The Race Report from the 25th TT:
Di shui hu roughly translated into English means ‘F*&!ing windy lake.” Anyone who has ridden there knows that any time of the year, in any part of the season, there is a strong headwind that lasts for 7.9km of the 8km loop around the lake followed by a tailwind that last for about 100m. Sunday, the lake lived up to its namesake and there was a bitterly strong headwind that actually caused a Belgian TCR rider to get off his bike and walk it across the finish line muttering about how if it were a wet cobbled road like home his dimpled Zipps, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
The wind kept up as the race started at about 09:30 and the A-category got going. The biennial FHL time-trials are typically the best attended races of the year with closet triathletes and TT-heads coming out of the woodwork to be almost as common as the Euro-pro triathlete-haters that attend the other races throughout the year. This year was no exception with the likes of the undisputed uber-taskmaster of the Shanghai spinning world Jacob Johansen, uber-China Trek boss Todd McKean, and Shanghai uber-triathlon legends Fredrik Croneborg and Tony Orvain all making appearances at the race – and they helped push the top speed – making this year’s race one of the fastest yet and had the old-hands like Allen Lueth panting at the finish line “Damn that was fast…”
The most obvious difference between the A and B categories on Saturday was the equipment. With flashy Treks, Cervelos and Zipps of every depth, the A category was not only a test of strength and grit, but of technological innovation. “Wheels that shave 20s off a 40km TT? I’ll take them.” “Water bottle not aerodynamically placed, forget water – don’t need it.” I’m sure Shanghaivelo will very shortly post a ‘most pimp ride’ award shortly. Was it the Specialized Transition? Todd McKean’s Trek Equinox? Or Edward Cork’s Specialized ‘Test Bike’? Yet ironically, if you looked at the top-10 finishers in Category A, most, while riding different brands, most were quite similarly equipped with at least an TT-specific frame, aerobars, and two deep rim wheels if not a deep front and a disc rear. Yet, the time difference between the top finisher and the 10th, was just over 4 minutes.Looking at the B category, it was a much more mixed bag with most riders on their road bikes with aerobars and some deep-rim action, but nothing to the extent of category A, yet the difference between the 1st place and 10th place riders was only 3 minutes – indeed only 12s separated the top-4. Had I known the difference would’ve been so slight, I would have begged/borrowed/stole my own set of ‘minus 20 second over 40km’ Zipps, which would’ve catapulted me into first with a few seconds to spare. So, the moral of the story?
1. Never buy Zipps so at least you have an excuse
or
2. Buy them, but make sure they’re last season’s, so at least you have an excuse.
The course itself, despite the wind, was quite nice. Almost a near perfect 8km with very little traffic and a good road surface, there were few flaws that one could point to besides the wind. The local police and security kept most of the cars, but not the wind, off the course which made it easier for riders to focus on catching the rider in front of them rather than avoiding cars. As mentioned, the B-race was tight and windy, but due to seeding, it was a bit difficult to tell who the competition was as many of the top-finishers went off in the beginning and some at the end – riders seemed to be seeded in general by team. This was unlike the A-race (also windy), where riders were seeded based on quite a complex and effective system designed by the organizers which more or less had the fastest rider going last. The wind also seemed to pick up during the B-race, but it was difficult to tell as it always seems less windy at the start line.
The finish line was about 500m before the starting line and, you guessed it, the last 1km coming to the finish was some of the most punishing wind on the course. As one rider stated before the race, “push harder until you go cross-eyed, then you can back-off a bit,” – well if it were going to happen, it would’ve been at the finish – directly into the wind.
A-results were released about an hour after the race and B-results yesterday. B saw the boys from Panaracer dominating the top spots with a few MaxSH, Specialized and Proair’s filling out the top-10.
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