Racing against the clock

Thirty seconds!

"Click, snap... click, snap" goes the sound of bike cleats as I lock both my feet in. I take a deep breath and close my eyes in an effort to gather energy from the early morning sun.

Fifteen seconds!

I reopen my eyes. The man on the starting block eyes me up and down then checks his clipboard.

Inhale, hold, exhale and stop.

Listening to the sounds of my breathing gives me focus. My vision narrows as I stare down the windy stretch of road that lay ahead. The race official shuffles his clip board and holds his right hand out. He gives his timer clock one last glance then begins his count down. The noise and distractions of the day fade away into silence. I watch his fingers in seemingly slow motion as they fold in one by one.

Five... I squeeze the brakes.

Four... I tense up my legs.

Three... I fix my eyes ahead.

Two... one last breath.

One... the officials hand waves up, I exhale and explode off the starting block.

I begin my opening sprint to get up to speed. With one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and 10 turns of the peddle, I throw my momentum into the bike and sitdown, tucked in the aero position.

My 23.5 mile individual time trial run for the California State Championship has just begun.

Like I have said before, racing a bicycle successfully is a combination of many skills intersecting in one moment. Some skills are a direct product of your training on the bike, while others are a product of your training as a person. In this particular venue of cycling called the individual time trial - where it's you versus the clock -, focus is key. I can say without a doubt I learned the level of focus required for individual time trial from tons of solo timed climbs and thousands of laps on a motocross track. Where, much like individual time trial in motocross, if you are not constantly attacking the track, then you are most certainly losing time to someone else who is. Even the smallest lack of concentration in either sport has its consequences and in some situations can be very unforgiving.

At this point there's nothing but a little wind noise through the ear plugs, the sound of my breathing and my eyes focused up the road as I turn the peddles. The start of a time trial race can really make or break a good finishing time. It is very important to get out of the start and up to intensity as quick as possible.

Usually this should take you no longer than 60 seconds.

Now this procedure can be easier said than done. Often times there is a lot of nerves involved in sports. Fear and adrenaline are powerful tools if you can learn to shoulder the weight. More often than not it can be devastating to an athlete's ability to focus on the present. By far one of the hardest skills to learn can be letting go of your thoughts focused around future or past situations that have no bearing on the present. As a cyclist accepting the unknown and letting go of those thoughts gives you the strength required to focus on the present moment. Now if we were all fortune tellers this would be easy, but then again that's why it's such a difficult skill to master. Accept the fact that, no matter what happens, you are something exceptional. This sort of acceptance allows you to make each second about the current motion at hand and not about the one somewhere up the road that may not ever happen.

The Lake LA course is a large rectangle. It looks simple on paper but can be very technical if not approached correctly. The initial outbound leg has a tail wind, a slight rise to the road and a sea of very small rolling hills. Now rolling terrain can be fun in a group ride, but in an individual time trial it can be very difficult. Rolling terrain really offers a lot of opportunity for mistakes... meaning that each time you go over a rolling rise, you have to shift gears or adjust RPM correctly to manage your output at threshold.

To make an example, your threshold is like a paper cup with a hole poked in the bottom as a drain. The objective is to pore water into the cup as quickly as possible without overfilling. Each time you spike over your threshold is like over filling the cup and spilling water. When this happens you have to slow your pace and let your body recover at an easier power setting. This can lose you a lot of valuable time and eventually your body won't recover fully. Now to make matters even more difficult, your heart rate is usually slow to indicate sudden work load increases, by the time you notice the onset of bad pacing it is usually too late. This is why focus is so critical, because adrenaline from the competition can wreak havoc on your natural talent.

Catch and pass two riders within the first six miles of the course. I sit up, brace myself and lightly apply the brakes to make the first 90-degree turn to the right. As I come out of the turn, I slide back onto the aero bars. I glance up the road briefly and can spot several more riders in 30-second staging intervals strung all the way up to the horizon.

The second leg of the course is where the story changes as the wind becomes a quartering head wind. This means that the wind is hitting you diagonally from the front.

For the recreational cyclist that has never ridden a time trial bike with deep section wheels, a tri-spoke or a disk in the wind, you can be in for quite a ride.

"Hang on," I tell myself as the wind slams my bike from the side. If the wind speed stays consistent then you can hold steady pressure on the aero bars to counter the effect of the wheels acting like a giant wind sails. Believe me the wind can and will blow you off the road or over into oncoming traffic if you don't pay attention. "Always mind the wind direction!" Thise voice still chants in my head from the time trialist who taught me.

