sub 14! Uh, yeah, nevermind...

Sub 14? Ok, how about sub 20? No...? Ok...sub...25?! Jeez, not even sub 30...

So my TT was disappointing. This was my second time doing the 10mile course out in Maple Park, while this was the John Frasier Memorial TT, it is the same course as the ABD Fall Fling. I looked at my time last year and thinking (logically, i'd hoped) that with all this training, i should at least better my time and i set a goal of 27 mins...

The TT course is pretty straight forward, the only real question is whether or not the wind will play a factor and by how much. I got a late start time so i assumed the wind would be stronger but on the off set, i'd have a stronger tailwind. Yesterday, it seemed more like a continuous crosswind that was stronger on the way out, but no true tailwind. Lots of flat, some small bumps, a couple of curves, and one turn around.

I chatted with a couple of people to find out what the wind was like. I was told its tough going out but much easier coming in. I was also told to sweep the turn around, but regardless of how much room i get, i swear, i pratically come to a stop on turnarounds. I noticed everyone was starting the TT in the big chain ring and a large cog. Ok, I'll do that too. I noticed on my warmup that my chain was skipping but i didn't have a chance to fix it. My plan going into this thing was 1) beat last years time...2) ave 21-22mph...3) beat it by 3 mins...4) ride 53/18...5) keep the rpms up, change the gear if necessary...6) get in the drops...7) don't below 18mph ever. Wow, thats a lot to remember.

I didn't beat last years time. I was actually 14 secs slower, which really stinks. Riding out, i was watching my speed and my time. I thgt if i could hit the turn around by 14 or 15 mins, i could make up the time coming back. Problem was the crosswind...i was getting shoved around like crazy. On a couple of the curves, i was zooming thru, thanks to a short tailwind and thgt "yeah, i got this!". At the turn around, it was 16.5 mins. Ok, a little longer than i had wanted, but while 27 was my goal, the most important was beating last year. Heading back for the second half, my speed definitely increased, as well as my rpms. i actually dropped a couple of gears. Funny thing is that i felt let i was getting pushed around even more. but then i hit that curve (with the nice tailwind...?) that was now a headwind. Crap. It was terrible, i lost goal number 7 and i remember seeing 14, which just made me angry and i brought it back to 16/17 (never seeing that 18 again until i was near the end of the curve). With just under 3 miles to go, its only at 21 and i think its still possible. But the time was passing faster than the miles...i pushed it as hard as i could for the last 2 miles, knowing that while my time was going to be bad at least i could go home knowing i didn't completely give up.

I took last in my cat, 14 sec slower than last year. While i would like to blame the skipping chain or even the rib injury, i know it wasn't that. i just didn't ride well. according to the powertap, my watts looked more like a hilly road race than an almost flat TT. while i can't really pinpoint what was wrong, besides my usual weaknesses, there were a couple of positives. I believe my watts were higher, the 10miles seemed to go faster than i previously remember and i was hitting some speeds on the flats that i hadn't done b4. I'm happy with my ride back to the finish (minus that stupid curve) and i'm ok with the ride out, i just think i could have done better.

with that said, its over with. on to the next race!