I used to write the back page column for a bike magazine called “Roadie International.” I did about 3 or 4 of them before the magazine folded last year and the last one I wrote never got published. It’s about my preparation for the Jack Frost Time Trial, which happens this Sunday at Vancouver Lake Park, just a few minutes north of Portland.

So, here it is. Hope you like it:

“Aero at any cost”

While tinkering in my basement the night before the Jack Frost Time Trial I had an epiphany. It would be my first race in about 5 years so it’s amazing any clear thoughts emerged from the swirling nervousness in my head. But as often happens with anyone who has done a time trial, the dominant pre-event anxiety deals with a single yet complex concept: getting aero.

Aerodynamics – defined as “the interaction between airflow and the movement of solid bodies” – is the engine that drives much of the road cycling market. It’s what perpetuates the cyclist’s obscene fascination for anything that offers even the slightest airflow increasing advantage, including carbon, deep-dish, aero-wheelsets and dimpled, teardrop helmets that flaunt more technology than the Space Shuttle. Like the “digital divide” that spans between broadband wi-fi junkies and disadvantaged dial-uppers, the “gear divide” in cycling is just as pervasive. For those of us on the wrong side we can either sulk in our state of forced retro-ness or we can choose to innovate…which brings me back to my epiphany.

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