Race 2 – 2011 Charlotte Motor Speedway Time Trial Series

ByMike Byrd

Originally posted May 13, 2011

May 11th, 2011 was the 2nd race of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Time Trial Series held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.    I met Jasen at his house, loaded up his car with our time trial bikes and headed down to the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  My start time for the time trial was 7:45pm so I had plenty of time to warm up.  I put my Cervelo P3 together, pasted my number on my speedsuit and managed to get about 5 laps on the track before it was closed for the race. 

I was feeling pretty good.  I had been doing some interval training with a buddy on the road and had just finished up two 8 week trainer sessions with Sarah at Cool Breeze Cyclery.  I don’t have a lot of miles on my legs but was feeling strong for a short effort.

I felt like I had a good warm-up as I was able to ride for about an hour before my time trial started.  I rolled up to the line right at 7:45PM.  I knew that the wind had picked up so I decided not to go out too hard.  I didn’t dig too deep right from the start and tried to slowly ramp up my speed.  I felt like I was going well and was able to keep my head clear as I finished my first lap. Usually my mind is starting to play games with me pretty quickly, but tonight everything felt in control. 

I was going well and consistently passing riders in front of me.  I didn’t start suffering until the 4th lap.   I was hurting bad coming down the front stretch and felt like I slowed considerably coming into turn one.  I tried to relax and get everything back under control.  While on the backstretch during lap 5, I was passed by a rider that made me look like I was going backwards.  It’s crazy to see how fast some of the guys are.  I tried to use him as motivation and keep him in sight, but that didn’t last long. 

I was able to get my breathing under control and started my last lap feeling good.  I was passing my friend Martin coming out of turn 2 when I was passed by another rider.  Same story, he made me look like I was going backwards.  He was a good rabbit and I chased him down the backstretch as hard as I could.  I pushed through turn 3 and 4.  When I entered the final stretch to the start/finish line, there was a rider about 75 yards in front of me and he became my target.  I caught him before the start/finish line totally exhausted.  One good thing about the interval training is that I recovered fairly quickly.

I finished 14th overall with a time of 21:10 (28.33 mph) and was 4th in the Cat 3 group.  I’m hoping to improve on my time at the next Charlotte Motor Speedway Time Trial on June 8th, 2011.  My personal track record is 20:28 and I’d like to set a new personal record this season.

The Bike Racer

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the Internet. My name is Mike Byrd and this is my website. I enjoy sports, being outside, new challenges, marketing and anything that comes my way. I am the author of the blog posts on thebikeracer.com. I enjoy writing about cycling, poiltics, coffee and anything else that fits in the "My World" category. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to say up to date on anything new that gets posted to thebikeracer.com.

Similar Posts

  • 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 4

    ByMike Byrd

    Saturday (6/25/12) was Day 4 for Chester and I at the 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships. Today’s race was the 72K Road Race which was divided up into 3 laps.
    Our race was at 8 and held on the Fort Gordon Military Base. Since our race started at 8, we had an early wake up call. Chester woke up at 4:30 excited to get going. I rolled out of bed around 5:15 and started getting ready. We managed to roll out to the truck around 6:30 and were at the race venue at 7.

  • 2012 Dillworth Criterium

    ByMike Byrd

    The 2012 Dillworth Criterium was my first road race of the year.   Dillworth isn’t one of my favorite courses.  I find it to be a challenging course with a long, steady climb on the front stretch, plus it’s usually the my first road race of the year so my body isn’t used to the effort required in a criterium.

    My race started at 2.  I arrived a little early to catch the end of the Cat 4/5 race to see my friend Mike Levine finish up.  After that, I rode my bike around for about 20 minutes to get the legs going.

  • Race 2 – 2012 Charlotte Summer Mountain Bike Series

    ByMike Byrd

    The first official race of the Charlotte Summer Series Mountain Bike Series hosted by Charlotte Sports Cycling was at North Mecklenburg Park.  I took the Cool Breeze Van down N. Meck and set the tent up.  With this being the first race and at a relatively easy course, the numbers were impressive.  I’m betting Neal had over 150 racers.  The Cool Breeze/Trek Bike Store team had 12 racers!  A great turn out!

    I decided to race the Super Sport class for the summer series.  I considered the Expert class but don’t have a USAC expert license so I couldn’t sign up for the extra length required of the expert class.   We had 12 racers in the Super Sport class which is a great turnout for this class.

  • 24HR Burn Challenge in Wilkesboro, NC 2009

    ByMike Byrd

    Another 24HR Burn Challenge in Wilkesboro, NC has come and gone. We (mostly Mike) put together a team consisting of me, Mike Levine, Ashley Drum, Jasen Taylor and Shannon St. Claire (Brushy Mountain Bicycles). John from Cool Breeze Cyclery was our mechanic. Mike rented a sweet RV fifth wheel for us to set up camp – or really so that he could have A/C and a shower. (Which Ashley made the most use of all weekend). Mike went up on Friday night to reserve our spot and set up camp. We definitely had the best spot as we were overlooking the lake and trees on the opposite side of the lake – and got to watch every racer finish his/her lap. Fortunately he was in the RV when the big storm hit on Friday night that would have an effect on the rest of the weekend.

  • 2012 NODA Criterium

    ByMike Byrd

    April 15, 2012 was the inaugural NODA Criterium held in NODA (North Davidson) in Charlotte, NC.  Since I had raced the Dillworth Criterium the day before, I slept in and did somethings around the house before heading down to NODA.

    I arrived about 45 minutes before my race, got dressed and found Mike Levine of Mills-Levine.  We warmed up for about 20 minutes.  MIke had raced the 4/5 race and was going to race the 3/4 race.  This would be our first chance to race together.  The course in NODA is super fun.  it has 6 turns and is a fast course with a long uphill drag on the back of the course.

  • 2009 Tree Shaker Mountain Bike Race Fort Mill, SC

    ByMike Byrd

    The Tree Shaker 12 Hour race in Fort Mill, SC was my last ‘race’ of the year. Anything from here on out will be for fun.

    Last year, my team of Neal Boyd, Scott Streuer and myself took overall honors in the 3 person team event. This year, TJ Wood took Neal’s spot as Neal had timing responsibilities.

    The forcast was for wet weather but thankfully, we only had a few sprinkles throughout the day. TJ took the first lap, me the second and Scott took the third lap. The first lap always seems to be the hardest as you are trying to go fast, learn the course and not blow yourself up for the rest of the day. I had a great first lap and was looking forward to a good day.