@rapwithtom, those words mean more than you know. Thank you. Again, what a long strange trip it's been, and more than anything, I'm thankful for and to the people I've met.

@valygrl....you're such a strong, disciplined racer! I'm glad you made the selection, too, but I had little doubt that you would. Congrats on a fine effort, and congrats to your teammate!
@LAJ - you are MOST welcome - I'm proud of you!!!

It's a lot more fun when all that work pays off, isn't it?

The win is great, especially in a prestigious race, but I bet you will value more down the road is how you did it. You saw an opportunity, created a strategy, rolled with the punches, and came out on top. You now know a lot more about yourself and what you are capable of. That doesn't mean that you should try a solo attack at every race from here on out, not at all, but you have this experience in your pocket now, and you can use it in other ways than what you did yesterday. This is the stuff that a coach can't coach. You have to just do it and figure it out for yourself.

Thank you, @shovelhd.

It's very fun. Good hard fun. Makes it sweet, that's for sure.

Of course, that commit word is all yours. When I use that word, you're who crosses my mind. Even in a bike race. When that line is crossed, and it really is time, there's a brief... "What Would shovelhd Do?"

You have taught a lot of people some very good things.

Yes he has!!

Glad to hear it.

Well done!
Remember the inestimable Beryl Burton, one of the greatest TT riders of all time bar none when having at it.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=523122

"In domestic time trial competition, Burton was almost unbeatable. She won the Road Time Trials Council’s British Best All-Rounder Competition for 25 consecutive years from 1959 to 1983. In total, she won 72 national individual time trial titles; she won four at 10 miles (the championship was inaugurated in 1978), 26 at 25 miles, 24 at 50 miles and 18 at 100 miles. Her last national solo time trial titles were achieved in 1986 (at 25 and 50 miles; she was part of the fastest team, Knaresborough CC, in the 50 mile event in 1969)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton

-Bandera

Nice racing @valygrl and @Cleave.

Thanks @Hermes & @Bandera. Lol on the Beryl Burton link, not really someone who it makes any sense to mention in the same breath as me.
@shovelhd, funny what you wrote about what a coach can't teach you, I was thinking about that very subject recently, the nature of coaching. Your coach can take you right up there to the edge, get you all prepped and ready, but ultimately you just need to leap off that edge yourself and figure out how to get it done. That's where the learning curve lies. You can take all kinds of things with you in your race that you get from your coach- the physical and mental preparation, the confidence that you should even be out there. But in the end, the races are just different from the training rides and you just need to race to figure this out. I think this is why racing cyclists get so bent about trying to define what's racing & what's not, because trying to win is a different thing in the brain than trying to finish, it's almost a different experience.

Lately I've been asking for and getting feedback about what I did in a race - there were a couple of things that happened in my races this weekend, where i was able to tell my coach, "ABC happened, and I did XYZ, was that right or should I have done something else" - and gotten useful feedback - in both directions. Sometimes you make the right decision in the moment, and sometimes you don't, but I think thinking and talking about it later can help you race better next time.

I always do this actually, its part of my process. I sit down after the TT and look and my data and try to figure out exactly where I could have done it better. This goes into my notes attached to my data file and then I ask for (and get) coach's feedback on the race and my thoughts on it.

But what I am getting at is the things that are hard for someone to tell you exactly how to do or things that you don't really realize until you do it- for example, learning this weekend that wind is not wind, there is canyon unpredictable wind and steady desert wind. Steady wind being easier to deal with would maybe mean to me that I'd be more aggressive in wheel choice for desert wind that canyon wind. Never really thought about it before, the nature of wind besides wind speed. But having experienced it, I can appreciate the difference now.

yes, agree - lots of learning to be done, and it never stops. i love that.

It points to the fact that I need to be a better student. Heathie and I have been talking about this. TT's are especially heady, aren't they, and I need to be more attentive. The race this weekend will be a data mine, if I do it right before during and after....

What you say is true HP but I was thinking more generally than that. To pull off what LAJ pulled off involved two major elements: knowing what you are capable of, and when to make the move. The coach can help with the former, but RPE is internal and can only be developed by just doing it in races. You can do all the intervals in the world but they cannot emulate how you use them in a race. The foundation of the latter can be built with the assistance of a coach but the only way to refine that sense is to do it in races. Try your best and do not obsess when you fail. Unless you get caught 150m from the line in one of the biggest races of the year after being off the front all day. That's worth a few brain cells.

Honestly, I knew there was where it had to be. Throwing it out there on any other difficult spot would have been totally expected, reacted to, and I may have blown up before it was all over. My brevet stuff came into play as I rode that spot the first lap, because that was one of the finishing stretches of many of them. Those rises were brutal after a 300K, with 12K of climbing, and I knew what was over the next rise, and it was relief. Not recovery, by any means, but a few watts less intensity that I needed to get around the corners, and hopefully out of site. Out of site was my ultimate goal, and for some reason, they allowed it. It's not like it was a surprise that I may go, but I do think it was a surprise where I went. I didn't care if anyone went with, either. It seems I do too much work when I'm with others, because I'm so amped to be away. Doing all I can to assure a step, even if I let other rest, seems to be a bit of a fault of mine, so I may as well just try it myself.

