Tuesday Night Time Trial

July 31, 2007
Medina, Minnesota

11 miles

Pre Race
This is a regular event a few miles from my house. I really like the course of this time trial, in fact I ride some of it regularly. This is not a flat time trial, nor is it super hilly. It is just flat enough to feel like you should go real fast and hilly enough to make pacing and effort allocation really important. It is a course that rewards the strong and smart rider. With that in mind, I was excited to be riding it again as I hadn't made any of the 2007 races yet.

After Heart of the Lakes a few weeks ago, I was eager to produce a strong bike result. Since my swim and run training have not been the best, I didn't expect much there and I hadn't gotten a lot either. But what really frustrated me was the ride at Heart of the Lakes. It was slow and lacked power. I really didn't think it reflected my genuine fitness. The proof is in the pudding as they say, and I really wanted a solid result at this race. Even with that goal, I hadn't really tapered or cut back in the days leading up to this race.

Warm up was straight forward and I enjoyed seeing and chatting with some folks I hadn't seen lately. I was excited about my gear as well as I had the full aero kit - QR Lucero, rear PT wheel with disk cover, Hed 50 front wheel, rocket time trial helmet and skin suit. The only thing lacking was shoe covers, maybe next time.

Race
I was pleased in my warm up as I felt good and the legs seemed to be firing pretty nicely. I lined up and waited my turn. The hold was good and I was realy to go. After the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and "go," that is exactly what I did. After the first few pedal strokes, I sat down and got to work. My first priority was to get going and then make sure I was not going crazy with my power output. It is really easy to hurt performance in those first few minutes and I made sure to keep myself in check.

After the initial settling in period was over, I realized that I was moving pretty well and it wasn't that hard. I knew I was working but the effort didn't seem overwhelming, which was nice. I knew I needed to keep myself in check so I didn't blow up in ther last miles and I was doing a good job of pacing myself. I was brought back to reality a bit when the guy who started 1 minute behind me caught me about 4 miles into the ride. I know him and while I expected him to catch me, I hadn't planned for it to be this early. I marked him for awhile as we got closer to the main descent into the turn around but he was simply going too fast for me.

The steepest descent is right before the turn around. This night it was especially interesting as the sun was low and it was hard to see the cone. I made it around pretty well and headed up the hill. I tried to work hard but not too hard on the ascent and I was pleased with my effort.

All was going well and I felt fast in the first miles after the turn around. Around the 6.5 mile mark, I started to notice the effort. It was hot, near 90 and my mouth was now really dry. I opted to skip the water figuring that a full bottle would be pretty heavy and a partial bottle would get really hot in a few minutes, making it less than desirable. No matter the discomfort, I was moving and happy about it.

Around the 8 mile mark, I got passed again, this time by the guy who started 2 minutes behind me. I'm glad I knew a bit about the racers in the community, getting pased by this particular Cat 1 is no shame, though being passed by my 2 minute man was a little discouraging. After a minute I moved beyond my negativity and resumed my successful ride.

When I realized that I only had a little over a mile and a quarter left, I knew I still had more in the tank. I increased my effort and kept it going for the final four minutes. I shot across the line knowing that I'd done a good job. I was tired and the effort had taken a toll on me. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I opened up the skin suit, and I'd have taken the helmet off too if I'd been able. I knew I went under 26 minutes for the first time ever and I was really happy with that. I did a little ride for a warm down and called it a day.

Post Race
As I warmed down, I saw the Cat 1 who passed me for 2 minutes. I asked him his finish time and was happy to hear that I really limited my losses over the last few miles. He put 2 minutes on me in the first 7 or 8 miles of the course and if we kept that up, he'd have ended up nearly 3 minutes ahead of me. I kept cut that gap in half as he only put 30 more seconds on me in the past 3 or 4 miles.

Power Analysis
I was really happy to see the details of this ride after I downloaded the power data onto the computer. It was a pleasure to see that I hadn't started too hard, didn't fade and put out over 300 watts for the last 4 minutes. In short, all my good feelings about the ride were confirmed and amplified by the data, which you can download here.

A few notes on the power file, I am really happy with the overall numbers on the ride. The 11 miles took me 25:53, for an average speed of 25.6 mph. I averaged 288 watts for the ride with a norm power of 292. Given this data, I think I'll increase my FTP up from 270 to 275. All in all, tihs looks like a solid performance. The one thing I could say is that it is possible that I saved too much energy until the end. Until the 9.7 mile mark, I'd averaged 283 watts. The last 3 minutes, in which I put out 327 watts, bumped the overall average up to 288. In the end, I probably had a 290 average in me with a little more work earlier. I'll take this effort any day, however, and I was real happy with this TT. We'll hope it is a sign of things to come.

Have fun and see you at the races!