I sorta raced tonight
Asheville TT series round 2
Short version: I pinned on a number and raced, no idea how I finished
Not shorter version
I'm racing an omnium this weekend and should be resting, but decided to drive down to Asheville for round 2 of their TT series. My plan was to simply concentrate on my position and make sure that I did not go too hard because this weekend's races are more important. I went hard Tuesday night and feel like I am coming down with a cold....
Setup: Fuji Aloha 1.0 and my new 606 Powertap tubie setup. Skinsuit, shoe covers, Giro Advantage 2 - I have got to figure out how to rig a visor/windscreen on this thing, 54T up front, 11-23 rear, no gloves, super hairy legs.
Course: Out and back 20k with a bunch of little rollers, headwind out, but less than 10mph most of the time. Slightly more uphill out than inbound.
Race: Got there early, did my normal unstructured warm-up, got in line....waited...waited...not sure why I warm up for time trials. Checked my HR, I think it was around 6 by this point... Got to the line and was in my 54X17 which was too much gear. Took off struggling to turn the cranks, but quickly got up to speed...I really need to learn what this means. I never know how far to go before I settle into my TT position.
I intended to just ride at 315 watts for the entire ride as I felt that would be enough below threshold with this short of a ride to give me a shot a recovering for the weekend. I look down at the head unit and I'm at 385 watts. Does not feel like it...better back off....look down and I'm still at 385 watts. I end up averaging 400 watts for the first 2 minutes which is not what I want to do. I back off a little, but for some reason I feel really strong. We started at 1 minute intervals and I caught one rider out and saw two more coming back at me near the turn-around. I do my usual god-awful turnaround job losing several seconds.
I sprint to get back up to speed and settle in. I look at the computer and see that I am averaging 330 watts for the first half and decide it is time to shut it down. I tried to hold around 300 on the inbound leg. I still caught 2 or 3 more riders, but at this point I was playing with my cadence and trying to spin a much higher gear than I normally do. Also there was a nice shadow that allowed me to see when I was dropping my head so I worked on keeping my head steady and "looking through my eye lids".
It is interesting how much detail there is to time trialing. On the inbound leg when I was cruising I was noticing the terain and how advantageous it would be to ride certain lines in cross and cross-head winds. Another good learning experience.
I finished and loaded up as I have to work tomorrow. All in all a nice night. I hope I did not expend too much energy tonight and will be recovered for the weekend. I will come back when I don't have a race weekend and will really see what I can do on this course.
Asheville TT 2:
Duration: 29:27
Work: 562 kJ
TSS: 48.8 (intensity factor 0.997)
Norm Power: 319
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 9.07%
Pa:HR: 1.86%
Distance: 12.294 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1074 318 watts
Heart Rate: 79 163 160 bpm
Cadence: 37 133 92 rpm
Speed: 6.8 29.1 25.0 mph
Pace 2:04 8:47 2:24 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 434 85 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1376 304 lb-in
Ash TT Inbound:
Duration: 14:47
Work: 271 kJ
TSS: 22.8 (intensity factor 0.962)
Norm Power: 308
VI: 1.01
Pw:HR: -1.43%
Pa:HR: -3.15%
Distance: 6.177 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 613 305 watts
Heart Rate: 158 163 162 bpm
Cadence: 39 133 97 rpm
Speed: 6.8 27.8 25.1 mph
Pace 2:09 8:47 2:24 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 341 81 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1037 288 lb-in
Ash TT Outbound:
Duration: 14:38
Work: 289 kJ
TSS: 25.9 (intensity factor 1.03)
Norm Power: 329
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 12.16%
Pa:HR: 3.42%
Distance: 6.116 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 30 1074 329 watts
Heart Rate: 102 163 158 bpm
Cadence: 65 122 88 rpm
Speed: 18.6 29.1 25.1 mph
Pace 2:04 3:13 2:24 min/mi
Hub Torque: 8 357 87 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1310 316 lb-in