Last year this was one of the most painful experiences I had on a bicycle, yet it was one of the most enjoyable.
The Team Time Trial consists of four riders working as a team to get the best time on a closed course. You can draft other members of your team, but can not draft other teams. Teams are separated at the starting gate leaving 1 minute apart. The fastest times are when the team works together with a rotating pace line and the strongest riders taking longer pulls instead of faster pulls...the team is only as fast as it's slowest member.
This race really tests your fitness and is basically an hour at LT with mini intervals thrown in for good measure...it's a lung buster and leg burner.
Last year I was a member of the 2008 CAT 4/5 State Championship TTT team here in Oregon with my teammates: Jonny "The Rocket" Banks, Mitch Lee and Brian "B-Ratt" Ratliff. We were able to work together to win the CAT 4/5 class by approximately 4 minutes.
The Team Time Trial consists of four riders working as a team to get the best time on a closed course. You can draft other members of your team, but can not draft other teams. Teams are separated at the starting gate leaving 1 minute apart. The fastest times are when the team works together with a rotating pace line and the strongest riders taking longer pulls instead of faster pulls...the team is only as fast as it's slowest member.
This race really tests your fitness and is basically an hour at LT with mini intervals thrown in for good measure...it's a lung buster and leg burner.
Last year I was a member of the 2008 CAT 4/5 State Championship TTT team here in Oregon with my teammates: Jonny "The Rocket" Banks, Mitch Lee and Brian "B-Ratt" Ratliff. We were able to work together to win the CAT 4/5 class by approximately 4 minutes.
We are currently about 6 weeks from the 2009 State Championship TTT now...and it's time to adjust training to be ready for it since I'm now a CAT 3 cyclist and will be racing with some of the fastest guys in the state.
This means over the next six weeks I'm going to be doing lots of 20 minute threshold intervals and will probably spend a lot of time on Pumpkin Ridge since it takes just over 20 minutes to climb. There will also be several practice sessions around Sauvie's Island with the team to get used to riding in a tight pace line while in the aero bars together and Sauvie's Island is a great training ground since it's an approximate 20k loop that is very flat, but can be windy.
Part of my training will also include the Estacada Time Trials (#2 and #3) to get used to the pain of a long TT again.
I can't wait!!!
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