Event 6: 4 man Team Time Trial

	14-May-06
	TTT 58.2 Km
Name	Time	Points
Imran	01:35:48	100
James	01:35:48	100
Messias	01:35:48	100
Ernst	01:36:25	70
Duncan	01:36:25	70
Carlos	01:36:25	70
David	01:44:44	50
Jorge	01:44:44	50
Alvaro Jose Alves (Zeca)	01:44:44	50
Bill	01:44:44	50

 

Whew ... Hello everybody and welcome to therace of truth … The TIME TRIAL. This is the race race report for the raceheld on the 14-May 2006 on the N4 – Matola toMoamba.

The tifosi should have been out in full force.This weekend the tarmac was on fire at the TTT 58.2 Km. The longest Time Trial everin Mozambique. Some of us thought it was not possible to fly for that long at intensityand that we would end up being a case for “air craft crash investigation” on Discovery Channel. But I can assure you, that itwas not to be because as soon as the first team set off, there was a heatwave between Matola and Moamba.

The signs were very clear “Caution veryfast moving live humans on two wheels approaching, please keepclear.”

The teams were:

Team 1  Ernest, Duncan, Carlos, BennyMachava

Team 2  Imran, Jim,Messias

Team 3  David, Jorge, Bill and by mutual agreement Zeca was placed into team 3 (arrived just after the teams were madeup)

 By mutual agreement Benny was excused frombeing part of the full team before the start, because he had never ridden a TimeTrial before and didn’t even know what itwas.

 Teams were launched at 5 minutes intervals respectively beginning at 07:30. Luis Filipe was kind enough to see usoff and chat a little bit with the riders before heading off towork.

 The conditions turned out to be just fine fora TT effort with a NNW wind at 5.6km/hr. In other words, a head wind goingout for 29.1km and a tail wind coming back.  

 Most unfortunately, Team 3 ran into sometrouble with one of the team mates, who pointed out the day before that he was shortof form, but would certainly not miss out on the event. He fearlessly tookon the challenge to the bitter end demonstrating that it was possible toaverage 33.3418km/hr in a Time Trial of close to 60km even if you hit the wall, a feat thatvery few riders are capable of doing. Team 3 kept working together to put in acredible time of  1:44:44. That was certainly an amazing time consideringthe unfortunate incident that had befallen them, but David, Zeca, Jorge andBill performed the dance step to perfection.

 Team 1 being the carrot of the day sensed thatthe odds were against them. But all they saw ahead of them was the open roadand nothing in front was there to slow them down. They were flying. Word isthat they were at the turn around after 53 min. These boys were on fire somuch that when team 2 got to the 40km mark they found melted tar that caused apuncture in one the rider’s tyres. By now you are probably asking“What speed were they cruising at?” Well, with a team like Ernst, Duncan and Carlos you can pretty much guess that it was fassssst. 1:36:25 or36.2178km/hr. I rest my case.

 But the day belonged to team 2 made up of Imran, James and Messias, they reached the half way mark in a little over51min. unfortunately with a little under 20km to go one rider had a flat while clocking 47km/hr. From the time of the flat to the time it took tosprint back up to speed it took 2min 40 sec. The flying squad was back in business.But clocking an average of 38km/hr was not going to be, too much time andimpetus was lost. Team 2 won with a time of 1:35:48 averaging 36.4509 km/hr. Jimworked too hard that even his car was afraid to start when it was time head onhome.

 For those who wanted to whip themselves intoshape real fast, well, if they rode this TTT their training program has nowspeeded up quite substantially.

Oh, before I forget, I’d like to thank Salma (my wife) for being the time keeper.