2019 Race Report #8: Bryce Masters 19 KM Time Trial

My eight race of 2019 was the 15th race of the 20-race Mid-America Time Trial Series (MATTS). This was on the same course as my second race of the season back on May 12th that featured horrendous weather conditions. The course was a flat out-and-back 19 kilometers on local roads south of Milky Way Park, Harvard, IL, 73 miles northwest of Chicago.

The weather was mild. Temperature at my 8:54 AM start time was a pleasant 73 degrees with humidity at 57 percent. My bike computer reported the wind was zero, but there was a cross breeze from the west at about 5 mph.

I started my warmup about 45 minutes before my start time by riding the first half of the course. This allowed me to review the slight undulations in the course and check the intensity of the cross breeze. My 20-minute warmup got my heart rate and power level up to race pace.

With a sufficient warmup, I was able to quickly settle into a 90 rpm cadence and 22-23 mph speed on the outbound leg. I attacked the undulations to keep my speed steady on the rises, but accelerated to 27 mph on the declines. Unlike my previous races, I remained in a tuck position for the entire effort, only sitting up at the turnaround point. This allowed me to finish with my best average speed of the season so far: 23.1 mph.

My time was 0:30:51 (23.1 mph average), 10 minutes faster than my previous race on this course back in May, for third place. The winning time for my age-group was 0:27:51 (25.43 mph average). In fact, the first two finishers both averaged in excess of 25 mph.

Race replay: Bryce Masters 19 KM Time Trial

My next race is in two weeks, the third MATTS 20 km time trial on the Kansasville, WI, course, an hour’s drive southwest of Milwaukee.