Andrew Randell is competing at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge with the SpiderTech p/b C10 team. He posted the 35th-fastest time in the prologue.
It’s amazing how much you can empty your body in a short nine minutes.
Today was the opening prologue for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, an 8-km time trial that started in the beautiful Garden of the Gods Park.
This was a different prologue – we started high and dropped down into Colorado Springs. Despite the mainly downhill course it was still strategic and took every ounce of energy out of me. Right off the gun there was a rise you had to punch it on, then a small downhill, then another rise to punch over, then the big drop down Ridge Rd where you could take a breather into a sharp left hander (careful not to crash, where the race had generously put out caution signs for us), followed by a false-flat down into a right and left which took you out onto the final 4km straight stretch that was slightly downhill into the last kilometre, which was deceptively hard with a bridge to get over and then a slight rise to the finish.
On the straight run into the finish I was riding on my 55×11 at 96 rpm [about 60 km/h]. Today was fast! All the way on the final straight I was cross-eyed, focused on holding my head low and aero while trying to keep an eye on the white line to keep going straight. Over the bridge at the end I was out of the saddle pushing for all I was worth, then the last 300m drag to the line.
After the line it was all I could do to catch my breath and calm my body down. At altitude your lungs always get burned when doing such an intense effort; the dry air tears at them and dries out your mouth completely. I pulled over to the side of the road in the shade and coughed and coughed, spitting up phlegm that was deep inside my lungs. That kept going on and off for a good hour after the race. And it’s funny, in the hotel you can hear riders all over coughing in the same way.
I was happy with my ride; I couldn’t have done any more. And it was the first day that I felt decent since arriving in altitude. Finally I seem to be able to hold my Watts up without my heart rate spiking through the roof. Hopefully it bodes well for the week here at USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
— Andrew Randell
