trplay
Zen MBB Master
The recumbent revival is underway. History was made last night as an unassuming band of Low Drag Recumbent riders stormed into the virtual world of Team Time Trial Racing. The advent of the smart trainer has been called the biggest impact in the sport of cycling since Frenchman, Paul de Vivie (1853–1930), invented the derailleur way back in 1905. Recumbents have been known to be slow accepting new concepts but this time the recumbent community is right on top of it.
The virtual WTRL Team Time Trials is the largest weekly sporting event in the world and it is the only cycling event that accepts recumbent bikes without disdain. Here the recumbent rider can go head to head, toe to toe, as a welcome equal in this painfully brutal sporting event. They can compete against all types of cyclists from around the world. There are males, females, triathletes, road champions, CX'ers, Bmx'ers, randonneurs, Olympic hopefuls, world champions, they're all here. Of course, the Cruzbike contingent was right in the middle of it racing in a number of mixed DF and recumbent teams. Last night Cruzbike showed up with the Who's Who of Cruzbike. Maria, Jim, Product Manager Robert Holler, record and fashion trend setter Larry Oslund, and world class speed racer Jason Perez were all there. There was magic in the air.
But this wasn't the normal Thursday night. Oh what a night! A band of 8 recumbent riders, Ray, Robert, Rob, Jim, Hardy, Josh, Greg, and Gabe came together to form the first all recumbent WRTL Team ever. They would enter the Mocha Division with the goal to beat anybody, somebody, just not be last! They did have a chance; after all they did have two mules on the team . Jim Parker and Ray Torre were our two stronger racers allowed to race in our Division. The rules allow for a third at their level but they simply had to soldier on with what they had.
These guys planned and schemed all week. Way more time than most guys can afford to waste. But waste they did, riding the route, memorizing every turn, and more importantly every gradient. This route had one point where the gradient was 23% -- the critical climb of the race. Split times along the course were set at 8, 16, 24 km, and the finish. Then we changed these times over and over as all riders weren't comfortable with the plan. Finally Greg made a fatal error. He said he didn't think we could do a suggested time, as it was 10 minutes faster than his best. A major mistake; don't tell this group they can't do something. The goal was immediately set for 10 minutes faster than his best ever.
We were in the pen, ready to go, well almost ready. Gabe was struggling with technical issues and had yet to enter the start pen. Sadly, in the end Gabe would never make it to the start. Don't give up, we need you next week Gabe. Down to seven at the gate, we watched teams depart every minute. Some had great starts. Many looked like the bad news bears. I was a little nervous about how our rookie team would do. Finally, Josh gave the "go, go, go" and the race is on. I flipped on my rear view mirror and, to my surprise everyone was right there. A clean start and everyone's commo was up and running. I thought, "Whoa, these guys are good, we have an exceptional start." First we hit the downhill and according to plan our big guys moved to the front while the rest enjoyed the ride. At the bottom, as planned, Josh our climbing pace man, moved toward the front. The climbers moved to the back to provided assistance for the climbing challenged. Wow, on the climb Josh set the pace, Jim and Ray were plugging the gaps, the mid guys were being patient. This was working, our non climbers were killing it! At the top , we took a breath, washed, rinsed, and repeated for the next big climb. At the 8k mark we were 45 seconds ahead of schedule and all men were on deck. Then it happened. Jim went down due to technical problems. I think he borrows his gear from Larry. Anyway he was out. On the flats Robert, Rob, and Ray all took turns pulling at the perfect pace. We still had this! Wow, Kilometer #16 and we are over a minute ahead on our splits. Praise the Lord, we hear Jim over the radio, he is back and running like a freight train to link up. Two minutes fifteen seconds back. Oh! If he can get back in time to help up the second round of big climbs it will be cherry! The second round is as good as the first. Jim catches us on the second and biggest climb and immediately pitches in filling gaps. Team Low Drag is on a roll. Kilometer 24 and we are maintaining our over a minute cushion on the record. The boys are smelling the hay but some of us are fading. A small gap forms and it slowly works to 17 seconds. The front will gladly come back but heck they are looking sooo good. Josh, Greg and I are good back here, we three can clip that record without the big guns. Lets turn the dogs loose (play song: Who let the dawgs out). The command is given and Jim shoots from our back group and bridges to Ray, Robert, and Rob. Our high speed-low Drag foursome now shoot out like a rocket for the finish. We tail end gunners have 5K to go and a little less than a minute to spare. We're fading but optimistic, we got this. Like magic the entire Cruzbike Nation comes up on our team channel hooting and hollering for us to go. Now its easy peasy, this put the wind back in our sails, we cruise across the line 23 seconds faster than the goal. Next week we're going to try two teams, come join us if you can.
