I’m Number One (Of One)

When you’re French you have to know when to pick your fights.  You don’t want to take on, say, Germany.  Far better to flex your muscles on a smaller stage where you couldn’t possibly lose—Vietnam or Algeria, for example.  Better still when you’re Thomas Voeckler, you get into a strong breakaway and then let wet roads and bad drivers eliminate your competition from behind.

When you’re me—though I’m pretty sure you aren’t—you drive up to Ripon for the 21st Annual Louis Reed Time Trial, an unsanctioned event in honor of Ripon’s cycling and track & field star of the 1890s.  The event is close to home, is free of charge, and doesn’t draw a big field.  I figured I would do pretty well today on the mostly-flat, 10-mile course.  I didn’t figure on winning with a time of 28:13.5, an average of 21.26 mph.  And I especially didn’t figure on being the only rider in the competition!

So, it’s a hollow victory by any standard but I’m glad I went.  I rode hard—average heart rate of 154 bpm (84%) with a maximum observed heart rate of 167 bpm (91%)—giving the race organizers and volunteers a reason to be there and keeping their tradition alive for another year.  Hopefully they will get the word out for the 2012 race; there was almost no mention of this year’s race online or in print and perhaps some prospective racers thought it was canceled.  It would be a shame for such a long-running event to die.