Ron Coker wins Race of Truth Time Trial Series

Ron Coker had the best net time trial in the Race of Truth and earned himself the honor of kicking off the time trail series in 2007 as the champion and the final starter. The net time is calculated by subtracting the riders established handicap time from his overall riding time. Ron improved steadily over the course of the series refusing to set a high handicap time through sand bagging. Ron’s handicap time was about average, but his improvements of the year were substantial. How did he improve to become champion?

Ron started the year off riding a high quality Giant Advanced road bike with carbon aero bars attached and a road helmet. Nothing fancy at first, but then he caught the time trail bug. Later he purchased a BMC TT 01 which carries the kind of appeal a new Ferrari carries at only a fraction of the cost. After getting a time trial helmet, skin suit, and Zipp wheels he continues to improve his times through out the year, but what clinched the championship was home made.

Being a home builder Ron has access to all types of building material, so it brought no attention upon him when he had a large concrete culvert pipe delivered to his home and set off behind his shop. His next delivery by the USPS brought him a wind measuring device he could connect to his lap top. The next item was picked up at Habersham International Airport and was a large wooden propeller from a 1963 piper cub. The final piece of the project he already had was a riding snapper mower that had bars behind the motor so that you can stand it up on its end and work on the mower’s deck. He stood up the snapper and fitted the wooden propeller and had built his own personal wind tunnel.

 For three weeks Ron trained secretly in the Ron Coker Aero Laboratory but was concerned about the competition gaining ground so he pushed harder in training. He figured he was going faster on the road and he decided he needed to improve his aero riding position at the new speeds, so the next evening he cranked up the snapper and mounted the bike on the trainer in the tunnel. He reached for his remote control, a broom stick, to increase the wind speed and accidentally set the mower into full throttle. The mower began to rock and sway then went airborne and out of sight.

 The next day while purchasing his new zero turn radius riding mower a DNR officer entered the shop and asked the clerk, and Ron if anyone had been using snapper riding mowers to build experimental personal aircraft. The DNR officer had pictures of the snapper lodged into the top branches of an 80’ tall Birch tree in the middle of the Chattahoochee National Forest. Ron denied any knowledge of the mower he had used for training fearing a large fine and retired the idea of mounting a prop to his new mower.

Watch for Ron to perform well again this year since he has had more time to work on his time trail bike. Better yet watch his lawn; if his grass is getting tall you know he has been in the aero lab again.

Scott Hefner Records the Fastest Gross Time for the Series

In just his second year of riding time trails Scott continues to improve and this year set the fastest time on the course with a time of 24:11 for the rolling ten mile course. His time trail set up included a Leader time trial frame, aero helmet, shoe covers, Zipp 303 front wheel and a Zipp disk wheel and an insane aerobic capacity. Scott leveled the hills in his big ring and sprinted out the last 200 meters to set his best time of the year. Training on the course throughout the year and on the trainer helped Scott improve his speed all season long with his fastest time coming in the last race of the series. Look for Scott to break into the 23’s in 07. The next best gross time, which does not allow for handicap adjustments, was 21 seconds behind Scott.

 A close second to Scott was Star Bridges with a gross time of 24:32. Star caught the time trial bug this year and was either the weekly winner or runner up all season long. Star’s training includes a weekly time trail over a seventeen mile hilly course surrounding Helen. He trains early in the morning so that tourist do not have to dive back onto the sidewalk out of crosswalks when he blast through downtown Helen. One elderly woman called the police department when she saw him fly through town wearing his aero helmet thinking we were being invaded by aliens.

 John Lilly posted the third lowest gross time, but recorded an amazing split time earlier in the season of 11 and change! Look out for John in 07 if he can back up that split time with another fast lap he could set the low gross time. To work towards that goal John had an ergo meter installed on his time trail frame and is charting his progress toward warp speed.

Reilly Mahon holds the Sand Bag Award for the Most Improved

 Was Reilly holding back or did he just get faster? This is a highly coveted award which comes with great responsibility of ownership. The trophy is a small burlap bag full of sand with the signatures of past winners written on the side. A past winner stained the trophy with kool-aide was required to empty the sand and clean the bag until it was stain free. Reilly Mahon was in close competition for the Low Net Time at the end of the season. This was Reilly’s first year of racing and he continues to improve each week. He improves so much he may be our first time back to back winner of this award. 

Bike Shop Swag

A set of wheels was given away by Habersham Bicycles through a random drawing of racers at the end of the series at the awards banquet. The winner was Chris Baumgardner

Congratulations go out to all 51 riders that came to Habersham County from all over to take part in the series. We owe a BIG THANKS to Jayne Follis for working as the time keeper all season long.

Most Appearances

Four riders took part in every race held this season: David Latty, Matthew Martin, Danny Short and Alex Sloan.

Sponsors

Thanks to all our sponsors that made the event possible.

Habersham Bicycles

AG Edwards Financial Services

Ron Coker Homes

Hayes Family Dealerships

Anderson Carpet One

Northeast Georgia Carpet

Springer Mountain Farms

Graphic Image USA

T-Shirt Supplier

Graphic Image USA

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