I had been training fairly consistently since the start of the year for early season triathlons, and I felt I had enough miles on my legs to do a good ride. Since I had been primarily riding my road bike all year I opted to use that for the time trial. I have a nice pair of carbon aero bars which I use for flat to moderately hilly triathlons, and I decided these would be a definite plus for the time trial. Now 40k is not a lot for me to ride. I can pretty much do that in my sleep. However, how often do I actually ride 40k all out at 100%? Not very often. I now understand why guys who are great rode racers don't always make the best time trialists.
Time trialing is a mixture of great fitness, determination, incredible concentration, and an uncanny ability to suffer. I felt I possessed at least the first 2 qualities going into the race, and I figured the race itself would give me a good indication on where I stood on the last two.
The Race Itself
The course was pancake flat. That in and of itself was enough to make me want to compete. The road, for the most part, was in good condition and there were only 2 turns on the course. The one thing I had not taken into account was the wind! A strong headwind was waiting for me at about the 15k to go mark. I overheard an earlier rider advising a friend to save something for the last 10k. I should have listened!
The Start
The thing I always forget about is the "The HOLD". Unlike every other type of race where you just hop on your bike and go, the time trial starts with someone holding you clipped into your pedals. Needless to say, this can make for an embarrassing start if not executed correctly! Gear selection is critical for a good start, and I was careful to start in a reasonable gear to get up to speed quickly. Despite feeling like I was about to fall at any moment during "The HOLD", I managed to get away cleanly, settle in to the aero tuck, and get rolling without incident.
My goal was to finish in 1 hour 15 minutes. This works out to a 20 mph average. I knew I would need to be disciplined and not go out to fast. My first challenge came about 2 minutes in when another racer passed me going around 25 mph! Every instinct in my body tells me to go after him, but I know there is no way I can hold that kind of tempo for the remaining 38k. So I restrain myself and keep my pace at a nice steady 22 mph. It should have been obvious to me that if I wanted to make the 20 mph goal, that 22 mph was probably too fast of a start. Still, at the 10k mark, I felt pretty good. I still had my 1 minute man in my sights and I set a goal to catch him by the finish. 15k came and went and I started to get my first warning signs of impending trouble. The skin suit I had chosen was not doing a very good job protecting my nether regions and this was causing me to move around on the saddle. Normally I can compensate for this type of problem by sitting up occasionally, but by virtue of trying to stay in the aero position this was not to be an option. At the half way point I also noticed a numbness creeping up my left side, and down my arm. As I think about it, I realize I had never spent more than about 20 minutes straight in the areo tuck. I had, at the 20k mark, been in it for 45 minutes! After the 25k mark the numbness had gotten so bad I was forced out of the saddle every few minutes to relieve the tingling on the left side of my body. I was also starting to feel the effects of my effort, but I was still on pace for my 20 mph finish time.
I was encouraged by the fact my 1 minute man was still in my sights, albeit a bit further ahead in my sights. Right after the 25k mark is where I got my first taste of really rough road. Coupled with my bad skin suit problems I was really starting to suffer. I now noticed my minute man is getting smaller, i.e. farther away.... I also notice I am now slightly behind my goal pace, not by much, but just enough to force me out of the saddle to up my pace. Somewhere between the 25 and 30k mark you turn for home onto newly paved road (my nether regions sing the praises of the new pavement), unfortunately with the new pavement came a killer headwind! I was now all over my bike trying to maintain anything close to 20 mph. It was somewhere in the last 6k or so that I lost sight of my minute man and was passed by a few riders who had started after me. The real struggle at this point became staying focused on keeping my speed up. I would take mental breaks where my speed would dip and I would have to get out the saddle to accelerate back up to speed. When I finally saw the 1k to go sign I was so drained I couldn't lift my pace not one iota. I couldn't even muster a fake sprint when I got to the line. Final verdict 1:15:53.
Post Race
I may have neglected to mention that the start line of the race was about 5 miles from the registration and parking area. So I had a 5 mile cool down ride after the race. When I signed up the race I thought this was a great idea. In reality it turned out to be a death march back to my car. I could barely pedal and had absolutely no energy what so ever. I checked the result and was not surprised to see the guy who passed me 2 minutes or so into the race actually won the time trial! 58 minutes and change WOW! I was also pleased to see that my minute man finished only 30 seconds in front of me. I guess I hallucinated him out of sight. I'll be back next year, better skin suit, more time in the aero position and definitely more restraint in the first 20k. 20 mph here I come.........
Peace
Rob
