A Willow Time Trial Recap

Now that I have time, I for some reason haven't felt like posting. Sitting around has been my M.O. lately. This is what it must be like to be a pro. Without full-time work until May 12th, I've just been relaxing and training. The polar-opposite activities seem to balance out perfectly.

I should have written about the Willow Time Trial on Saturday, but I was too stoked after the race to sit still. All of the caffeine on top of the residual rush from passing riders and speeding along the time trial track, hunched over the "Black Widow" time trial bike, kept me going full speed, the whole night. That would be my mistake, but I will save you from my bad bar story.

All of the South Lyon Cycle category three riders went back to back. It was nice lining up with the other guys soon to follow. I started the race just as I had planned. I sprinted up to full speed and tucked into my aerodynamic position. Looking down at the power tap, I was pumped to read 30mph. It seemed that I cruised near this speed for a long period of time until the time trial track turned into the head wind. I was sad to see my speed knocked down to around 23mph at times.

Approaching the last lap, I heard the swooshing sound of a disk wheel creeping past me. Was someone really passing me after I had already past a few riders? Gary Deangelis rode by me and, in my mind, transformed into a giant dangling carrot. I heard my parents yell twenty five minutes as Jean Anderson hollered "last lap." Digging deeper into my energy reserves, I realized I should have pushed a little harder earlier in the race.

Around the last head wind section, I saw the line of cones forming the finishing chute. I powered into it trying to gain the last bit of advantage over other riders. My heart sank as I realized I wouldn't be able to pass the slower rider in front of me. I didn't know what to do and got out of my aero position. Dodging outside of the cones, I wondered if I would be disqualified finishing outside of the chute. To be sure of a finish, I swept back into the chute and slowed, almost ramming the slower rider as we crossed the line. What a disappointment.

As the results were tallied, I was ecstatic to see that David Morrissey took the big win. I followed around 14 seconds behind in second place or 14th overall when compared to the cat 1/2s and two crazy fast cat 4 riders. The young and shockingly fast Tony Wieczorek got third and Eric Hinderager secured fourth. The other South Lyon guys, John Burrows, Zach Maino and Dominick Zaccone, took the 6th, 7th and 8th places respectively. To complete the report, Gary Deangelis placed third in the Cat 1/2 field and Rob Iser followed, earning 6th place. What a day for South Lyon Cycle.

At the end of the day, we all wondered what Darrell would have done. We will see later in the season for the State Time Trial Championship. I will have to give his hot Time Trial bike back to him and figure something else out; by the way, thanks Darrell!



















Back to relaxing for me.