Berkeley Team TT

About a month ago, Jeff and I signed up to ride the Berkeley  Bicycle Club Team Time Trial.  I hadn't planned on racing much down here, but the idea of a TTT always gets my attention.  The two-person format is particularly appealing as it reminds me of my early cycling years, paging through Winning magazine and reading about great races like the Trofeo Baracchi when I wasn't busy watching taped-from-TV videos of the 1987 Tour for the hundredth time.  Good times indeed.

I have always thought that TTTs are one of the hardest events in cycling.  They require a rider to ride at the upper edge of their LT zone and then try to recover just below that between turns at the front.  More riders equals more recovery, but with only two riders per team allowed at this event, we were all in for a tough ride.

The course is one that has been used for years.  It runs clockwise around San Pablo Reservoir on what might best be described as varied terrain and road surfaces.  At times it was so rough that I wondered how anyone on a TT bike managed to hang on.  The rough roads, vicious climbs in the last 10km, and occasional water draining across the roads from recent rains made for a very European feel to the event.  We had a grand time.

After spending the night at Jeff's place in Moraga, we rode 30 minutes to the reservoir, signed in, stashed our warm clothes, and headed to the start.  We arrived with 10 minutes to spare and got down to the job of focusing on the next 45 minutes and the effort it would take.  The biggest mistake you can make in a time trial is to start too fast (well that's the 2nd biggest mistake - the biggest is to arrive late to the start!).  We made sure to start steady and work into it, saving something for the hills.  Jeff is quite the climber, so when it got steep I did my best to hang in and not sound too whiny.  In the end, we did well enough - mid-field with no aero equipment.  We were both pleased with that and celebrated by riding over the hills to Berkeley and meeting our sweeties at TK for lunch.

Here are some photos from the event:

Towing Jeff on a slight rise

It looks like Jeff is struggling up the climb while I sit in, but the reality was the opposite!