1st place CAT 3
Dist – 16.4
Time – 33:40
MPH – 28.9
NP – 332 watts
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