Grand Prix of Groveport ITT

Well, this morning I rode like a pro. Unfortunately the pro was Michael Rasmussen. Well, maybe I didn’t have that bad of a day. After all, I did keep the bike upright. However, other than that the TT didn’t go so well.

It started out when I went to put on my HRM and noticed that the display was blank. Since my HRM is also my cycle computer, this meant that I wouldn’t get any feedback during the race: no speed; no elapsed time; no heart rate. So, I had no indication how well I was doing or how hard I was going. And since I started first, there was no one ahead of me to gauge my effort by.
This meant I had to listen to the voices in my head to determine how hard I went, and they weren’t too helpful:

“Slow down, you’re going to blow up before you reach the turnaround.”
“Faster, you’re going to get caught before the turnaround.”
“Have we hit the turnaround yet? I thought it was right around here someplace.”
“Why is ‘abbreviation’ sucha long word?”
“Will you guys shut up! I can’t concentrate”

Needless to say, I never did find my rhythm, and was unable to achieve my goals, which were to A.) come close to Jim Matson’s time and B.) beat Mitch’s time from last year.

However, I do want to thank Jim, Wendy and all of the volunteers for putting on such a great event. You all did a wonderful job. My only criticism/suggestion is that in the TdF this year, they had pretty teenage girls to hold the rider’s bikes before the TTT. We got Mark Kimmerle. Not the same.

Finally, a time trial. This is a course I know, and the weather was great during the individual TT. Not too hot, and not too windy, but a great tail wind on the way home. I had a great avarage speed for me and a great time. It was good to see all of our team mates out there as well.

"Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?"
"Because it feels good when we stop."

Not warming up properly before a 17 mile TT dramatically hinders physical performance.

Not warming up properly before a 17 mile TT because you wisely spent that time sleeping in an extra 20 minutes also dramatically improves emotional well being.

Nothing beats spending more time before noon riding a bike during a given day than you spent sleeping the night before, insomnia, suck.

Thanks to Mark for the cup of coffee this morning, its pretty much the only thing that got me to the start line of the TT, and it complimented my breakfast of a Red Bull and GU very well.

Thanks to everyone that helped put on the race today, especially Tim Swain for parking next to me and having bagels.

Hats off to all who worked very hard to put on this event. For my first time trial, I was pleased with how I did. I knew it would hurt, but I wanted to place in the top ten and go sub 40 minutes. Well, at least I achieved one of the goals. Thanks to Mitch for loaning out the time trial bars, I'm sure I would have been much slower without them. Great job to Rich for smoking the rest of the field and placing second over all (5 second margin) to the cat 1-2-3 field.

Note to self: Next year if Rich starts 30 seconds behind, try to hold him off for more than 3 miles. Getting passed that quickly still stings a little.

This wasn't my day. I finished 26 seconds slower than last year. How could that be? Conditions were better (I felt) this year with the wind speed and direction; and last year I held a little something back because I was doing the team time trial as well. Midway through this race I felt I would be lucky to finish with the heart-rate I had been averaging, which was slightly below what I was aiming for. I was going all-out, because Wendy and I agreed that we'd each kill ourselves in the ITT, then give the TTT whatever we had left.

When my heart-rate monitor would actually receive a signal, it was usually 106.7% of my LT. Still, I forced myself to pick up the pace about 2 miles from the finish, and kicked it up one more notch at the 1-mile marker, averaging 109.8% of my LT for those last 2 miles. No asthma attack during the race, but a baby attack after I crossed the line. I'll take it. This allergy med has now given me four rides/races where I never had to back off because of breathing. No, it was my legs. By the end of the race, they were so heavy, I could not even get myself to stand and try to sprint.

Despite the lackluster average of 21.94 mph (I had a lofty goal, shooting for 24), I must be happy on the whole.

Dropped 1:35 from last year but since I jumped categories I ended up finishing with a bad placing. I still haven't recovered my time trialing glory days. I'm getting there but it's still a work in progress.

This was my first ITT and it went better than I thought. Having never ridden on aero bars, only 2 miles the day before, it took some getting used to. I was able to generate enough power and stay down except on the little rollers where I was forced to stand and try to use more of my upper body. It was particularly hard for me to judge how hard to go so as not to burn out before the end. Next time I will also take some extra time to scope out the course in advance so I have a better idea of where I am and how hard I can afford to go. Great learning experience and I will definitely do it again, but hopefully faster next time.