Chris Phipps had a great road race and nearly pulled it off – so close. The course was probably too flat for him but still made 4th to bring home some hardware. All Scott Cole needed was a lack of bad luck to be right in there too.
I had a few goals this season: Cat 1 upgrade, win a stage race and podium at others, and Districts. As my TT form came along all of a sudden nats snuck in the picture, and was bolstered by finishing 2nd (and very hung over) in the P-1-2 race at Dunlap, and then throwing down at Sattley to win the State Championship jersey. After comparing numbers and trading emails with Hutch I realized there’s a chance – albeit a very outside one since the 40-44 field was stacked: top three guys from last year’s 40-44 race plus 2nd in the 35-39, and of course Richard Feldman, the multiple world TT champ. Feldman notwithstanding, trying to go against that field with my 1.5-season bike racing career was a lot to chew on.
Phipps and I pre-rode the coarse Monday and I have to say there’s not a flat spot to be found. It’s either up or down with a lot of long rollers in between. Race day came early and we headed out to the staging area only to find out there was a one-hour delay, shortly followed by another one-hour delay. We kicked back under the Specialized crew’s phat Sprinter and shot the bull with Innes, Metcalfe and newly-crowned road champ Roemer. During our stay we got to talking about fast guys we each had to deal with and Innes emphatically told me about Feldman’s crazy palmares.
While thunderstorms were threatening, the weather turned out to be ideal for a TT: cloudy, breezy and only about 70, although the high humidity was a bit of an X-factor. Start time finally arrived and I took it out easy on the 4-5% 2kish climb that began right away. From there it was just get on the gas and drill it. The course was extremely unforgiving and ended with the downhill which would be a 70kph screamer. At the top I decided to get up on the horns to be cautions since I was riding a disk wheel and getting blown around, but after a quick glance at my computer I realized I’d go under 30, got in the horns and pointed it, pedaling my ass off. At about 1.5K to go I smashed it and held 430+ watts to the line. Crossed the line, heard the announcer boom “fastest time so far in 40-44 race” and knew it would be close.
Feldman and the other fastest guys started about 10 riders behind and I watched everyone come across. One after another the major players finished well back, and then here comes Feldman storming to the line. I kept looking from him to the clock. As he finished the clock (and nearly my heart) stopped at 29:42 – same as my time. Damn! Then the announcer gave his split - .56 back, and I knew it was in the bag. Crazy, crazy crazy. Won by a blink – taping the cuffs on my skinsuit, a pedal stroke, smashing it down that hill.
Even though this was an individual race against the clock it was a team effort to win. Thanks to:
· Phipps for convincing Brian and Shawn to put me on the team, and the two of them for taking a flyer on a rookie rider
· Steve Archer for graciously giving up the Transition frame he’d ordered
· Hutch, who shared a lot of insight and kicked me in the nuts when I needed it
· John O’Donnell, a buddy I met racing from Washington state, who gave me a ridiculous amount of advice on position, component/gear choices and other TT knowledge
· Jesse Moore, who coached me from a wonky triathlete to national champ in a little more than a season
· And most importantly, my wife Carm, for putting up with the endless training days, weekends away from home racing, infinite amount of cycling dialogue, and many more things than there’s time to recount here
Thanks again everyone – I’m honored to have been able to get this for the team and make everyone’s contributions pay off.
Chris Lyman
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