Road Bike Racing - Mitch Tries Time-Trialing, Hamer Doesn't Get Droped.

Okay, I tried my first Time Trial today, it was kind of a 2 race series in Hinkley, OH that leads up to the State Championships (I heard there's only 21 people so far!?).
We had a pretty good turnout, I heard there were 30 riders in total. Since I only heard about this race on Tuesday, I didn't have too much time to prepare, so I wen't out there pretty UN-aero. I haven't ordered my aero helmet yet, and my Nokons and full aerobars aren't here yet, also I was just running on Xero XR-1's. The only aero things I had were some Profile Design Century clip-on's and a skinsuit. Das'it.
Also, the course was quite hilly. I was expecting something flatter since I don't race well on hills. I can climb them well, but I always feel I should be climbing faster. It could be mental, but who knows?

- At least they got the starting right, the one guy asked if I wanted to be held up for a good start, which I was surprised (in a bad way) that he asked. It seems that should be the norm. I was the second starter, in between two members of "Da Team", I got an alright starting sprint going into the first descent, and went kind of slow (~35mph) getting settled into the clip-ons. Climbing the first hill seemed easy, and so did the second.
I was going in a pretty fast pace, and thought I could keep the pace the entire race, but that was until I got to the third sector of the course. Semi-rough roads and endless hills leading to mega-short and shallow descents killed my legs, and I was practically sprinting up them trying to shave seconds. The whole 4th sector, which was 2 miles, I was in the hoods. There just wasn't enough flat road to justify the clip-on's.
On the second pass of two, I decided that I needed to settle down into the bars, spin at about 90rpm in a happy-medium gear, count my pedal strokes, and slow down my breathing. I was hoping to maintain 26-27mph ont he flats, and breath softly. This seemed to work, as I felt a lot smoother, and the hills didn't seem as hard. I got into some pretty neat aero positions, I tried some Graham O'bree like postions, with my arms pointing straight out and my back flat.
I ended the 10 mile race with a 24:17.xxx, and ended in 17th position. I was hoping for better, but I can't change that time until next week.
I had some leg soreness during the race, even after some massaging. This is probably because i went for a pretty long group ride last night, and I pushed myself pretty hard, but I felt great.

Overall, I need to do one thing;
Re-adjust my damn front derailleur.

1. Where the hell is Henkley, OH? I tried to map it and nothing came up.
2. I thought the OH TT Champs were in Groveport this year?

1. Where the hell is Henkley, OH? I tried to map it and nothing came up.
2. I thought the OH TT Champs were in Groveport this year?
1.) Hinkley is a rural in Medina county.
2.) They are, the Hinkley TT's are leading up to that. Like practice races.

Okay, because if you look at some of the race calendars, they still say it's in Akron.

There may be only 21 people signed up now, but I assure you that will double, if not triple come race day. Like me for instance. I pulled my guad muscle playing soccer and am day to day. I'll make the choice to ride about 24 hours prior to the cutoff.

I figured that it would increase in number on raceday, that number is probably the amount of people from out of state and in further reaches.
I'm missing the Cleveland Grand Prix for only the second time in my life for this race, and it's also my birthday. Hope to see you there, I'm the dude on a red Cannondale and a Pista Elite skinsuit.

I'm going to try and make it. I haven't done more than 15 miles hard on my TT bike this year though, so I'll be surprised if I can hold the position for 40K. Look for stellar results.