Tundra Time Trial

Saturday marked my second Time Trial. I really like the time trial format and hope to add a few more to the schedule this season. It is so much simpler than racing. I showed up around 8:30, hopped on my trainer to warm up, chatted with a few friends and then spent the next 25 minutes pushing as hard as I can.

The Tundra Time Trial is held on the Silver Comet Trail over in Powder Springs. The format is simple...riders go off every 30 seconds. You go for about 4.7 miles, turn around and come back. It is that simple.

I didn't really have any expectations for the day. I never sat down and tried to calculate a time. I knew I would likely be around 25 minutes if I pushed it.

We were a little late arriving and after a tube mishap, I was on the trainer trying to warm up. The weather was sprinkling and a bit on the chilly side. I rode for about 15 minutes to just loosen up the muscles that were tight from the 2 threshold workouts I had this week.

About 20 minutes before my start, I wondered over to the All 3 / EC tent and caught up with everyone out there. I made a few minor changes to the bike and prepared for my start.

I guess my goal was to have a consistent ride and really push it. I think that was accomplished. What makes a TT hard is that you don't really know how hard to start. Go out too hard and you are cooked for the return. Ideally you want to start building for the first few minutes, push then attack. Well I pushed and seemed to hold it there. I was watching my watts and heartrate as both seemed a bit high yet my body was feeling good.

I made it down to the turn around feeling fresh. In fact, I knew I wasn't killing myself out there. I was kinda having fun. On the return I began to push a little more. But I was far from optimizing my ability. When I saw the overpass I kicked and kicked hard. Too bad it was the wrong over pass. Oops. That will kill your time trial. I was out of gas with another mile left. I did what I could but as the data shows, I wasn't able to get back up to that level.

I crossed the finish like in 24:37 (23.2 mph). I finished 30th out of 105 in the Cat V division. Again, I didn't really have any expectations. I know I left time out on the course. Maybe a few more of these and I will have a better feel for my max.

Overall, I am very pleased with my output. I like to think that I actually outperformed what was expected. And that is a good place to be at this point in the season.