echappist

well done @Heathpack

Heathpack 

Thanks all y'all.

Hermes

With respect to wheel selection for TTs, I suggest that is a great topic to discuss with ones coach. The second coach I had offered some great advice about how to select wheels for time trials. Also, when we started racing, we joined a racing club that had an elite 1/2 men's team that had remnants of the former UCI pro team and a current women's UCI pro team. We learned a lot about equipment from the pro women.

Two points of fact...Katherine Curry Mattis, who was the GC for the women's pro team was blown off the road into a ditch and broke here collar bone in Australia. She was on a road bike. Amber Neban was blown into the side of a mountain while riding racing her TT bike in Europe and broke her pelvis. Women get blown off the road and bad things happen.

So sometimes it is a good idea, not to race. The pro women do not have a choice.

Heathpack 

Of course I talk to my coach about wheel selection and I value his opinion and advice. But there is also a whole bunch of experience here on BF and its nice to pick other people's brains as well- especially other women who may have very similar experiences/perspective.


My basic MO when I have a question is to gather info from multiple sources and then try to assimilate it into an overall "answer" that I may well modify eventually if more info/experience becomes available. Of course in gathering info, different sources carry different weight with me- that's also part of the learning process, figuring out who knows what they're talking about, who can think inside my box and outside their own, what are people's motivations for the advice they give (ie my interests or defense of some kind of cycling dogma they themselves are invested in for whatever reason, etc). Its interesting, the personalities you meet in cycling, usually there is no one single answer to most of my questions. There's a set of choices, and I'm trying to learn enough to make good choices on my own.

shovelhd

Don't talk to me about getting blown off the road

sarals 

Or to me about getting blown out the back....

valygrl

LOL sarals. nice work HP.

Cleave

Wide awake in St. Louis.

Great seeing @Heathpack at the Piru 20 Km ITT this past Sunday, December 4th. The tailwind on the outbound leg felt good and the headwind on the way back didn't feel as bad as I expected. The guy who started 30 seconds behind me, passed me coming out of the turnaround. I tried to keep him close and did that until we caught Heathpack. He passed her quickly and it seemed like she picked up the pace because I could close the last bit of gap for a while. Two other guys passed me and her before I could find my way past. Managed to mostly hold that pace to the finish.

More importantly, had my highest NP for any race in 2016 and while my time wasn't near my best, it was much better than last Spring when I last raced on this course. Will be back at this race venue in January and February as prep for the Valley of the Sun Stage Race.

Heathpack 

Nice racing, @Cleave!

Lol, you've asked me that before- if I picked up the pace as a result of being passed or knowing you're coming. Nope. I don't chase or run in these TTs for the most part. Very rarely if I know someone and feel like I can reasonably pace off of them. Or if I think they're dangerous & want to create space.

Mostly though, I assume what the other person is doing is their thing and not necessarily what makes sense for me. I usually have my own plan for the TT which it takes everything in the world at that moment to stick to. There's not much room for me to concern myself with anyone else's thing. Maybe i've learned that in part because I always have men start behind me in these TTs, I expect to be passed. But mostly it's from my coach: "don't chase".

Congrats on the power benchmark. It's nice to race strong.

happybday29475

egads, my brain is wired completely oppositely. I'm more like:

happybday29475

OK full disclosure...that's what's in my head. In reality, it's more like: (a fella can dream...and yes I was at the San Diego Zoo last week)

Heathpack 

@rapwithtom, visualization is important in bike racing. I'd stick with the first image. Way faster.

Hermes

True...but not fast very long.

Heathpack 

Good point.

I usually have something more like this in my head. Fast for 2 weeks. That's my kinda fast.

Heathpack 

Racing huskies are the ultimate in big engines.

valygrl

Wait, which one are you?

Racer Ex 

Indian Rhinos can hit 34 MPH. That's a pretty good TT speed.

happybday29475

Ahh, I was wondering who would ask that!

It depends if one goes from 10" seconds out or 60...you've had at least one terrific experience being the gazelle...

happybday29475

I'm sure that factoid has been hanging out in your brain forever, just waiting for the right moment!

Actually that speed could win an occasional local old guys' sprint, too.

The biggest problem (*pun*) might be 0-34mph in about 5 minutes.

But then again it might be hard to "come around".

happybday29475

Well that pretty clearly makes you a stage racer. Or maybe RAAM.

happybday29475

Or, even better, just go do what the huskies do:
Iditarod Trail Invitational

Feb 26...you'll be ready, right? And no, it won't be cold, not compared to SoCal, not at all...You're gonna do great!

Heathpack 

I was pretty wiped out yesterday afternoon after my openers and then last night I woke up with this huge coughing fit. So I decided not to race today. Then I got up and had some coffee and after an hour realized that I wasn't really coughing, my nose was running way less and I didn't have too much post-nasal drip. Checked the clock, still time to make the race, so off we went.

My legs felt pretty heavy during my warm up but I love my playlist so I was ready to ride. I decided to go out at 103% and take it from there. Nemesis' start time was two minutes behind mine and I was a little afraid I'd get a total smack down and she'd pass me, but I decided not to worry about it if she did.

My brain was flaky and I was all over the place mentally, just completely unfocused. Somehow started in the little ring. Settled down after a few minutes but my mind kept wandering, it was hard to stay on it. Coming in to the turn, I saw I had a pretty decent split time and I was thinking, Wow this new TT helmet I got for Christmas is going to turn out to be a miracle! I was exactly on my power target for the outbound leg- 103% average going out.

Lol, no on the Miracle Helmet thing. Once I made the turn, I realized we had had a maybe 5 mph tailwind going out. So now a 5ish mph headwind going back, which is a 1-2% uphill grade. Oy. I was ready for this to hurt. But it wasn't too bad. Still a struggle with the focus. Grateful that I had no coughing jags and my nose wasn't running too much. My HR was very high (for me) by the end, I was pretty distressed. Couldn't manage much of a final 1 min push. But I did manage to put out an average power of 108% coming back, so the splits were pretty decent actually for that wind condition. Given the circumstances, that makes me happy. And Nemesis did not pass me, although she did finish 1:45 ahead.

Colder conditions today than Dec's Piru race, by 5 degrees. So slower conditions. Maybe a hair more wind today but the same wind direction. I was about 1 min 40 sec slower than I was in Dec. But my December time would have beat Nemesis' time from today. Closing the gap.

In the end, I'm glad I raced. More experience is always good. I am currently back to coughing up a storm and plan on just lying around the rest of the day.

Good news is that yesterday's 40K TT was postponed because of the rain and it was pushed to next Sat. We were supposed to go sailing/mountain biking but someone wanted to charter the boat so we let them book it. Which means I can maybe do the 40K next Sat, if Ex thinks its a good idea.

sarals 

Track hack, that cough.

Well done. Well done! I can empathize with the focus, you aren't quite well yet. But, well enough to ride a GOOD TT! Congratulations, HP!!

revchuck 

Good job, HP - now get well!

Hermes

@Heathpack Booyah. True dat on the more you race the better you get.