Return Of The Trenton Time Trial

Start/Finish at the corner of Rusco Drive and Oak Road.

In 2010 I introduced a members-only time trial series to the Washington County Bicycle Club. It flopped. But this year I decided to try it again and it has been worthwhile … not a runaway success, but worthwhile. Two dates remain: July 26 and August 30.

This year’s TT series uses a very different course than the one I created four years ago. The old course in the Town of Trenton was just 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long. It was never meant to be used for a multi-lap TT of 20 or 40 kilometers. But like my new course in the Town of Addison, the old course was easy to navigate and easy to officiate because it consisted only of right-hand turns and there was no way for a rider to take a shortcut.

I thought I would use the Trenton TT course a lot to sharpen and test my fitness, but when the 2010 WCBC time trial series failed I abandoned the idea. On April 18, 2010, I set a time of 11:24 and then never attempted to beat it.

Until today. And I crushed it, turning in a time of 10:09. I feel confident that I can do a sub-10:00 TT on that course. Today I was delayed by a car at Maple and Paradise. It wasn’t a 9-second delay, but it was significant. Without it—and with a better showing up the hill to the final turn—I might have broken the 10:00 barrier.

I don’t do a lot of intervals … unless you count intervals of overeating followed by intervals of remorse. Today’s TT fit neatly inside a 28-mile ride that otherwise would have been just another endurance-pace exercise. I rode for nearly an hour to warm up for the all-out TT effort, then cooled down at the end. The total time of 90 minutes was typical for a weeknight ride, but the TT made the workout far better than it would have been otherwise.

I will do more of these as cyclocross season approaches. I might even try back-to-back TT efforts with just a few minutes of recovery in between. Having all-day endurance is great, but pushing out my lactate threshold would be a huge benefit in competition.