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03-26-07, 06:15 AM
Rode my Cannondale Six13 over to the course for a TT I'm signed up for in early May (High Point NJ Time Trial). The course itself is a 5.5 mile climb with 1200 vertical feet of gain. Nothing too overwhelming from a pure climbing standpoint (the climbs I did in Greece last summer were much tougher) but of course you're RACING up this hill, so it will be one big Hurt Locker. 77 miles in total, a fair amount of climbing (including one time up the course itself). Beautiful ride if a bit rushed, and after all that hammering to try to get back (my wife was waiting for me, we had a family outing) I buried myself and still wound up 45 mins. late and in the dog house with the Mrs. She got over it, we had a great time with the family Sunday and now she loves me again.
I'll surely get KILLED in this TT. The fastest Cat 2/3 guys do it in 21 mins. or so. I rode that course @ 90% yesterday and managed 32 mins. But of course I had too many miles in my legs, I have a month left to train and lose weight, and on race day I'll have adrenaline + rabbits to follow (all the :30 second men that pass me going up the hill). I'm shooting for anything under 26 mins, but we'll see.
So why am I doing this? I pre-registered a few weeks back. And ever since then the motivation to train and eat right has been very high indeed. So the way I look at it the worst case scenario is that I get in great shape and then finish 180th out of 200 riders. So WHAT? I'll still be in MUCH better shape than I would otherwise be. I've only been doing concerted intervals now for 2 weeks. My resting HR is down to <47bpm. I'm thinner. On the fast group ride on Saturday I had sufficient snot to get up front and give my pal a decent leadout on the 400 meter uphill sprint finish. So it really is already working.
So will do my RESULTS in the TT matter? Not really. But that doesn't mean I don't want to do well. And that's at the core of why I've raced over the years: I race to ride, I don't ride to race. In other words the training for racing and racing itself makes me a MUCH better cyclist. And the fact that I suck so hard at this makes it all the more challenging - and makes the infrequent successes all the more rewarding. Bottom line: there are EIGHT MILLION fitness cyclists in the USA. About 50,000 have a USCF racing license. I look at it this way: I'm probably faster than 159/160 cyclists I see on the road. So I have that going for me.
All that being said, I am the slowest guy here. But at least I'm HERE. I miss Botto (sniff, wipe away tear).
I'll surely get KILLED in this TT. The fastest Cat 2/3 guys do it in 21 mins. or so. I rode that course @ 90% yesterday and managed 32 mins. But of course I had too many miles in my legs, I have a month left to train and lose weight, and on race day I'll have adrenaline + rabbits to follow (all the :30 second men that pass me going up the hill). I'm shooting for anything under 26 mins, but we'll see.
So why am I doing this? I pre-registered a few weeks back. And ever since then the motivation to train and eat right has been very high indeed. So the way I look at it the worst case scenario is that I get in great shape and then finish 180th out of 200 riders. So WHAT? I'll still be in MUCH better shape than I would otherwise be. I've only been doing concerted intervals now for 2 weeks. My resting HR is down to <47bpm. I'm thinner. On the fast group ride on Saturday I had sufficient snot to get up front and give my pal a decent leadout on the 400 meter uphill sprint finish. So it really is already working.
So will do my RESULTS in the TT matter? Not really. But that doesn't mean I don't want to do well. And that's at the core of why I've raced over the years: I race to ride, I don't ride to race. In other words the training for racing and racing itself makes me a MUCH better cyclist. And the fact that I suck so hard at this makes it all the more challenging - and makes the infrequent successes all the more rewarding. Bottom line: there are EIGHT MILLION fitness cyclists in the USA. About 50,000 have a USCF racing license. I look at it this way: I'm probably faster than 159/160 cyclists I see on the road. So I have that going for me.
All that being said, I am the slowest guy here. But at least I'm HERE. I miss Botto (sniff, wipe away tear).