Precision Bikes Time Trial, August 2009 - CycleTime Trial

Time trial start with riders leaving every 30 seconds. Mark started me 10th; I passed eight of the nine riders in front on me and was closing in on the ninth at the finish.

Don't do enough of these, my first time trial in over two years, so I'm lousy at pacing and strategy. Started in the wrong gear, on the big chain rings, so I was straining from the start. Hit the first few miles hard, probably too hard, averaged nearly 26 for the first three miles (Garmin on auto lap at that distance) with the tail wind, then realized I better back off a bit if I wanted to finish.

Turnaround was uneventful, then I faced the headwind coming back. Watched speed fall considerably, where I was hitting 25-28 on the way out I was now hitting 23, sometimes dropping as low as 21. Continued to pass people, always worried that someone would be coming up behind me as well.

After the last turn, you could see the finish if your eyesight was that good, as there's a two-mile straightaway on this final leg. Decided I had enough left to ramp it up a bit, got back over 24 and held it despite the headwind.

Start in an easier gear, pace it better, lose about twenty pounds of air resistance.

Continued over I-10 and made a 2-1/2 mile loop before returning to the start to pack up.


Lack of experience doing these things, as well as the usual plethora of excuses (age, weight, wind, raced two days ago, ran 7.5 miles this morning, yada yada).

Still not bad results. I went into this primarily to see where I was, fully expected to be around 23-23.5 mph. Instead I find I'm less than 1/4mph (14 seconds) slower than my PR for this distance set two years ago when I ws 20 pounds lighter. Finished 8th out of 30 participants with all seven in front of me younger than I (several half my age) and most of them members of the local bike racing team.

Couple observations:
* Spent all of 38 seconds below my LTHR (as tested some time ago), so, yeah, it hurted a little.
* First time I raced with cadence and was less than surprised to find it averaged 100rpm. At this point though, really, what does it matter? It is what it is.


Free opportunity to suffer without tangible compensation. Really need to do more of these.