It's been a long time since I wrote a race report - so please forgive me if I'm a little effervescent in my description! I'm happy to say the Fisk was great! Laura and I drove together and even saw a bit of blue sky on the way over - but once at Fisk there was nothing but nasty, windy, cold, gray weather. We arrived with about 90 minutes to spare prior to my start time, plenty of time to pick up the race packet and check out the schwag - two water bottles and a packet of Hammer Nutrition gel - um, apple-cinnamon flavor (urgh!)
Laura and I tried to stay warm in the car while taking turns jumping out to set up the bikes and trainers - then jumping back in the car to warm up. I had a fairly early start time so I went to the rider meeting (like a good little racer) only to find that the meeting ran over time and I had exactly 20 minutes to warm up and get to the start line. NOT how you want to start a TT. So a superfast warmup, jump off, make sure I'm dressed appropriately (which consisted of changing clothes about a half dozen times and make my way down to the line.
Once at the line, the woman in front of me was in full TT gear, the shoe covers, the helmet, the lightning fast TREK TT bike and I became more than a bit nervous on my road bike with clip-on TT bars. Ok, truth....I was down right scared this woman was going to annihilate me (she did). So as I stood there, I thought of two things 1) I'm racing, really racing for the first time in two years - yippeee and 2) I have to go over my plan to make sure that I don't blow myself into the next county by the time I hit the first turn.
Goals: 1. show up 2. start out with 1-3 minutes ramping up to speed and don't go out at 600 watts and blow up 3. stick to the plan - stay just below LT without going over until I hit the last hill - then gun it for all I'm worth -
I started off without destroying myself because I kept saying "this is the first of many races, this is only to see where you are at, this is only a long training TT, this is only a test" (rinse, repeat)
For someone who is not known for chilling out, I started off the line slowly and just took it easy going down the hill. The wind was from behind and it was a rather nice little downhill to the first turn. I rounded the turn with my best impression of Mari Holden's ferocious tenacity and started on the rolling long stretch. My goal was to keep it as steady as possible while going over a series of rollers - I have a problem in that I tend toward the surgy side and have a hard time not going full bore and then resting only to go full bore again - so for this stretch I decided keep to saying "steady" "steady" "steady" to myself. Amazingly, I was not passed by a single person - so 5.5 miles without being passed - now I'm almost beside myself with giddiness......I go into the second right hand turn - again smooth turn, in the drops feeling like a rock star! Enter the sounds of a scratched record (loud) I get passed not once, but by three people in succession! So I start to get surgy and chase these guys - only to hear the pain in my legs getting ever louder - STOP.
The mantra begins again "steady" "steady" "steady" and I settle back into my rhythm. I'm getting close to the guy in front of me - he's slowing down at the turn, holy crap, he's just put his foot down at the turn-around point - what the heck? I get closer as he starts out in my direction.....I come to the turn-around - smooth, I say, take it easy, you've practiced this a few years ago - you can do it (there's a lot of talking to myself during these races.....) so I come up to the turn around jam on the brakes, turn smooth as I can and bust out of the turn with big burst of power....that lasts about 5 seconds, get back down - down into that saddle - hands on the bars - push - smooth, keep it smooth......The wind has smashed me into submission here, I'm struggling not to rage against the wind in my face - "don't blow up" just keep it steady "but I'm losing speed!" "do you want to blow up and crawl across the line?" Like I said, there's a lot of talking going on in my head when I'm out there by myself......Ok, steady as she goes....I see my TT fading now - but I keep it steady - I'm keeping the 30 second guy in my sights - he's slowing down again at the turn around (yippee I can catch him!) I almost catch him but just as I come up to the turn-around - he's off - dang! I come up, smooth, steady, BAM - out of the chute and I'm off chasing him again.....By this time the wind and cold are starting to take their toll - I'm starting to fade a bit and I still have that darn roller section and the HILL to climb before I'm done. I'm now just about to cry uncle....this is really hard.....I'm cold......why did I do this? Am I a moron, what kind of a person puts themselves through this kind of insane torture???
STOP - ride, keep it steady, you can do this....back in the groove again, keeping it steady over the rollers, not putting out huge watts over the hills, keep it steady.....I'm closing in on the home stretch - there it is.....the last turn. It's a big fat left hand turn directly into the wind - I'm in the aerobars, I'm not getting out - the police are there to stop the traffic, and I fly through that intersection like someone's chasing me.......I'm there - I see the finish about a mile away - way the heck up on the top of that hill - there are little ants climbing up that hill - crap those are riders, they look like they are crawling up that hill! Keep it steady - remember the plan.....go easy on this first section and then fire away on the last 100 meters - go! go! go! STOP - I hit the first major incline - Dear GOD, what the heck have I got myself into? This is really hard - I drop down a gear - keeping my cadence as high as I can without committing suicide right here on this hill......come on keep it going - I'm within striking distance - I'm almost there - I'm catching the guy in front of me - FIRE NOW! Without regard to how badly I will shred myself I'm going to burn every match I've ever had in my life - it's all coming down right now. I see that red finish line tape and people are cheering and all I can see is that red piece of tape and how I want to get to that tape ahead of the guy in front of me - GO!GO! GO! I cross the tape, and don't stop pedaling until I'm about 20 feet past it. I'm breathing as if I may die.....rolling down the other side of the hill - it's done, I've finished my first race of the season.....and I'm alive.
Breathe again I go back to the car - cool down on the trainer, put on my Elmer Fud hat, three layers of fleece and go down to the start line to view the results. I knew I wasn't going to break any land speed records - and I didn't - but when I downloaded the PowerTap - I achieved my goals. I was disappointed that I had more power in the end than I should have - and I didn't leave it all out on the road, but I was steady, didn't blow up and proved a thing or two to myself. And I lived through it -
thanks for reading -
It's been almost 3 weeks without a break in the temperature - 3 weeks below freezing - now that's crazy. We've had a zillion inches of snow and the "worst day of the year ride" seems to be living up to it's name this Sunday with expected temps hovering around 13 degrees. Laura says she's going to do it, but I' pretty sure her brain has frozen over as she rides to work everyday through all kinds of blizzards - yeah, she's crazy - but silly strong - so it's best I don't say anything.
It's really not so bad - it's just that last little bit when the wind shifts and you look up all the people pleading with you to go faster so they can all go home......yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to!!!
