|
What Richard saw:
Category: 4
Result: Mid-pack
We had myself, Jason and Ziggy riding this. Mike Zuerlein was planning
to ride it, but decided to sleep in instead.
The legs were no-committal in the warm-up, but my HR was definitely
depressed. So I made the decision to cover up the computer and not
display my HR when riding and ride on feel alone lest I be distracted by
how low my HR was staying.
Jason was my 30 second man. Behind me by 30 seconds was Rob MacNeil of
AV who I knew had only done 2 laps of Winters the day before. I got
myself up to speed spinning the small ring before settling into
alternating between the 53x16 and 53x15 on the outward stretch. I was
steadily catching Jason and once round the right turn I was able to get
the 53x14 turning.
I caught Jason going up the overpass. On the down side he got me back
and once I had the 53x14 turning a bit better, I passed him again. When
we got to the rolling section I began to open a gap.
Not long before the turn Rob MacNeil passed me and I kept him reasonably
close until after the turn. Just after the turn I passed my minute man
and then began to suffer on the rollers on the way back. Remembering
last year, I allowed myself to go into the small ring for the steep one
and this enabled me to keep my spin going once over the top.
I was wanting the ride to be over when I saw the 5 mile to go sign. At
this point it was time to grit the teeth and keep the pedals turning as
much as possible. The climb back over the freeway was hard and I found
it difficult to get the pedals turning once over the top. On the final
run in I tried to go up the gears. It took a while, but I was able to
get the 14, then the 13 and finally I was out of the saddle turning the
12 as I crossed the line.
I timed myself at about 45:30, which is roughly 50 seconds quicker than
last year's ride.
Back to top
|
|
What Jason saw:
Category: 4
Result: Mid-pack
Short: Earlier start time than anticipated, too big a breakfast, finished strong.
Thanks to Alan at Bike Garage for letting me use his Tri blades. They are smoking fast. Thanks to Coach Matt for the TT fit. Much better fit and way more power. Thanks to Coach John with help on acclamation to the heat. Worked like a charm was nice and cool, body very comfortable.
Long: I spent the week training indoors because I was a bit concerned with the heat. Since it's been cold here and expected to be 100 there, I opted to get used to sweating a lot again. I felt it helped at lot. So I came from the North from Chico, got up at the ungodly hour of 530 and bolted 90 mph to Esparto, while I chomped down my normal breakfast of two bagels and a yogurt (This information will make sense later) to get there before the 745 close time. Got there with 10 mins to spare.
Being a VP race and that last year it was delayed by 15-30 mins I figured I'd go around 9ish give or take 15 mins. Last year I didn't take off until 9:30 I thought I would have a good chunk of time. But nooooo, I had an 8:32 start time. $*%^&$! (It'd been nice if VP could have sent out an e-mail a day or so before, would have made things a lot easier).
So with little time to spare I get dress put the bike together, get pinned, went potty, slammed a GU and carb drink thingy (mistake), and started a condense 20 min warm up. 5 min spin, 2 min Tempo, 1 sub LT effort, 1 Full LT effort to open up. Bummer is I had a nice warm up all planned out, never got to use. Saw both Rich and Ziggy go by to the line.
Finish up, and go to the line. Found out Rich was behind me. 8:32 off I go. I settle in right way and actually felt very comfortable. Cadence is up and moving. See my 30 second man and start to bring him in. Hit the turn and start to pick up a little more speed. But to my usual breakfast size and lack of time to digest I got my first verp. (half vomit half burp, please also see Tim Allan's stand up for further education on this concept). But I keep going. Rich catches me on the over pass. As he mentioned we go back and forth a bit. I tired to stay off to his side, not sure of the drafting rule. However, as he pulled towards the front I had another series of verps. Thus he was able to pull away.
Hit the rollers, and due to my situation and knowing that the rollers are stepper coming back, I opted to not push myself going to the turn around. So I settled in and spun through the first part of the rollers. This helped a lot, I was able to recompose myself and had a lot of energy after the turn around.
On the way back I was able to go hard. Powered over the rollers. Once over the steepest roller I dropped into my 53, 14, put the head down and pounded the gears home. I finished around 47-48 mins, 3-4 mins faster than last year's time. Like the theme of my year, it was good, but I know I could have done better. Lessons' learned, a good warm up really missed, and too much food before hand. But I did feel cool and the heat was not a factor.
Back to top
|
