The 2006 cycling season in now officially underway. Today was the Lillie Glass Tundra Time Trial held on the Silver Comet Trail outside of Powder Spring here in the Peach State. The event is a 9.5 mile test of one's early season form that has become a really popular way to find out where a person is at in February. This year there were abobut 250 riders who went off at 30 second intervals in threatening conditions. Since I registered fairly late, I was one of the first 50 riders off. This was my first real test since last year's state championships and the first time I had ridden in full TT kit: skinsuit, shoe covers, aero helmet, disc wheel, the works. I started in too big a gear so I lost a few seconds there but once I got on top of that I powered away from the line feeling pretty good. I had estimated my lactate threshold heart rate at around 170 bpm for the event and found that to be just a bit low (the test would show it to be about 172 bpm). As I hit my stride I realized that I felt really good and settled into my rhythm. On the way out I caught my 30 second man, my 1 minute man, my 1:30 man and my 2:30 man; the last two right before the turn around. On the way back I caught three more riders and finished really strong. I was shooting for an overall podium place and had riden a time around 22:15 for the course which would put my average speed at a smidge over 25.5 mph which was faster than I had finished the season last year which gave me some hope that I might have made it. The question was how well some of the really strong riders had finished.
It turned out I had ridden a 22:10 time which would have put me on the overall podium two of the last three years but this year it was only good enough of 6th overall. That I got beat by Andy Applegate, a former US Masters National Time Trial champion, and a professional triathlete was no dishonor. I ended up winning the gold medal for my catagory, Cat IV, and would have won every other catagory except Pro/I/II and finished only 1:20 behind Applegate. That gives me a lot of encouragement for the season to come and my aspirations for doing well at this year's Master's National Championship. All I have to do it keep improving, not overcook my body and stay out of the way of large trucks.
The other great thing is that I've switched teams back to my old team back in Macon. My best year ever was riding for Nate at Bike tech and while the team now has a different name since there are a lot more sponsors now, it's still based out of the Bike Tech shop. Hopefully, the early success will encourage my teammates to train a bit harder. I'm not sure what my next race will be as there is a bit of uncertainty about whether we'll be traveling to LA next weekend. If not, I'll be heading down to Albany to race there and see if I can extend my winning streak in the prologue time trial they'll be having there.
Thanks for reading.
