Cham-Pain 40K TT
May16, 2010 – Tolono, IL
Masters 30+ – 2nd – 57:22.90
268 watts – 26.0 MPH

Just a forewarning…I don’t know if it’s a family-friendly race report. OK, it’s not that bad…PG, but definitely not G.

This past weekend, Rose and I headed down to the Chambana area for the Cham-Pain 40K TT put on my Wild Card Cycling. A new course and a full 40K in May was very intriguing. I needed to do this race for MATTS points and Rose wanted to get some bike racing in for her duathlons. Plus, the weather called for temps in the mid-70s with party cloudy skies. Well, things don’t always work out the way you planned.

First, the race happened to coincide with graduation weekend at the University of Illinois and the race was in Tolono. We had hoped to get a hotel in Champaign, but ended up down in Mattoon. It wasn’t that bad…just 30 minutes from the start of the race. We got a little depressed though when the weather forecast started to go downhill. When we checked into our hotel on Saturday, it was in the 60s and the hotel was packed with baseball teams who had been rained out. I took advantage of a break in the rain in the evening to preride the course.

Wow. The course started just outside of Tolono at the Unit West High School. It headed straight west with a couple of lazy S turns. The turnaround was almost exactly at the 20K point. The road surfaces were amazing and there was hardly any traffic. Temps were in the mid-60s with a 5-10 MPH E wind when I rode the course. Maybe, I was too excited for the race, since I ended up hammering the course at tempo pace. Yeah, real smart considering I was racing in the AM.  My main concern was how much it would rain in the morning.

The good news is that there wasn’t a drop from the sky when we arrived at the start of the race. OK, the bad thing about live radar on the internet is that you know rain is on the way. The good thing was that showers were scattered and it was at least around 60 degrees F. I felt bad for the Wild Card guys, since the parking lot showed a very abnormally low MATTS turnout. I don’t know if it was the distance from Chicago or the weather, but there were many folks missing out on an amazing course and well run course (it even had chip timing).

Me riding my brand new, ubertastic Hed Powertap Stinger disc. Wow!
Photo by Ragfield.

I had planned on doing two races, so I was one of the first racers to start. The first half of the race was nice with a 10-15 MPH tailwind helping keep speeds above 30+ MPH. I didn’t encounter any rain until the turnaround. At this point, I was plenty warm and didn’t mind getting a little wet. The headwind on the return trip didn’t seem that bad as first. The nice road conditions help as did trying to focus on the riders ahead of me.

This was my first race with my Hed Powertap Stinger disc and was amazed by the quality of the ride and how well it accelerated. It felt much more like a normal wheel and less like a disc. Plus, it didn’t weigh much more than a standard Powertap training wheel. It’s amazing what the folks at Hed and Saris can engineer.

While I was enjoying my new wheels, things started to get uncomfortable–literally–with about 10K to go. I was trying my Cobb Cycling V-Flow Plus for the first time in a race. It had worked well while I was riding the trainer, but it was killing my nads the last 15-20 minutes. This wasn’t very fun, especially when your legs and lungs are already hurting. I was excited about possibly breaking 56 minutes, but fell apart the last 5K. The last mile was slightly uphill and I kept shifting myself in the seat every 10-20 seconds because me balls hurt so much. I still managed to finish in 57:22, which I felt was a decent time for me this early in the season (BTW, the Cobb saddles are very nice and they do offer a 180 day guarantee. Saddles are a very personal choice. What fits one person, might not fit another).

Rose out on the course.
Photo by Ragfield.

I scratched from my second race and quickly changed into dry clothes. At this point, the rain was steady and I headed to the finish to wait for Rose. She had only ridden a few times this season, so I was impressed that she decided to race a full 40K. She was tired at the finish, but happy she did it. We both got packed up and headed home. Ironically, we thought going south would bring us sunny, warm weather. Nope, but the skies cleared when we got back to Chicago…go figure.

Oh, well, I hope that Wild Card Cycling puts this race on again, because the course is amazing. Keep an eye out for it next year. You’re sure to enjoy it!