It was a 15 km race against the clock, with teams of two setting off in 1 min intervals. The time of the last place racer on the team is counted for the team.
Thus, the strategy is to ride as economical as possible, including good drafting, smart cornering, and riding to the strengths of each racer.
Here is a link to the race details.
Waldhuber and I naturally paired up for this event, as above all, you need to have full confidence and trust in that other racer to know what their limits are, when they may need to shift and thus slow, etc.
We started out 3rd, with a ton of guys having shown up for this unique race. Ahead of us were Cody C and Ryan Barr, and ahead of them were Isaac B and Karel B. Behind us were Harley and Rick C.
All fast guys, so we had our work cut out for us.
We both clipped in perfectly and took off. Mike immediately set the pace very high and my watts were well above FTP. Again, we hadn't warmed up well, but we got at least 10 minutes in. Didn't feel like enough once the race started.
There was a decent crosswind and an interesting course layout, featuring 7 turns, 3 of which were 180 degrees.
Our strategy was for Mike, the stronger time-trialist, to lead first. I would lead through the turns and any descents or tailwinds.
This is pretty much how we executed it, riding very close in the crosswind sections to maximize the draft.
Only real blemishes were:
- one part during a descent in the crosswind where I just fell off Mike's wheel a bit and had to call to him to slow a little to let me catch back on.
- on the 2nd last turn Mike misjudged it or didn't realize we were supposed to turn there and I had to slow up a bit to wait for him.
Crossed the finish line and I had to stop and catch my breath for a couple minutes. *Almost* had to puke!
Results here. 4th / 27, a mere 10 seconds off 1st place.
Here you can see my garmin report. Lap 3 was the actual race:
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