2013 Alabama State Time Trial Championships

I’m writing this a couple weeks after the fact, so details may be blurry… Historically I have SUCKED at time trials.  I don’t think I have ever been within a minute of the podium, even in a 5k TT.  If you don’t believe me, check my USAC TT results and you’ll see that quite frequently I do battle for last or second to last, ensuring that I have no hope in omnium-style racing.  That said, the tables are turning… The TT weekend was overcast with absolute zero wind, and a hilly 24-mile course was everything but a TT specialist’s favorite.  Columbiana, AL provided clean, dog-free, low-traffic roads for a 12-mile out-and-back course designed and organized by Travis Sherman (Pimpin Bikes).  Kudos to Travis as well as Stewart Lamp for sharing their most precious resource – their time.

On the course that day were plenty of familiar faces from Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and Huntsville.  Spud and his dad showed up in style, bringing the team tent and warm-up tunes.  Team Momentum was also there in full force, with even Omar Frasier riding his cross bike to a Podium spot in the open category.  Olheiser, Toone, Payne, all ready to kick butt!  I was the last of the Cat 3’s to take off, 3 minutes before the Pro12… so I was the carrot on the stick.  However, I did have a 30-second and 60-second guy to chase down, the 30-seconder helping a lot during the initial 10 minutes.  I never caught my 60-second man (Todd Hollingsworth), who put in a hell of an effort on the “out” segment as he never came into sight until the last 10 minutes, where there was probably a 20-second gap still.

Having never done a TT longer than 15 minutes my main goal was to not soft pedal on the ‘out’ segment, and observe the course so to go harder on the back .  At some point I was passed by a semi (Olheiser), but maybe not. It all happened so fast I can’t really remember.   Payne came up on my swiftly by the mid-way point, and we almost wrecked at the turn-around as I didn’t know where to turn, causing us to fumble and skid just a bit.  I did my best to keep him in sight on the firetower climb on the way back, but lost him over the top of the ridge.  The ride back was painful, but uneventful, pushing 400W-ish watts on the hills and trying to keep above 200 on the descents.  No really a lot of flat ground, which made this a very unique TT.

At the end of the day, I took home a 2^nd place finish for the Cat 3’s with a time of 58’35”, with Kyle Campbell (Momentum) 45 seconds ahead, and Kevin “Spud” Pawlik 5-10 seconds back.  There were some Strava discrepancies, but no place to discuss that here.  In the Pro12, Olheiser took 1^st with a 50-minute TT (or was it 48?), Payne in 2^nd 2 minutes behind, and Brian Toone in 3^rd just behind them.  A very powerful podium!  In the Cat 4’s, Doug Robinson also set an amazing pace to take a clear victory, and graduated to the Cat 3’s in the days to follow!  Overall we had great results from Infinity-Donahoo Racing and all Birmingham teams, and enjoyed a friendly venue.