I can’t believe that I was at training camp just 4 days ago.
The morning after camp ended, I was flying to Florence, then a train to Lucca,
and then finding and getting settled into the apartment. I got an Italian SIM
card for my phone, and got some fresh produce from the store below the
apartment.
The following morning, I walked a mile to the supermarket
with my backpack for a more extensive grocery run, and to get the other
miscellaneous things that I needed. The forecast had called for rain, but it
was a beautiful day. After getting back, I set out for a ride only to see the
clouds rolling in, so I spent an hour riding towards the gaps in the clouds
before heading back. It was a nice spin to loosen up the legs, at least.
Wednesday morning I wanted to get in a longer easy ride of
2-3 hours, but my flight from Florence was at 2:30pm, and I chose to take the
earlier train from Lucca at 10:30 to give myself a decent buffer—this was the
first time I was flying out of Florence. That morning, the street in front of
the apartment was closed down for a giant market. I really wished I had more
time to wander around and see everything. It was another beautiful day, but too
cold to ride with the clothes that I have at the moment.
I got to the Florence airport at 1, which was more than
enough time before my flight. No worries, I’ll just read to pass the time. Then
I learned that a labor strike had resulted in the cancellation of my flight. I
was moved to the 6:30 flight, meaning I got to kill 5 hours at the airport. Since
the airport is outside of town and I was travelling with carry-on luggage only,
I didn’t want to pay for the bus back into town and lug around my backpack all
afternoon, so I didn’t even try to venture out. So I stuck in my headphones and
watched Cool Runnings on my computer (in honor of the upcoming Olympics, of
course!), and listened to a bunch of podcasts. Oh, and I enjoyed my
complimentary 10Euro flight-cancellation meal (just 10Euros for 5 hours of my
time!).
By the time I reached my hotel in Holland, it was 1am. Up at
8am for breakfast, and then we were headed for the velodrome in Apeldoorn. The
velodrome is part of a bigger athletics facility, which was really impressive.
The infield had most track/field events, and the arena was huge with restaurants
on the upper levels. They’ve got things figured out!
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The track itself is a wooden 250m, but the bankings aren’t
as steep as the Superdrome in Frisco, where I’ve done the majority of my track
racing. That’s good, though, as we wouldn’t be riding track bikes. No, the
happy day had finally arrived where I would get to meet my new time trial bike,
the Giant Trinity! And she is a beaut.
I hurriedly (but really, quite slowly) put on my skinsuit—I
think I could have filled it out when I was 100lbs at 14 years old! I was
warming up on the track, getting used to the force in the turns while in my TT
position. It was no problem when I was looking where I was going, but we would
be testing aerodynamics, meaning I needed to be in my normal TT position. This
one:
So I did lap after lap after lap, trying to stay on the
black line while looking only 4 feet in front of my bike. I kept missing the
start of the turn and ending up too high, or continuing to turn too long,
ending up on the apron. I finally got a feel for the rhythm of the track at
speed, and after about 20 minutes I was glued to the black line, knowing when
to start and stop the lean into the turn. I was so focused on this that I
wasn’t paying attention to how fast I was going. When I decided that I was
comfortable, I looked at the speedo and saw I’d been holding 48kph during the
warmup. I guess I was feeling alright!
Before I continue, I should probably explain what we were
doing at the velodrome. Basically, it’s a cheap windtunnel, and growing in
popularity as a means of aerodynamics testing. By using an indoor velodrome
with known atmospheric conditions, measuring power output and speed during the
tests, and some fancy computer work, you can calculate the aerodynamic drag and
determine which position is fastest. It’s not quite as precise as a windtunnel,
but is very effective at rough adjustments. We would be using the track to dial
in our positions well, and making a trip to the tunnel later in the season to
perfect them. Another selling point of testing on the velodrome is that the
rider can really ride in the position to see if it works, as sometimes a
position that you can hold while stationary in the tunnel does not work on the
road.
The task at hand for me was to replicate the tunnel-tuned
position I raced in last year with success. The first order of business was to
put the sharper ski-bend extensions on so I could get my hands higher. Then I
was right at home!
We discussed the test protocol, and I was asked if I would
be alright with 50kph(31mph) as the top speed for the test. Considering my
warmup, it was safe to assume 50 would be okay. 2 laps each at
40-42-44-46-48-50kph, with a lap between each to speed up. With my knowledge of
statistics and experimental procedures, I knew that smoother, steadier tests
would yield the best results. So while focusing on staying on the black line
without looking where I was going, I had to be smooth on the power and hold the
right speed. There was a lot going on!
Then the tests started flying by. Also testing were Warren
Barguil, Tobias Ludvigsson, and Georg Priedler. While somebody was testing, the
mechanics were working on another bike and we just kept rotating. Once we got
my position replicated, the baseline calculation showed that I was marginally
faster than my tunnel position of last year, which I attribute to the bike, as
I was in the tunnel with Orbea’s 7-year-old frameset.
With that settled, we started moving things around just to
see what would happen. I also tried out the bowl-shaped helmet, and as
comfortable as it was, I lost time with it. In the end, we kept my
tried-and-true position, but with the front end just a little bit lower. The
result: faster than last year. Yeah, buddy!
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| Ludicrous speed! Any faster and I'd be plaid. |
Then it was back to the airport, arriving in Florence at
10:30, just as the last train to Lucca was leaving. I could wait 6 hours for
the next one, or do the smart thing. So I took a taxi to the train station
(should have waited half an hour and saved 20Euros by taking the bus, but I was
tired) and made the short walk to a nearby hotel I had researched and got a
cheap room for the night. After a good night’s sleep, I took the train back to Lucca and got rained on during my ride.
After all that, I’ll
be up early tomorrow morning, making the trip again before the sun comes up to
kick off my race season in France. Stage
5 of Etoile de Besseges is an 11K TT with an uphill finish….
