Frostbite Time Trial

Rory Kelly and Alison Powers set the fastest times at Colorado's road racing season opener. Report by Eddie Clark

(March 5, 2011) FORT COLLINS, Colo.—A larger than expected turn-out of 286 road racers donned their time trial gear to give their legs the first test of the road racing season with a solo race against the clock.  Being the first race of the year, it’s fitting that the course is a straight forward out-and-back over 11.4 miles of mostly flat road with a few gentle hills.  Cat 1 women’s winner Alison Powers commented, “I’m always glad to be here for this time trial.  It’s a good test of fitness, a chance to look at the numbers, and see how your training is coming along”. 

Historically, the weather has presented the greatest challenge to contestants of the Frostbite TT, but on this day temps wer in the 50's(F) and winds were light to moderate out of the south.  Since the course is on a north south running service road parallel to I-25, racers had little cross winds to deal with, which tends to make handling a time trial bike with disc or deep dish rims a real handful.

By default, Scott Tietzel (Team Rio Grande) took the Senior Men’s Pro win with a time of 24:16 because he was the only starter for that class.  However, it was Cat 1 racer Rory Kelly (New Hope360/Trek/GS Boulder) who clocked the fastest time of the day at 24.03 to take all the victors glory.

Two of Colorado’s top pros, Georgia Gould (Luna Team), and Alison Powers (Team Tibco) both made it out to support the local event and test their fitness.  Considering Gould was on a standard road bike, it was more of an intense training/test ride in contrast to Powers who showed up in full time trial gear.  Powers clocked a time of 26:36 to kick off her fifth pro road racing season, which also bested several of the Cat 1 men. 

Regarding this season, Powers had much to say, “I was out in CA the last week for the Team Tibco training camp.  My team (Vera Bradley) from last year went away this year, but fortunately I’m racing with Tibco now.  It’s a wonderful program, and they’ve been around for a long time.  I think my training is going well this year... I’ve been nordic skiing more, and it makes me appreciate the bike more.  I’m putting less pressure on myself and coaching myself this year.  Our team goal is to win the team overall for the NRC, and there’s no pressure on me to win the individual NRC title, which is nice.  I’m also coaching with Fast Cat coaching, and I really get a lot out of coaching.  It’s nice to share my experiences and help others reach their goals.”

Like most local races, the lion’s share of the attendance were comprised of Masters, Veterans, and Senior Men’s racers, and also a fair bit of Senior Women’s Cat 4’s.  Instead of racing against his peers, Philip Pucel of Colorado Velo noted, “We’re doing our first team fundraiser for bikeMSwyoming.org to help folks in WY who are disabled by MS in their day to day lives, and the other 40% of the funds go to research into helping with the disease.  I’m a racer but not racing today.  Instead, I’m here with my team, Colorado Velo who is a sponsor, to help with registration.  The thing about the time trial is it gives some of the older folks who don’t care to ride in a peloton or pack a chance to race."

Agreeably, Mike Rosenthal, a racer for Spradley Barr Wind Chill Cycling Team from Cheyenne, WY was out to test himself against the competitive Senior Men’s 55+ field.  “Some of us have gotten some good preparation in but in Wyoming it’s hard to get out sometimes with the winter weather.  This is a good test to see where you are with your fitness.  It’s comparatively warm here with the weather being in the 50’s, but there’s not as much wind, so it’s a little advantage for us.  My prediction is I’m going to do the best I can and hope I beat at least somebody.”

For more results, see the ACA website.

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