Jan 17, 2005 – Imagine standing in the stairwell of a large skyscraper. You sprint up three flights of stairs, turn around to go back down, but are only allowed to descend two flights, before sprinting up the next three. Do it for over one hour, and you then will have some idea what it takes to race in one of bicycling’s most difficult events, the two-person time trial.
In this competition, two riders race both the other teams and the clock, and the cyclists most willing to make themselves suffer always win. Each rider takes a turn in the front for approximately 30 seconds, setting the pace, with his teammate sitting behind in the slipstream. The leader will then pull off, allowing his compatriot to take a turn leading. It is in this transfer, when neither rider is in the energy saving draft that guarantees that the output of energy is always greater than the chance for recovery.
On Sunday at the six-mile airport loop on St. Croix, Gabe Weber and Sue Brown of the Cruzan Sprockets Cycling Team exhibited their toughness and cruised to victory in the 24-mile Elite Division, in a time of 1 hour five minutes and 10 seconds. Sprocket teammates, and time trial rookies, John Frongillo and Raymond Brown took second with an excellent time of 1:06:05. Jose Diaz and Danney Fontenlle of STX 340 placed third in 1:10:21.
The 12 mile Expert Category saw the return of veteran Victor Cruz, who paired with Ernst Schuster to take the win in 36:50. Second went to Mike Klein and Mike Hill, who missed winning by a tantalizingly close margin of 9 seconds, in 36:59. Elizabeth Tilden and Scott Fricks finished third in 37:26.
In the one loop, six mile Sport Category, Kathy LaGrange and Tyler Jowaisas won in 18:59. Nelson Rojas and Bert Wolff were 30 seconds adrift in 18:59. Markey Webster and Gary Nicholas finished third in 19:49.
The next race on the calendar will be another Anything Goes race, on Feb. 13. The race will start at the Fort in Frederiksted, ride along to Hams Bluff, and from there, each rider can choose his own course to the finish at Rust op Twist. The race will begin at 7 a.m. For more information, call 773-4470.
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