Last Thursday, I found out about a time-trial (TT) taking place on Sunday (today) from the UW-Cycling mailing list. Since this is my off week I figured there wouldn’t be any hurt in giving it a try. I’ve been itching to get out and compete anyway.
The L’Alpe Bl’Huez TT, described as Wisconsin’s Toughest Time Trial (I don’t know if that’s true), consists of a 10 mile course ending with 2 miles of climbing into Blue Mounds State Park. The first 7 miles is rolling hills and very fast, including a section of downhill that people hit close to 60 MPH on (I topped out at 49.5). The fun stops at mile 7 as you turn off a nice paved road, onto a crappy back road with small hills that just seem to suck the life out of you. After a short downhill to give you a bit of a break, you hit mile 8 and it’s all uphill from there.
I ended up 12th overall and 3rd in my age group with a finishing time of 31:37.2, or 4:08.3 behind the leader. I was riding my Argon 18 E-114 and wearing my aero helmet (which seemed to help), so I was in the aero category. However, the category only counted for the overall winner, but even so, the overall stock rider beat me by 45 seconds.
I was a little concerned wearing the aero helmet with the face shield given the heat, but I figured this was an excellent time to give it a try and see what happens. With the race only being 10 miles, I figured I could HTFU and make it thru even if my head was a little warm. In the end though, it didn’t turn out to be a big deal. My head didn’t feel uncomfortably warm, and I was able to push the visor up once we started climbing to get some ventilation in.
Overall, the event was extremely well run, and with a fall version scheduled the week after IMWI, I might give it another go. I’d like to give a shout out to Pete and Jeff from Rocket Bicycle Studio who also did the event, and to Jessica from SBR Coaching who cheered me on during the final climb into the park.