Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Friday, February 14, 2003

The Race of Truth

Last weekend I rode my first race of the season, a time trial on the Silver Comet Trail. 9.2 miles of me and the clock and no one else, sort of. The morning was rough because we had to drive 1.5 hours to get to the site for a race that started at 8:30 am. Props to my lovely wife for dragging herself out of the very nice, warm bed to drive to Powder Springs on a very cold morning with a nervous, impatient husband. After signing in, it was on the trainer for some warm-up time and then a quick peek at the course. Mostly flat.

At 9:09 I go off. I shoot off the start line, spring a bit and then settle into the aerobars. For the next 24 minutes I'll be laid out over my front wheel trying to push as big a gear as I can spin at 90 rpm. Three miles into the ride I caught my one minute man. This is the guy who started a minute before I did. Passing him is a good sign when I'm feeling like I'm having a very hard time getting into a rhythm. In time trialing, rhythm is a big thing. You get the right cadence with the right breathing pattern with the right pulling up on the areobars and the power starts to pour from you legs. For the first three miles, I had struggled to find a rhythm. Too much shallow uphill, 1-2% with some flat sections. Once I saw the rabbit up ahead, however, I started to get into the swing of things and when I passed him I was going flat out.

The hard part was not going too hard. I knew that I needed to ride at just below lactate threshold on the way out but with all the adrenaline of the start I had to fight not to push too hard. I had to stay at 172 for my heart rate. Going harder would mean I wouldn't have anything in the tank for the last half of the course. As I went into the turn around point, I had just seen my two minute man pass me going the other way. I was close on catching him too. So, coming out of the turn I took it up a notch. Climbing a small rise I spiked to 182 and then settled back down. As I caught sight of the guy ahead I realized that there was a group of three. I was about to pass my two, four and five minute men. I poured on the gas and let the heart rate drift up. I was flying at around 27 or 28 mph now. As I passed the group I began to wonder where my three minute man was. Two miles later, I saw him. Would I have enough distance to close the 500 m gap he had on me? It turned out that I would fall about 30 seconds short of catching him.

The results? Third in the Cat V class and 9th overall. Not too bad for a February time trial.

The Physicist   Link Me    |