I'd like to leave it at that - the headline is accurate. But, there is a little more to the story. Joe, Tod, Allan C. and I practised last Thursday and on the basis of that success, entered the Sidney Velo Masters TTT (Team Time Trial) on Sunday. This was a timed (obviously) 40 km race along the road to Cowichan Lake just north of Duncan. 20 kms out, turn around, and run 20 kms back. It was a rolling course, with a bit of a head wind on the way out. Everyone is racing against the clock and departures occur at 1 min intervals. The first part is important.... racing against the clock. So, it's a race....... even if no one else shows up... right? It's still a race. Andrew my son asked the pointed question when I got home... "So, what exactly is a gold medal when you're the only one in the race?" I'm like, "What do you mean?" He says: "OK dad, between you and me, you won"
About eight iTT (individual Time Trial) racers left before us. They made us wait 3 min because we were expected to be faster than the iTT people. We were, for the most-part. Mick Bryson and a young guy from Team Rally (Adam de Vos's team mate) beat us all by themselves. I'll check, but I think (hope) we beat the rest of the iTT field. What we did beat was the 'standard' for our team's average age. Joe can tell us the exact time, but it was about 1hr 5 min, so very close to averaging 40km/hr over the 40km course.
It was a great experience.... we killed ourselves and one another in the nicest way. The guy from Rally beat the 40 km record by 2 minutes. That was astounding. This race has been going on for 40 years..... to be there when the record was broken, and by that amount, was privilege
The Sidney Velo club put on an amazing event.... unfortunately there were more volunteers (and more medals) than participants.
Soon the Master's Club and VCL are joining forces and that will avoid conflicts (e.g., Windsor Park VCL on the same days as Masters iTT/TTT race). I told them that TTT has become a big thing with Tripleshot and that next year they'll have lots of entries. In the meantime, Joe, Tod, Allan and I are the reigning Master's TTT champions. You might pass us this Thursday morning, but remember, we have gold medals under our jerseys
JT
