ITT and TTT Recap
On Wednesday night, we had the Team Time Trial for our TrySports Team at Charlotte Motor speedway. This year I had been making inquiries since early in the year. My focus had been on building a team with members either directly or indirectly involved with TrySports. Luck was with me because Meredith, Justin, and Jeremy decided to risk life and limb to ride this 10 mile time trial.
To share a little personal thought here, back in March when I started making inquiries for other teammates, riding this time trial sounded like a really good idea. Standing on pit road just after 9pm a straddle my bike, I had that sinking feeling like I was a little over matched. It is the feeling that says this is going to hurt so run away now and avoid the pain. Unfortunately, I am not smart enough to run away from these situations I have to face my stress head on – no backing down and no backing away.
I guess the feeling was a holdover from the ITT. I had ridden 24:42 which is not a bad effort, but I just was not feeling great and didn't seem to be having the legs for a big effort. During the ITT, I thought I managed my effort well and ridden smoothly and evenly throughout.
As the 4 of us were warming up, my legs felt gassed but I thought the sluggishness would pass once my legs started moving again.
Of course, there were a number of thoughts resonating through my head. I had ridden with Jeremy several times, so I had a good idea of what to expect. But while Meredith and Justin are fellow Ambassadors at TrySports, we have never ridden together. So before we started, I asked what they average during their races – Meredith 21 mph and Justin 22 mph for an Ironman. 21 mph and 22 mph - really for an Ironman – that's 112 miles of riding after freakin swimming 2 ½ miles and knowing that you still have to run 26.2 miles. That's just awesome.
Back to the starting line, I led us off. Jeremy followed me. Justin was next followed by Meredith.
I pulled us through the first turn and down the back stretch. Jeremy took over as our rotation began. I was learning really fast. Meredith and Justin ride their TT bikes all of the time and it shows. They bodies and their bikes acted as one. Not leaving Jeremy out, he is pretty decent on his bike as well.
In the TTT, everyone must stay together and the third man inline scores for the team. If a team drops a man, they have one lap to reconnect or drop off the track. I made it through 7 miles. At which point, I had not only crossed the red line (max heart rate), but the line had disappeared in the distance behind me. There was no way I was going to keep up so I pulled over the infield and became our cheering section. My Garmin was registering speed in excess of 30 mph.
If I couldn't keep up, I would at the very least yell encouragement when they passed by me.
Justin, Meredith, and Jeremy would go on to ride 22:21 which is pretty darn fast. Our team would finish 8th overall among the 15 open teams with accumulative ages above 160. That's the category we were registered.
In '10 I did my first team time trial and learned at lot. This year, I learned even more and they say that the third time is the charm.
Maybe next March I was check in with Justin, Meredith, and Jeremy about doing another TTT-II edition. And, now that I know how each of them rides, I also know that I better spend more time on my TT bike next year. "Ride like the wind Bulleye" – a quote from Toy Story.
Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner
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