Barefoot Biker
Active Member
The Fort DeSoto Time Trial Series (http://www.fortdesototimetrial.com/) is in it's 15th year and this year they added a recumbent class!! I missed the first in the series, but arrived at the second last Thursday afternoon. There were three other recumbents registered. Alex on his M5, Sandor on his Encore, and Steve on an M5 as well. They cap the registration at 50 cyclists and start one at a time every 30 seconds.
The course is a 9.2 mile out and back with a bend in the middle and a large round-a-bout at the end. The wind was forecast at 9 kts from the west so, I divided the course into four pieces in my head. The sequence would be crosswind, tailwind, headwind, crosswind. I decided to pace it as medium, easy, hardest, and beyond hardest. I took Amanda Coker's advice and lowered my tire pressure to account for the lumpy pavement.
I drew race number 13 so, I wore it upside down. The rest of the recumbents were directly behind me. I warmed up briefly and clipped in as they held my bike. Three, two, one .... I hammered out a pretty hard sprint off the line at over 800 watts and went beyond my target to above 30mph and then I tried to settle in to my effort. At the bend, I switched screens on my garmin from a power/speed focus to power/heart rate/cadence focus and tried to tell myself to "calm down!" Easy! My heart rate was already 177 and through that second section I succeeded in lowering it to 172. I was hoping for 165, but I decided optimistically, I was just excited.
I caught my 30 second man at the round-a-bout and passed him as we accelerated into the headwind. I did lose a few seconds staying behind him through the turn. In the headwind section, I rode significantly above threshold. That rider vanished from my mirror as quickly as the one minute man appeared. I'm not sure if I yelled out loud, "you are mine!" but it was my mantra as I forced myself to go further into the red. My heart rate reached 185. I caught him and passed him just before the end of the headwind section. Now I was in the final stretch in the crosswind. I could only barely maintain threshold power through this section and I began grunting with every breath. I accelerated through the last 100 meters at 450 watts and emptied the tank. I reached an all time record heart rate of 188 at the finish. I was also the loudest finisher!
I finished with a time of 20:07, average speed 27.7 mph, average power 249 watts, weighted average 267 watts (Dr. A. Coggan formula). The next recumbent was Alex at +27 seconds, average power 253 watts, then Sandor, then Steve. First place in the division! I set the course record for the fastest time on a recumbent. To put this in perspective though, the fastest time of the day was 18:50 on a Cervélo P5 powered by a Category 1 professional in excess of 350 watts average. There is always someone faster!
The course is a 9.2 mile out and back with a bend in the middle and a large round-a-bout at the end. The wind was forecast at 9 kts from the west so, I divided the course into four pieces in my head. The sequence would be crosswind, tailwind, headwind, crosswind. I decided to pace it as medium, easy, hardest, and beyond hardest. I took Amanda Coker's advice and lowered my tire pressure to account for the lumpy pavement.
I drew race number 13 so, I wore it upside down. The rest of the recumbents were directly behind me. I warmed up briefly and clipped in as they held my bike. Three, two, one .... I hammered out a pretty hard sprint off the line at over 800 watts and went beyond my target to above 30mph and then I tried to settle in to my effort. At the bend, I switched screens on my garmin from a power/speed focus to power/heart rate/cadence focus and tried to tell myself to "calm down!" Easy! My heart rate was already 177 and through that second section I succeeded in lowering it to 172. I was hoping for 165, but I decided optimistically, I was just excited.
I caught my 30 second man at the round-a-bout and passed him as we accelerated into the headwind. I did lose a few seconds staying behind him through the turn. In the headwind section, I rode significantly above threshold. That rider vanished from my mirror as quickly as the one minute man appeared. I'm not sure if I yelled out loud, "you are mine!" but it was my mantra as I forced myself to go further into the red. My heart rate reached 185. I caught him and passed him just before the end of the headwind section. Now I was in the final stretch in the crosswind. I could only barely maintain threshold power through this section and I began grunting with every breath. I accelerated through the last 100 meters at 450 watts and emptied the tank. I reached an all time record heart rate of 188 at the finish. I was also the loudest finisher!
I finished with a time of 20:07, average speed 27.7 mph, average power 249 watts, weighted average 267 watts (Dr. A. Coggan formula). The next recumbent was Alex at +27 seconds, average power 253 watts, then Sandor, then Steve. First place in the division! I set the course record for the fastest time on a recumbent. To put this in perspective though, the fastest time of the day was 18:50 on a Cervélo P5 powered by a Category 1 professional in excess of 350 watts average. There is always someone faster!
