State Team Time Trial Championships

Another first for me today - Western Australian State Team Time Trial Championships in Pinjarra. Never participated in a team time trial before and was quite looking forward to this.  A fairly flat course awaited us.

SPR had entered five teams, three in Masters and two in Open. We were 'SPR Masters C' and our band of merry men consisted of myself, Mark, Snuggles (John) and Jordan. I thought we were a pretty well matched team and I was keen to get on our way. A short warm up on the trainers and a brief discussion about what was to follow. Shortish turns between thirty and sixty seconds would be the order of the day and letting each other know if the lead person was flagging. Jordan and myself had clip-on aerobars for the event, he had never used them before and I couldn't remember the last time I'd used them in a race. Advised the others that because of this they might want to give us some room instead of sitting an inch off our wheels. Better to be be marginally slower and not stack me thinks. Everyone was to stay together for the first 10km and no stopping for punctures or mechanicals - unless there was only three of us left of course (need to finish with at least three). Not much thought was given to the order of riders on the road but once we got underway and settled down it was Jordan, Snuggles, Mark then me.

I thought the pace was on for the first 10km and was acutely aware of not letting myself stay too long on the front. Jordan was pulling strongly, Mark had ants in his pants and was putting in great efforts and Snuggles was powering away too. I was getting my usual feeling of "Oh shit,... not sure I can keep this up..." The second 10km I came good and felt quite comfortable. We were passed by the 'SPR Masters A' team who started two minutes behind us somewhere here.... A small hiccough at the second turn (..go *around* the witch's hats Dave!!!) was overcome without further drama. I managed a big turn shortly after that and despite a moment where we thought we might splinter, we all rolled around the turn-around together.

A quick decision was made to stick together, dropping no one, for the time being. It was more of a headwind on the way back and having the team together would be handy.  The Eddy Hollands team had popped one their contingent but still sailed past us with ease.  We could see about 400m ahead of us one of the guys that had dropped off from 'SPR Masters A' which turned out to be Jason, but we never caught him!  In fact I think he pulled away further in the last 10km!

The final turn for the last 10km seemed to give us new life. I was chomping at the bit and was coming through early on Mark (sorry!), Snuggles was having a second wind and Jordan was as solid as ever. A small disorganised moment came at an unfortunate time, right when 'SPR Masters B' passed us with a few kilometres to go, but no harm done. We powered on to the finish, Mark was breathing down my neck and so I just kept going. Crossed the line together, 42km down at 37.7kph average. Not bad - SPR Thursday ride pace with only four of us. I was content with that, we all rode well, sensibly and hard.
  Results indicate we finished 8th from nine masters teams. 
Team time trialling is not unlike any other skill - it takes practice to excel.  When to go hard, when to skip a turn, when to encourage, when to ease up.  A lot of it is familiarity with your team mates, knowing their strengths and weaknesses.  I had a good time riding with the guys and I'd hope to be considered for a team in a future event.
 
My ride details can be found here, Jordan's here & John's write-up here.