Last Cycling Time Trial of the season

On Wednesday night, cyclists were going around Charlotte motor speedway in the last Carolina Cycling Time Trial of the year. Over the last couple of weeks, I kicked around the idea of skipping it since my Twin Cities marathon is just over ten days away. But motivation to do it overcame all of the sound reasons to skip it.

Luckily, with each faster ride my start time is being pushed back further and further. Last night my start time was 7:44.

There are pros and cons to starting late. Traffic is easier to navigate on the way to the speedway. The temperature tends to drop as the sun sets. Although, the temperature remained a little warmer than I expected for a fall September evening. Then, there is the wind which is the curse of every rider. Based on my observations, the wind tends to calm down later in the evening. The con is that it is so late in the evening so it makes for a long day.

Picked up my number in the registration are – hum – it was a yellow number. I was so hoping for a red number which has been my goal all year. I thought riders going under 24 minutes scored a red number. I guess I was wrong because my bib was yellow and still in the 300s. Oh, well, this will remain one of my goals to be conquered next year.

Normally, my warm up is about 40 minutes but sometime a change is needed so my warm up got shorten to 20 minutes. Then, I moved to the starting area which was virtually empty. Jumping right up to the starting line, I headed out.

Shifting up through the gears rolling out from the start is the most dangerous part of a time trial. Once I have reached my cruising speed; I will only shift up or down one or two gears depending on the wind and the elevation change.

For the first 5 miles, my Garmin was showing an average speed of 25 mph. This was right on my personal time trial record. Then, my legs started to suffer. Mentally, my focus was on the quads and each thought sent to them was "stay relaxed". Going up the front stretch, my average speed would dip below 25 mph and then going down the back stretch, I would push hard to gain back the lost time.

With 9 miles complete, I knew that I was close to a PR. I tried my best to dig down but it wasn't to be. Crossing the finish line, a new PR eluded me by mere 8 seconds – 23:55.

Was it disappointing? Yes and no. Like any athlete getting a PR makes all the work seem worthwhile. Missing a PR leaves any athlete wondering where they could have made up that time. In this case, the disappointment didn't last that long.

Putting the time trial into perspective, getting a personal record wasn't the goal of my last 6 weeks of training. My rides have been reeled back both in distance and intensity as the desire to run a marathon was more important.

But walking away, hope was abounding for next year. My riding has improved so much this year. Sometime, it is hard to believe I only started riding a road bike in July '09. I'll take a lot of what I have learned this year on the bike and apply it to my training next spring. Barring any accidents, there is still definitely more room for improvement.

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner