TTT State Championship & 3 Bears Time Trial #2

by Michael Hast

The end of the 2018 Time Trial (TT) season is upon us. The TT State Championship races started with the Team Time Trials (TTT). In 2015 we participated in the 4 men TTT. This year Gary and Michael signed up last minute, literally a week before the race, for the 2 men TTT (81-100 years).

The race day started  great. I had to change out the rear wheel tire at home before picking up Gary, because it was rubbing on the frame. That delayed me picking up Gary for about 15 minutes. And now we were just a tad behind schedule, so our warmup wasn't as planned. Instead of warming up on the trainer, we went to the frontage road. We arrived at the start line just in the nick of time.

Before the race we decided on 90 second pulls and every rider should try to ride his power number on the front. I did the first pull to try to stick to our plan and not go out too hard. There was a slight head wind which I found favorable because I had a little more resistance to ride according to my power numbers. The initial head wind also caused us to go slower on the way out, but helped us on the way back. At the 5k, 10k and 15k checks out times were a little slower. At the turn around time Gary yelled a time of 31:35. Now with the tail wind on the way back we had to make up 1:35 to go under 1 hour. We also got a time check to the team in front of us which indicated that we gained a little over a minute. That gave us extra motivation. On the way back we hit a couple of pot holes which hurt  me in the TT position on the bike. Otherwise the frontage road surface was in pretty good shape. Every time check on the way back we gained a little bit more time giving us hope to achieve our time goal of under 1 hour. We "sprinted" to the finish line and crossed it at 59.35.

Glory to our Heavenly Father for finishing 1st in our category and for riding under 1 hour.

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​3 Bears Time Trial #2

At the 3 Bears Time Trial #2, Gary raced the 30k in the  Cat 4 category and Michael raced in the 20k in the  Merckx 40+ category. We were both a little tired from the TTT the day before. Gary talked his friend Larry into riding his first time trial. We both helped Larry to setup and get ready. It was a great experience to give a new racer tips and tricks of how to master his first time trial.

Gary's and my goals were similar. We both planned to average over 24 mph to achieve a time of under 45 minutes for the 30k and under 30 minutes for the 20k. Gary finished in 45:08 and I finished in 30:11. Almost. There is always next year ;-) Gary was able to place 3rd and I was able to place 1st in our categories.

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever.
Amen."