Now the wind gusts begin their assault on the racers. As I look up the road, I can see the riders ducking their heads to shield from each gravel filled blast of wind. Despite the winds' efforts to throw us off the road we all hold strong. Equipment choice and setup can be key in this battle against time.

Among one of the many questions circling in your mind about now is, "What's a deep section wheel, tri-spoke or disk?"

These are among many equipment choices a cyclist can arm themselves with before they wage war against the clock. Much like choosing a weapon before a battle, a rider must choose his or her wheels based on skill, area of expertise and the field of application for which it will be used. There are many wheel types and each has its distinct advantages such as aero dynamics, rigidity, comfort, rolling speed, agile handling, super lightweight or just all around use. The weight of the wheel, the depth of the rim, the width of the rim, as well as the material and type of construction usually define the parameters of performance. There is no one choice that fits all situations; every wheel has its advantages and its distinct disadvantages.

Another right-hand turn and now a full head wind. If I've learned anything directly from bike racing, I've learned it can be brutal. At some point in the race a victory can be decided on how accustom an athlete is to suffering. Mastering the wind is all about mastering suffering, because of the constant beating you take. The wind can be absolutely crushing to those who haven't prepared for it correctly.

Whether it's emotional or physical weakness, weather conditions can be a brutal and unrelenting adversary to fight against. The weather seems to find the smallest cracks in an athlete's armor and begin to tear them to pieces. I find at some point in an event with this level of exertion you have to come to terms with the fatigue you are fighting off. To sustain the level of output to complete a task such as this requires a person to realize that no equal but opposite form of compensation is necessary. I.e.- A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, when really the experience in of itself is your reward.

The human ego wants glory, instant success, popularity and loads of cash for all the work completed. These hallowed things fall very short as fuel to complete an effort like this. Simply put, in that very moment, the love of what you do is the only thing that can drive you to that next level.

I've passed the last few riders in the category 1-2 division and this no small feat because they are all very talented! We are about half way through the race and I'm still grinding into a head wind as I make my way over a small climb, exploring uncharted regions of my own fitness. With no more riders to pass the typical thing you see next is a slowing of pace due to a loss of motivation. At this point you have to find something to fight for, you can fight against the clock, your perceived effort, your watts or your indicated speed, but just know this, if you are not moving forward then you are going backwards.

The next right hand turn is wonderful, I feel as though a 500 pound weight sled was unhooked from my bike as the wind drag all but disappears. The wind is now a quartering tail wind and I have the bike geared out in an effort to get everything I can out of this extra boost of speed from the gods. I make it down the 4th leg in no time at all and setup for the final time down that first windy stretch of road I started on.

At this point, with six miles left to go and a tail wind, I'm about 10 minutes from the finish. A time trial in most cases is a very smooth, flowing motion. "Seamless" would be the term I would use to describe it. The effort in a time trial is extreme but you want it to be smooth - smooth enough to not spike your threshold but fast enough to not lose time.

In most instances, the closer you get to the finish the more into the red zone you want to push yourself. For me it's a little different, I tend to have the ability to ride above my threshold and just keep it together, kind of like one of those kamikaze race car drivers that can drive the car beyond its limit but still manage to keep it on the race track. Since I've been 100 plus percent of threshold for quite some time, finding more speed will require taking it to another level.

At some point in an athlete's career or a person's life, a certain event takes place that feels as though they are asleep, in a dream or a trance, just going through the motions. Like a preselected set of circumstances are set into motion by a certain decision, you get a brief preview, then you just sit back and watch the show. As I crested the final rise before the state championship finish line I saw my dad smiling as he held a stop watch in his hand. With sweat dripping off my helmet visor I nodded my head and powered across the finishing strip knowing that I had done enough.

Victory in whatever sport you may be watching is quite a sight to see. An expression of emotion so intense it seems to not stay contained to itself. This emotion seems to reach out to every person who is watching and for a brief moment they share equally in that victory. This sensation can be hard to relate in words but has been felt by many. Perhaps that is why so many spectators are drawn to sports, because the emotions that athletes and fans share are so unique. Kind of like a lifetime of action and emotion compressed into just a one hour show. After the climactic conclusion to the event you can leave your seat, throw your popcorn bag in the trash by the door and have something good to think about for the rest of your day. While reading these brief articles and sharing in some of the many amazing experiences I've had thus far on two wheels, I hope they will inspire you to find some time in your busy day to do something that inspires you.

On June 20 my three teammates - Joe Petersen, Bill Elrich and David Stanton – and I will attempt to set a new Race Across America (RAAm) transcontinental record, under five days and eight hours. You can track our progress on raam.com. Our team name is "Team Kern Wheelmen/ Make-A-Wish".