Topsport Stage Race: Time Trial 3/27/2010

Category: W1/2/3
Field Size: 17
Length: 10.85 miles
Place: 2nd

The course was just over five miles out, and then back. Roads were a bit bumpy, but no big potholes. The course had a bunch of small curves in it, as well as a number of rises. There weren't any big hills, but there were a couple of long inclines and well as some shorter and slightly steeper parts. The most difficult part of the course was the turnaround, since it was located at the bottom of a small hill, and around a corner, such that there was relatively little warning.

For aero equipment, I got to use my new TT frame! Last week I (actually Jose) came across a Cervelo P2SL frame for a good price on Craiglist. Since it was a 51cm frame, I checked out the geometry and found that it would fit me much better than the Fuji Aloha that I had set up for Madera. Jose was kind enough to swap the components from the Aloha to build of the P2SL in time for this weekend. I found that the fit was much better, with the reach being just right. The front end is also much lower than it was previously, though any lower and my ribs would be bruised from the impact of my knees. I also got to use Jose's disc wheel and front 808 clincher, as well as a skinsuit and shoe covers. I was lucky that it wasn't very windy in the morning, or else it would have been much harder to control the bike using such deep wheels.

The time trial itself went very well. I had a decent warmup, mostly due to the fact that the start was a couple of miles from the town square where we parked (since Jose was still finishing up his circuit race). I was a little nervous on the first downhill bit, since there was a slight crosswind, I was going very fast, and the road was bumpy. Luckily, even though it was my first time using a disc wheel, I still had a good level of control over my bike. There were a bunch of ups and downs, and I tried to keep my cadence up, but the shifting was a little sticky sometimes since I didn't want to ease up in order to shift down on the uphills. I did badly on the turnaround, since it snuck up on me, and I had been hammering down hill and was in almost my highest gear. I braked in time to make it around the U-turn, but then I found myself almost at a stop as I tried to accelerate uphill in a huge gear. I shifted down immediately and managed to accelerate pretty fast, and shortly after that I passed the person in front of me (we started at one minute intervals). She cheered me on and I went hard. I knew that I had to keep the pace up, even though there was a definite headwind on the way back. I passed another girl a while later, probably halfway back. The last 5km were marked off every kilometer, which was really nice since I don't have a computer on my TT bike. I just kept pushing all the way until the end, and I may have even picked up the pace even more.

Afterwards, I was exhausted, but I got in a good cooldown. Results weren't posted until after the circuit race, but it turned out that I'm solidly in second place, being 49 seconds behind the winner of the TT and 32 seconds ahead of 3rd place. Now I just have to hold onto that and not crash, since I've already lost 2nd place that way once this season.