ABD John Fraser Memorial Time Trial
April 9, 2006 – Maple Park, IL
Cat 4 – 31st – 25:48.20
270 watts – 21.6 MPH
My train of thoughts (pun intended) on the way to the John Fraser Memorial Time Trial (10 miles) began with how cold it was going to be in the country vs the lake, how bad the wind and hills were going to be, who the hell designed the Illinois Tollways, and, finally, how every American Legion in the USA smells the same.
For those of you who haven’t been to Maple Park (pop. 788), don’t look for an exit off of I-88 since civil engineers years ago thought you would only want to go to De Kalb. Nevertheless, ABD picked a nice quiet location for the JFMTT and had positioned enough volunteers to direct traffic and guide you to the registration area. Despite warnings on the ABD website, there was plenty of parking around Maple Park. Registration was in the local American Legion post and was fairly organized, but someone else got my number.
The temperature was pleasant and there was only a slight wind. There were plenty of roads to warm-up on, though I was frustrated by running late (having thought like a Wisconsin driver and not an Illini local) and had to cut my warm-up short. Luckily, I ran into fellow XXXer Strewart Pratt on my warm-up and he gave me a few tips on the course. The starting line was a breeze to find, though a Union Pacific line ran right through town so you wanted to make sure you were on the right side of the tracks in time for your start.
I found my number on the back of the rider in front of me, Erik Arntzen from Alberto’s Sport, but we got the situation corrected with the organizers. I was offered a hold by the official for my start, but I decided to start with a foot on the ground. I might have a lost a few seconds, but this was my first outdoor TT. The start was nice and straight and I was able hammer and get tucked right away.
ABD did an excellent job with course marshals, so there was no question with where to go. The course was decent with a couple nicely banked corners and two turn arounds. The first turnaround was down an extremely bumpy, narrow road (worse than most city streets). I was happy to get back out the main highway. The hills weren’t too bad, but the last 2 miles were slightly uphill and into a head wind. At this point, I had been a holding a consistent 23 MPH, but I started to really die.
The finish line was short so the course was only about 9.3 miles. I was able to get my time right away. Not bad for my first outdoor TT, but was a little disappointed with my performance. I was ranked 13th in the overall ABD TT series, and my 31st placing in the JFMTT dropped me to 17th overall (I was hoping for Top 10). Oh, well. I learned the importance of getting in a longer warm-up and pacing yourself despite the wind and hills.
I don’t plan on doing any Ironman distance tris, so I only need to look forward to 40K of this pain the future. And speaking of pain, I’m going to avoid the Illinois toll roads.