Athlete Blogs
April 12th, 2009First TT of the year - Iron Gate TT in Mebane, NC
Today was the first time trial of the year for me, and admittedly I have been really lazy about getting on the TT bike. For some reason I just have a mental block about doing interval work on the TT bike. It doesn't help that I have always been able to deliver big power numbers, same as the road bike, but I know I should be on it more.Today's course was a very windy 10.7 miles, right here in mebane, rolling, not totally flat, 3 corners.
I approached the race today as a simple TT warmup, practice the technique, get my (*censored*)(*censored*)(*censored*)(*censored*) in order for the rest of the season. I always want to win, but I was nervious as some really fast guys were there, one in particular (ken!) just moved to the area.
My wife did say something really funny - she said, you are nervous - but imagine how nervous the other guys are who have to race YOU! LOL. Made me laugh.
I got a great warmup and hit the start hot and ready to go. I got a clean start and got things rolling - and started to think about what I said last year about TT's - how they are "easy". I still feel like they are. You do a number of things correctly, execute, and you will do your best. Equipment, position, pacing, warmup - check. Put out the power - check. Do all these things and your time will be the best it can me.
I held back big time at the start, as good as 450w felt in the first few minutes, i know it was not sustainable - so the advantage of a PM is clear - pacing. Isopower. The hills are actually easy to hold the right power - the flats are where you really have to focus, keep the power up.
The wind was gusty today, and there was one section with a direct cross wind that was really scary - I had to lean into the wind and really muscle the bars, really work to keep things upright. But no way in hell was I coming out of the bars. No way. The only time I'm out of the aero postion EVER is to safely negotiate a turn.
The final 4 miles were flat, super fast - rolling at 33, 35mph for extended sections. Super fun.
So the day went well, I did everything I wanted, hit a new peak power for the season, on the TT bike no less, and I was very happy with that. And I had the fasted time on the day.
Contrats too all my northeast buddies and their time trial results as well. Wish we had something like the NJ cup down here, would be fun.
Cheers,
Pete
