Every half-second counts

It is not the first time luck is on my side and I take first by a fraction of a second. At the Coupes des Ameriques stage race in 2004, my lead was less than 1 second. Last Saturday was the Quebec provincial (state) time-trial championship, on a flat 21.5km out-and-back course. I finished in 28:56 (44.6km/h) just half a second in front of my teammate, Carl Dessurault. I knew that if I was going to win, it was going to be close because Carl was in fine form the week before winning a stage race in Ste-Marie de Beauce, and last year’s winner, David Gaszi was also at the start.

The course was closed to traffic, flat and straight – quite a boring course.  So the most important part of the race was to keep a constant focus. During a time-trial, I repeat a mental phrase to myself, to help me keep my focus. I use the words “position-power”. It keeps me focused on keeping my aero position, and continually applying steady power on the pedals.

The Sunday was the provincial championship road race. A long 120km flat course, with the heat and wind being the main difficulty. After taking 1st in the TT by only a half-second in front of Carl, I told Carl I owed him a good lead-out, if this was going to be a pack finish. Instead, the best I could do for Carl was give him a water bottle when he lost his because of the bumpy Quebec roads. He didn’t need a lead-out, as he initiated a 3 man break in the last 30km and came in second.

On my side, I decided to go early. I was on a break with 5 riders during the first 40km of the race. In important races like National and Provincial championships, early breaks with the right people often work – probably because the commitment level is very high. 2 of the 5 racers were taking very strong pulls, 2 were just hanging-in, and I was just doing my share of the work, without putting the extra effort thinking I needed to conserve some energy and hoping we would be fast enough. That was probably a mistake. To make a break work, you have to commit and do what it takes to get out of sight from the pack. Of course, there is the risk of bonking, cramping, not being able to make to the end – but it is taking those risks that can pay off big time. I ended up finishing in the main pack in about 20th place.

Here is the podium picture from the TT, with David Gaszi, myself, and Carl.

Written by Michel on August 27th, 2008 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on Racing.

• [+] Digg: Feature this article
• [+] Del.icio.us: Bookmark this article
• [+] Furl: Bookmark this article

Related articles

• Moving… (December 27th, 2008)
• Take it easy (October 9th, 2008)
• Fixed gear time trialing (September 25th, 2008)
• Sauver les meubles (September 19th, 2008)
• HED Jet Disc review (September 17th, 2008)