America's pro road cyclists participating in this year's Athens Twilight criterium race will first race in teh first CompuTrainer MultiRider 10-K Time Trial. The stationary MultiRider setup will be used on Friday to create the start order for Saturday night's pro events. This is the first time that CompuTrainer will be used for staging at a major racing event.
“We have always struggled with how to put people on the start line,” explains Gene Dixon, race director of the Athens Twilight – a sports and music festival now in its 25th year. “There were always so many people on the line that it became kind of like herding cattle. We figured that using the CompuTrainer would be the perfect answer. It could be used as a preview on Friday night, giving spectators a great opportunity to come out and watch pro riders qualify.”
The stationary nature of the MuliRider racing means that spectators will get to see a lot more of their heroes in action then than during the race itself, when the pros will flash past at speeds of up to 40 mph.
Dixon credits the CompuTrainer partnership to longtime friend and race commentator Chad Andrews, of Per4mance Training in North Carolina. Andrews is a coach and lead contact at one of CompuTrainer's 60 MultiRider Centers. “As both a commentator and a coach that trains on CompuTrainer, I thought it was a unique concept that would work well with an audience of 15,000 people,” Andrews states. “It's exciting, because we will let pros know that their staging and call up at this national race calendar event is based on their performance in the CompuTrainer heats the night before. This adds another dimension to the Athens Twilight excitement.”
Each heat of Friday's night CompuTrainer qualifiers will start at noon, and take place hourly, with eight riders competing against each other in every heat. Their place on the Saturday evening's start line is determined by the time results from the qualifying heats, so there is more than just pride at stake. While participation is not mandatory it is strongly encouraged; those who do not ride in the time trial will be issued the highest start order numbers, meaning they will be in the back – which at Athens is regarded as a big handicap.
