GROVEPORT ITT & TTT

I've only ridden in one TTT up until today, but I think they are much more fun than ITT's. Today I was honored to race once again with Cindi Hart. Despite an ongoing health issue, Cindi traveled from Indianapolis late last night with her husband, Ken, and MOB Squad junior Abby Nicks to participate in the event.

Weather conditions were much more pleasant today than yesterday with dry pavement, temperatures in the low 70's, and relatively little wind. The route was very nice and each corner was well marked or marshaled by law enforcement (nice job by Jim Matson, Cyclist Connection, and their helpers).

Kudos go to Brooke and Abby for doing a nice job with their first TTT. Special thanks go to Cindi for providing inspiration and leadership to the women's team. I am also grateful for the expert technical support of Ken who also drove the follow vehicle during the race.

The weather was much more comfortable than yesterday. Our team consisted of Will, Chris, Joe, Blair and myself. I had a few goals for the race: set a strong pace, stay motivated, maintain momentum, get at least 3 guys to the finish line, and most importantly beat Larry's team.

Our team was composed of riders of different abilities so keeping things smooth was really important. We even had a debate about which type of rotation would be best. We chose to vary the pull times to get the best bang for the buck and that seemed to work.

On the first half of the course the rollers caused us some difficulty maintaining a rhythm, but we were able to keep everyone together and organized. We only started to have difficulty after turning back North and into the wind. I was really hoping for a bit of a tailwind there, but there was none. It was really hard work and it hurt bad. I think that fatigue caused our well oiled machine to hiccup. We lost two guys on the way back, but we were still able to catch the Cycle Dots team. Thanks for the motivation and moving over while we passed.

We ended up finishing second to the Dayton team which didn't surprise me. We put in a pretty good effort with an average over 27mph and beat Larry's team by about a minute. Larry can have the pink team name next time.

Thanks for putting on the event everyone. It turned out to be fun. I am also glad to see that we had pretty good turnout for the earlier individual session. I know at least one person who had their first race that day. Even though TT's are pain festivals, I hope they come back and race again.

Last but not least, I am glad that Ken and Cindi were able to make it over for the event. It's always a treat to see Cindi having fun riding her bike.

This was my first team time trial. I could have done a few things better, like stay closer to Amy's wheel, but I discovered I don't do that well when I'm trying to make sure that the team is together behind me. I still haven't mastered looking under my arm, so best I could do was turn around while I tried to ride straight. I realized we needed more practice with vocals, but I'm sure we'll get it if we train for another one of these. Our pace was conservative, to keep the four of us together. Laurel, way to tough it out. Keep rehabbing that shoulder, and working yourself back to health.

To Cindi and Ken for making the drive out, thanks. I really appreciate how you share your experience with us. Too bad you're not just a little closer! Cindi, JoMay, and Abby, thanks for coming out so that we could form two teams. Next year, we need to find a way to entice some of the other women's teams to participate. Brooke, congratulations on your TTT victory, and thanks for training so hard with us.

I was so dead from the crit the day before. I had a really hard time doing this race because no matter how I road my should just kept cramping up. But, no matter how much pain I was in I still stuck it out! It was a great pleasure riding a team time trial with Sheri, Amy, and Wnedy. I felt we were really connected as a group and was honored to be a part of such a wonderful team.

This was a first attempt at a team time trial for some of us. It was different doing two races, one right after the other. Glad the second one was with a group. We all put in our best effort and worked hard. I had a lot of fun just out on the road working with my team-mates. It was great to have so many Savage Hill Riders all at one place at one time.
To everyone who helped and cheered us on, Thank YOU!

I really enjoyed this race. In retrospect, I didn’t warm-up enough. We didn’t blaze this course, but we had a very good run for not really having any practice. Kudos to Jim and all who helped out with this event- I think in the future this event will only grow in popularity. This would be a great event for many who are new to cycling, as well as the club riders to give competitive cycling a try.

Today we showed we worked very well as a team. Oh, don't get me wrong we had our share of hiccups along the way. Paul and Larry nearly ran into each at one point. I pulled away from the group twice. We kept it together, even when people started to get tired, until the last half mile.

Larry, Paul, Steve and Todd (alphabetical order...sorry private joke) good job working together today. It was both fun and educational.

As organizer of the Groveport events today I now understand what it takes to pull this off. Special thanks go out to Chris Fisher, Ryan Rish, Ric Noland (Cyclist Connection), Josh (Groveport Police), and Greg from Subway.

Being towed by Chris Fischer was kinda interesting...