The virtual WTRL Team Time Trials is the largest weekly sporting event in the world and it is the only cycling event that accepts recumbent bikes without disdain. Here the recumbent rider can go head to head, toe to toe, as a welcome equal in this painfully brutal sporting event. They can compete against all types of cyclists from around the world. There are males, females, triathletes, road champions, CX'ers, Bmx'ers, randonneurs, Olympic hopefuls, world champions, they're all here. Of course, the Cruzbike contingent was right in the middle of it racing in a number of mixed DF and recumbent teams. Last night Cruzbike showed up with the Who's Who of Cruzbike. Maria, Jim, Product Manager Robert Holler, record and fashion trend setter Larry Oslund, and world class speed racer Jason Perez were all there. There was magic in the air.
But this wasn't the normal Thursday night. Oh what a night! A band of 8 recumbent riders, Ray, Robert, Rob, Jim, Hardy, Josh, Greg, and Gabe came together to form the first all recumbent WRTL Team ever. They would enter the Mocha Division with the goal to beat anybody, somebody, just not be last! They did have a chance; after all they did have two mules on the team . Jim Parker and Ray Torre were our two stronger racers allowed to race in our Division. The rules allow for a third at their level but they simply had to soldier on with what they had.
These guys planned and schemed all week. Way more time than most guys can afford to waste. But waste they did, riding the route, memorizing every turn, and more importantly every gradient. This route had one point where the gradient was 23% -- the critical climb of the race. Split times along the course were set at 8, 16, 24 km, and the finish. Then we changed these times over and over as all riders weren't comfortable with the plan. Finally Greg made a fatal error. He said he didn't think we could do a suggested time, as it was 10 minutes faster than his best. A major mistake; don't tell this group they can't do something. The goal was immediately set for 10 minutes faster than his best ever.
We were in the pen, ready to go, well almost ready. Gabe was struggling with technical issues and had yet to enter the start pen. Sadly, in the end Gabe would never make it to the start. Don't give up, we need you next week Gabe. Down to seven at the gate, we watched teams depart every minute. Some had great starts. Many looked like the bad news bears. I was a little nervous about how our rookie team would do. Finally, Josh gave the "go, go, go" and the race is on. I flipped on my rear view mirror and, to my surprise everyone was right there. A clean start and everyone's commo was up and running. I thought, "Whoa, these guys are good, we have an exceptional start." First we hit the downhill and according to plan our big guys moved to the front while the rest enjoyed the ride. At the bottom, as planned, Josh our climbing pace man, moved toward the front. The climbers moved to the back to provided assistance for the climbing challenged. Wow, on the climb Josh set the pace, Jim and Ray were plugging the gaps, the mid guys were being patient. This was working, our non climbers were killing it! At the top , we took a breath, washed, rinsed, and repeated for the next big climb. At the 8k mark we were 45 seconds ahead of schedule and all men were on deck. Then it happened. Jim went down due to technical problems. I think he borrows his gear from Larry. Anyway he was out. On the flats Robert, Rob, and Ray all took turns pulling at the perfect pace. We still had this! Wow, Kilometer #16 and we are over a minute ahead on our splits. Praise the Lord, we hear Jim over the radio, he is back and running like a freight train to link up. Two minutes fifteen seconds back. Oh! If he can get back in time to help up the second round of big climbs it will be cherry! The second round is as good as the first. Jim catches us on the second and biggest climb and immediately pitches in filling gaps. Team Low Drag is on a roll. Kilometer 24 and we are maintaining our over a minute cushion on the record. The boys are smelling the hay but some of us are fading. A small gap forms and it slowly works to 17 seconds. The front will gladly come back but heck they are looking sooo good. Josh, Greg and I are good back here, we three can clip that record without the big guns. Lets turn the dogs loose (play song: Who let the dawgs out). The command is given and Jim shoots from our back group and bridges to Ray, Robert, and Rob. Our high speed-low Drag foursome now shoot out like a rocket for the finish. We tail end gunners have 5K to go and a little less than a minute to spare. We're fading but optimistic, we got this. Like magic the entire Cruzbike Nation comes up on our team channel hooting and hollering for us to go. Now its easy peasy, this put the wind back in our sails, we cruise across the line 23 seconds faster than the goal. Next week we're going to try two teams, come join us if you can.
