Georgia State Time Trial

Last weekend was my first venture into road racing. Given my interest in cycling it was only a matter of time before I entered one of these races. I thought about the Roswell Crit earlier in the season but didn't have the means to race it....yet.

So a group of us ventured to north Georgia, near Chattanooga, for the time trial race. It was a bunch of triathletes versus the roadies. The morning was cool and required digging out my cold gear for the race.

A time trial is simple. Everyone lines up in order and each cyclist is sent off each 30 seconds. The goal, to do the course as fast as you can. You really don't have a clue how your rank. It is truly a race between you and the clock.

I had no expectations for the race. In fact, I was a bit fatigued from a long week of training. My goal was to have a consistent, hard race. The course was moderate hilly. The climbs weren't substantial but there were enough to kindly remind you that you were climbing. And it made for great descents.

The result--55:17 for 20.5 miles...average 22.1 mph and average 240 effort. That is what I call a solid effort. I felt like I pushed it for most of the race. There were definitely times that I was sandbagging. There was plenty of snot and spit coming out of the mouth.

I ended up 5th of 17 in Cat 5. Not too bad for my first attempt.