Everything was fortuitous that day. I picked right then to get to the side, that other fellow picked that moment to make a half assed run at it, and the guy on the front chose right then to eat a gel. I heard fast guys were trying to recruit chasers, but no one went. Why not? A chaser broke a spoke when he caught me? Seriously? Things just were right, and the cards were falling my way.

Heck, who knows.

LAJ, what was, was. You won. I know you're savoring it! So sweet....

Great job at Nats, RacerEx!!!!!

My old nemesis won two more jerseys. I think that makes it 30.

A shout out for my good friend and riding partner for winning the Master's National Road Race 75+ yesterday!
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=523499

I heard people muttering about Curley while waiting for the start of the race horn-blast, haha! And, indeed, congrats to RacerEx!
My brief road race report: I was doing pretty well, about midpack, until close to the end of the second lap, of 3 (18.4 miles/lap) -- me, road race, that's pretty darn good. A crash developed in front of me coming off a descent and transitioning into an incline. I lost all my momentum, and somehow just scooted through. But, I could not ramp it up enough to latch back on or to hold wheels of those who came from behind and were carrying their momentum. No way was I going to dnf; I finished it out.

RacerEx - Niiiice!!!

Hell yeah! :beer:

Beat the Clock #3 TT, Canada Road, Woodside CA

So, my goal was to go sub 30 minutes. Then I woke up and realized that the REAL goal needs to be "improvement", and incremental. A two minute chunk is a big ask. So, I adjusted my goal to 31 minutes. Unofficially, I did a 31:18. Pretty. Darned. Close.

I had two days of TT openers, and I was careful to follow the protocol during them. I was a little concerned with how sore my legs felt on the opener yesterday, but we and I ALL know this is a day by day sport. Today, during the warmup, I felt soreness again early, but as the warmup progressed, I got loose and things felt fine.

I arrived very early, got the bike set up on the trainer, got my number, did my usual suspect pinning job, visited the Blue Room, and then settled in on the bike for the warmup, timing the warmup to give me a few minutes on the road to finish it off and then arrive at the start house with little time to spare. It worked. Conditions were ideal. 68 degrees, and no wind.

I did a held start this time, and got going quickly. The course is downhill outbound, and I knew to be careful not to go too hard. Adrenaline was well in check, and I was much more relaxed than the last time I rode here. As I progressed along the course, I realized I was feeling pretty good. I was steady on the power, keeping the target plus or minus 10%, as was the plan. I hit the outbound leg climb, which is about halfway, and settled in to a smooth cadence and power delivery. I knew that the last time I rode here, I was sort of dying over the tops of these little climbs, and I had worked diligently during my training rides to put that behavior to bed. I rolled over the top of the climb power on, and I didn't sag at all. On the way up, I was passed by my two minute person, who happened to be a 23 year old phenom who has the course record for the women, around 23 minutes (she did that again today). No one else went by me.

My target split for the turnaround was 13 minutes. I didn't see the exact time when I made the turn, but I saw it was 13 and change. On schedule! My turn was a little slow, so I hit it fairly hard off the turn and got back up to speed quickly. The return leg is mostly uphill, and the last 1/4 is relatively steep. Pacing is important, so I was managing my power carefully, but I was below target by around ten watts. I'd work to ease it back up, but it would droop back down. I decided to key on cadence and keep things smooth. I was definitely motoring along faster than the last time I rode here, and I still felt good. My one minute behind starter, my teammate Yvonne, passed me around 1/3 of the way back. I was pleased, that was an indication to me that I was indeed going quicker.

At around the 3/4 point, I caught and passed my one minute rider, and I did it firmly. I was careful not to "go after her", lest I pop, so I held power and drove around her. That was a new thing for me, I've never caught my one minute or thirty second rider before. Another good sign!

Then the course got quite steep. There is a sharp punchy pitch just prior to the road passing underneath the 280 freeway, and I decided to stay in the big ring and stay aero. That was a mistake, and that one cost me some time, probably around 6 to 10 seconds. On that pitch, my one minute rider passed me back (she later told me that me coming around her spurred her on - good on her!). I didn't allow that to get into my head, I stayed in the power and worked to get up and over the pitch and then back up to speed.

It's around 1K to go at the freeway overpass, and I worked to ramp up the power. I settled at FTP plus 20 and then went higher, but I couldn't hold it. I started to droop, and much as I willed my legs to go (and drooled!), I was loosing time and not increasing speed. I wasn't gaining on my one minute woman, either.

I hit the line OTS trying to sprint, but folks, I was rubbery at that point!

I'd beaten my previous time by over a minute, and I was pleased with that. I had finished off the climbs, and I was smoother - much smoother - than I had been on this hard course before. I'm happy, but not satisfied, There is more to gain on this course.

I'm feeling confident going in to the District TT on the 12th. The Race Predictor has me ranked #1 in my age category. No pressure there!!! I know how that thing works, but still, I feel a little in the way of expectation and I'm going to really go for it at Districts.

Monday, Memorial Day, is a 3/4 crit. I'll be heads up and stay safe!

I salute all of you vets out there - thank you all for your service!!

Nice racing, @sarals!

Thanks, Heathie! It's a tough course - YOU'D love it!!!

I like it, @sarals. TT's are such a thing, and I think you did well. Thumbs up!

They are that... Thank you, so much!!!!