Jack Frost Time Trial, or how I ripped my lungs out.

Average Power: 257 Watts
Average Heart Rate: 157 bpm
Average Speed: 22.1 mph
Time: 32:38
Weather: Ugly, but no wind

The weather forecast for the Jack Frost TT had been ugly all week long – 100% chance of rain with temps in the low 40s. The forecast was not wrong.

We woke up to wet roads, but no rain falling. Joanne and I headed up to Vancouver and arrived with over an hour before Joanne’s start time. I set up the trainer underneath Olson’s Bicycle Shop canopy and Joanne had a dry place to warm up as it did start to rain lightly. And it was a cold rain.

The question of the morning was what to wear? If you wear too much, then you overheat and this causes you to slow down. If you do not wear enough, then you suffer. I finally decided upon two base layers (one long sleeve) and my Race Across Oregon finishers jersey as our RAO/Imperial River team kits have not come in yet. On my legs, I opted for leg warmers and only wind booties for the feet. I did choose long fingered gloves.

At first, I thought that I had not worn enough, but soon I felt find. I did not even feel cold when the snow began to fall. But true, the snow fell for only a few seconds, but my arms were displaying white flakes of snow.

The Felt S32 TT bike ran well. I had no shifting issues and the SRAM 55 tooth chain ring allowed was nice to have.

My thirty second man was a no show, so I had to chase the fellow who started one minute in front of me. It took me a while to get to the point where I could even see him, but once I did, I slowly caught up to him. I passed him after the half way turn around, but I could already see another rider in front of him. I again slowly worked my way up to him, but I was still 30 feet behind him when we came to the last corner. I took that hard left very easy and I could not catch him in the final sprint to the finishing line.

None the less, I was very happy with my effort. I improved my time by 1:20 over last year and improved my power 38 Watts, a 15% improvement!

Joanne also did well, very well. She took first in her division winning over three other ladies.