Dover TT "Race Report"
As promised I hit the Dover TT last night with Thom and Linnea. My Garmin broke that morning and I'd never ridden the course so I was hitting things as blind as possible... best way to set a low first time and feel good about myself next month, right?
Right.
So it turns out time trials are pretty unfun. I do enjoy attaching a number (20:06), speed (22.97) and place (12th/23) to an effort, but 20 minutes of pure unbroken effort is kind of boring, and made me wish I could be dodging trees or something. Which is to say, I'm not good at it, so I'm going to badmouth it.
Anyway, my 30 second man had aero bars, I did not, and I closed the gap on every hill and lost it on every downhill. Not that I'm trying to blame my equipment, I just found it remarkable and heartbreaking how I could close on him noticeably when we were going up just a gradual incline, and how fast the gap would go back up on the following descent.
Out on the course my biggest mistake was hammering out of the saddle up the hill after the train tracks because there was a family with two little kids watching. I successfully impressed a five-year-old, albeit at the cost of going into the red and having to softpedal a few minutes to recover. Another thing about this TT nonsense, there's no recovery, that's uncool, since 100% of my competitive ability is based on sprint-and-drift riding.
In summary, I kind of sucked, and the manly men/roadies who read this blog probably realize that 23 mph isn't so hot. Next month will be better -- I'm thinkin 23.1 is doable. But only if I train wicked haaaahd hard between now and then.
Oh, and this dude took some good pictures that make me look way faster than I felt.
This kid is totally beating me in a cross race (note his brakes) in a few years.
Right.
So it turns out time trials are pretty unfun. I do enjoy attaching a number (20:06), speed (22.97) and place (12th/23) to an effort, but 20 minutes of pure unbroken effort is kind of boring, and made me wish I could be dodging trees or something. Which is to say, I'm not good at it, so I'm going to badmouth it.
Anyway, my 30 second man had aero bars, I did not, and I closed the gap on every hill and lost it on every downhill. Not that I'm trying to blame my equipment, I just found it remarkable and heartbreaking how I could close on him noticeably when we were going up just a gradual incline, and how fast the gap would go back up on the following descent.
Out on the course my biggest mistake was hammering out of the saddle up the hill after the train tracks because there was a family with two little kids watching. I successfully impressed a five-year-old, albeit at the cost of going into the red and having to softpedal a few minutes to recover. Another thing about this TT nonsense, there's no recovery, that's uncool, since 100% of my competitive ability is based on sprint-and-drift riding.
In summary, I kind of sucked, and the manly men/roadies who read this blog probably realize that 23 mph isn't so hot. Next month will be better -- I'm thinkin 23.1 is doable. But only if I train wicked haaaahd hard between now and then.
Oh, and this dude took some good pictures that make me look way faster than I felt.
This kid is totally beating me in a cross race (note his brakes) in a few years.
Comments
Get FAT
here's your chance...
pig out - pork up
before you know it you'll be passsing all the little JJ's anytime the road turns down!
Sure - it comes at a cost of going up fast... but hey...
it's more fun to go down than up anyway!
And please, end this "I only rode 23 mph riding cannibal on a hilly course, so I'm slow" shit.
This from the guy who lists a 25.4 mph cannibal 40k on his blog...
Sandbagging Cub Juniors -- it's harder than you think.
And Ge, the adolescent ass-kissing on that thread made me ashamed to be a male. If I ever get so pathetic as to post a comment on that blog, you (or anyone else) has express permission to put a bullet in my head.
the adolescent ass-kissing on that thread made me ashamed to be a male. If I ever get so pathetic as to post a comment on that blog, you (or anyone else) has express permission to put a bullet in my head.
That makes two of us.