time trial records falling in Ottawa!

Aaron and Sue medalling at the Whiteface Race. click for bigger. image courtesy albear1947You may have already heard about the amazing time trial performances happening lately in Ottawa. Celia McInnis posted this analysis on TriRudy about the August 5th OBC Thursday Open Time Trial:

New course records were set for both genders! Aaron Fillion did an impressive 18:17 - that is 49.225 km/h - while Sue Schlatter did an incredible 20:02 for an average speed of 44.925km/h!

Imagine what they could do if they had both low air pressure and no wind!!! Aaron is looking to break 18 minutes (50km/h), while Sue is just 2 seconds slower than 45km/h.

And another course record was set Sunday August 8th, at the Almonte Bicycle Club’s 40km Time Trial. Celia's analysis again:

Quite the full body workout today - not just the legs in motoring over 40km of rolling hills, but also the arms in stabilizing the bike in the gusty winds when they'd hit us from the side. Going out is mostly uphill and south, so that was really tough with the SSW winds. Coming back was much easier, but still a little scary in parts with the side gusts. Many reported having to get off their aero-bars in parts of the course. This, together with air pressure above 101 kPa, makes Aaron Fillion's new course record of 51:17 (46.799 km/h) all the more incredible! He broke Michael Nash's previous record of 52:44 which was set on 2007-Aug-12, under considerably better conditions. Eleven of us, including Michael Nash who did a fine second place finish of 52:59 today, rode both of these events.

This got a good email discussion going about the status of the records. Mike Nash adds his perspective on the 15km time trial:

I can only add a bit of flavour to the 15km record time …. After breaking the record – he passed me with about 2km to go - Aaron remarked to me that he was surprised that he just couldn’t push it much faster over the last few kilometres. I said, well you were going 50+ km/h at the time, so that’s pretty decent. In true Fillion understated fashion he just remarked “Ya, but I just wanted to go faster!”. He predicts that breaking 18 minutes is possible on a good night. I hope he does it.

Then Mike offered more info about Gord Fraser's Nationals record (see page 32 of this CCA Companion Guide (PDF, 1.8mb)):

So, the Gord Fraser story is a bit more interesting – and really quite impressive considering he didn’t have the super fast bikes/wheelsets we have now.   Gord’s record setting was on a closed course for a national record – which he still officially holds.  The CCA will sanction record attempts; however, the logistics/cost of doing these attempts have allowed the current records (e.g.  the national record is still 18:48 – set on August 24, 1990) to stand far past their ‘due date’.  Similar examples are the 40km TT records for men and women (at 50:38 – Peter Wedge and 53:57 – Clara Hughes respectively).  So, the time that I first bested in 2008 (i.e., Gord’s time of 18:40) was already faster than the national record.  Impressively, both Warren and Aaron have gone under 18:40 several times.  So, the real question is when will we (Ottawa racers) get together and organize a National TT record attempt weekend?  In my mind, both of the OBC courses – the Aviation Parkway and Fournier – are perfect venues for record attempts.  Maybe 2012 is a reasonable target, the planning and promotion might take some time.

Update on Friday, August 13, 2010 at 11:48AM by admin

Amazing!! Sue did it again last night, August 13, with 19:52 for the OBC Thursday Open Time Trial. Celia again:

WOW! Sue Schlatter did it! She managed 19:52 tonight - the first female to average more than 45km/h on the Rockliffe Parkway course, and it's not as if the weather was optimal. The winds seemed to be tougher than indicated by Environment Canada, and the air pressure was on the high side