Heading out on the course
I normally don’t do time trials. For two reasons, first they really hurt and you have to dig very deep. Second, because I never feel satisfied about my effort afterwards. So going into this race I had a few goals. 1. Ride under 1 hour, 2. Average 26 MPH, 3. Don’t get passed by my 30 second guy.
At the start line, I went out controlled and felt pretty good on the bike. The course had a fast start and had one small climb about 2 miles into the course. I went up that climb well and got to the top to realize that I had been spinning in my 42t chain ring. A quick shift into my 53t chain ring and I started to feel the speed pick-up. The weather was optimal and the course zig zagged a bit and had a few small risers/decents. I was racing with no computer so I had no real idea of how hard I was going or how fast. I could make out the racer in front of me, but did not feel like I was gaining ground on him.
I did learn that if I control my breathing I can slow my heart rate down and actually dig deeper. So as I pushed myself harder throughout the race, I would have to remember to control my breathing to ensure my best performance. Just before the turnaround on the course, I was passed by my 30 sec guy. Coming into the turn around, I passed him back and led for a while after that point. I was also pretty quickly passed by two Grandstay and a Synergy 1/2 racers. The whole way back to the finish line, I played cat and mouse with my 30 sec guy. I would pass him on the small risers and he would pass me back on the decents or flat sections. As we came into the decent of the one hill on the course and only 2 miles from the finish I let him get in front of me so I could use him as a rabit.
Coming into the final 500m or so I put down my all and pushed pass my 30 sec guy to finish in the same order we started. As for my goals, I acheived number one, finishing in 58:51. Failed at number two by averaging only 25.3 mph, and I believeI acheived number three by finishing in front of my 30 sec guy, even if we did play cat and mouse on the course.
Overall, I took 6th in the Cat 3’s. Tyler Olsen took first, putting him into 1st place on the ROY competition and me into second, 20 pts. back. He beat me by 4 minutes… When I looked at the 1/2 category racers, I would have finished dead last if I had been racing in that group. Goes to show I have some work cut out for me… or maybe I need to purchase that time trial bike to get better!
Coming into the finish
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