Kjellquist Blog

Well, this weekend’s races certainly included a turkey for yours truly. Or another words, the ugly, bad and good. Yup, in reverse order. The ugly and bad (and turkey) was Saturday’s Turkey Hill road race in Manheim, Lancaster county, PA. I haven’t ridden this race before but the key section of 3 sequential hills isn’t unfamiliar since it has been part of some early season time trials for the past 3 years. I should have known better but Saturday just proves your mind quickly forgets pain. We are to do 4 laps of this 10 Km country road circuit. As often is the case, the 50+ category got to stand around at the S/F as the previous races didn’t finish on time. I guess I wonder why I do a good warm up?
When the race finally got underway, things went at a pretty good clip from the start. Into the wind on the back leg I was able to move up front for a little action. Big mistake. The sequence of 3 hills popped me on the first lap.
Subsequent laps I found that I could carry good momentum for hill #2 and #3 and conquer 80% of the grade. But, you can’t do this in a pack watching the rider in front and mostly riding at his pace.
The race ended with me off the back (first of the finishing chasers) in 25th. The last 2 laps all I could think of was the 40K time trial on Sunday.

Sunday’s 40K time trial arrived sunny, very cool (barely 50+) and VERY windy. The course starts on River Rd. right across from Three Mile Island. Yup, that Three Mile Island! It goes down the rolling road for 12 miles and comes back. With a northeast wind and a southerly rode I thought for sure we would have a tailwind then headwind. However, topography and mother nature conspired for a cross wind that gusted to well over 25 mph. Much of the steady wind was approaching 20 mph. Except for a short section right after the turn around, we never saw a tailwind. Combine the wind with a solid rear wheel and deep dish Zipp 404 front wheel and you have a formula for being blown around big time!!
So what was the good? My time for the 40K was 1:05:03. Not great (winning 50+ time was 57 min) but good enough for 9th place and in the money! Given that I’m closer to 60+ than 50+, the winning 60+ time was 1:03 (I would have gotten 2nd place). So all and all, a reasonable early season long time trial.