Saturday - The Burn Mtn bike TT
I did it again. volunteered and raced. I've been trying to avoid volunteering for any more activities and I'm trying not to race too much this year....so how did this happen?
Our team promoted a Time Trial at Buffalo Creek this year.
I didn't intend to but a couple of weeks again the guy organizing said he was desperate for volunteers and badly need course marshalls. Of course I said I'd help - but he put me on registration and also asked me to race. He said he only had 1 SS girl signed up and he needed more. So of course I said yes.
The bummer of it was that meant getting up stupid early on Saturday (5am) to drive down to Buffalo Creek. My start time was 11:12:30. So it was gonna be a long day...
I worked registration until 10am. working registration is a blast but crazy hectic. But it means I get to see and chat with so many people I know. By the time I broke free of the registration table and went to change into my riding clothes - i was ready for a nap!
Oh and it turns out there ended up being 5 SS girls. 2 of them full on pros, the other 2 very fast experts and me. All the SS girls are super cool, nice and fast.
I had just did some NCAR intervals with Alicia on Thursday and I hit my highest power wattage (186) for 5 minute I've ever recorded. Since I'm now 105lbs - that means my 5min power ratio is 3.85. my best ever. My legs were feeling rested.
Knowing most of the course (with the exception of the last road climb which I heard was super grueling) i was shooting for a time of ~2:15 on the 22 mile ~3300ft elevation gain course. I thought that would be a realistic goal for me. I knew I couldn't worry about anyone else - I just had to ride my own ride.
I had switched out my gearing from 32x20 to 32x18 as there is some "big ring" territory. I hadn't ridden 32x18 at all this year so during my warmup I could tell my legs didn't like the change - but i mentally told them to 'suck it up' and knew if I ran the 20t cog I would regret it. ;)
I went off @ 11:12:30. I was the 2nd to the last rider to start off on the long course. Lyn Franklin (one of the afore mentioned pros) started 30 seconds after me. She caught me on the 1st road descent as 3 vehicles were blocking the road and I had to stop for traffic. But that stop didn't matter as she is way faster than me.
I rode as hard I could. The gearing was the right choice - it felt a little easy for Gashouse, just about right for Shinglemill (that is one punchy little climb, loose with lots of little power moves that take their toll). The is was ~6miles of road to the finish with the last mile being very steep and loose.
I only passed 4 people and none of them were SS girls. 1 expert girl who was suffering pretty good on Shinglemill and a couple of Sport women and a beginner man (the Sport Women and Beginner men did a short course) on the last climb to the finish.
On the last climb up it was all I could do to stay on the bike. I felt like was going so slow I was gonna to topple over - but I kept cranking and suffering. i watched the minutes tick away and saw 2:15 pass - I crossed the finish line at 2:17:39.
So I finished 5 out 5. Considering the competition (i still consider myself in the Sport class) I'm pretty happy with my effort. I don't feel i could have ridden any harder. The trail was super loose and I know i was tentative on the descents. I had pumped up my tires to 25psi - which is quite a bit higher than my normal 18psi. I'm sure that hurt my descending but I figured it was better to be safe (crashing is time consuming) and try to push as hard as i could on the climbs.
whew - I'm glad that is over with! :D
Our team promoted a Time Trial at Buffalo Creek this year.
I didn't intend to but a couple of weeks again the guy organizing said he was desperate for volunteers and badly need course marshalls. Of course I said I'd help - but he put me on registration and also asked me to race. He said he only had 1 SS girl signed up and he needed more. So of course I said yes.
The bummer of it was that meant getting up stupid early on Saturday (5am) to drive down to Buffalo Creek. My start time was 11:12:30. So it was gonna be a long day...
I worked registration until 10am. working registration is a blast but crazy hectic. But it means I get to see and chat with so many people I know. By the time I broke free of the registration table and went to change into my riding clothes - i was ready for a nap!
Oh and it turns out there ended up being 5 SS girls. 2 of them full on pros, the other 2 very fast experts and me. All the SS girls are super cool, nice and fast.
I had just did some NCAR intervals with Alicia on Thursday and I hit my highest power wattage (186) for 5 minute I've ever recorded. Since I'm now 105lbs - that means my 5min power ratio is 3.85. my best ever. My legs were feeling rested.
Knowing most of the course (with the exception of the last road climb which I heard was super grueling) i was shooting for a time of ~2:15 on the 22 mile ~3300ft elevation gain course. I thought that would be a realistic goal for me. I knew I couldn't worry about anyone else - I just had to ride my own ride.
I had switched out my gearing from 32x20 to 32x18 as there is some "big ring" territory. I hadn't ridden 32x18 at all this year so during my warmup I could tell my legs didn't like the change - but i mentally told them to 'suck it up' and knew if I ran the 20t cog I would regret it. ;)
I went off @ 11:12:30. I was the 2nd to the last rider to start off on the long course. Lyn Franklin (one of the afore mentioned pros) started 30 seconds after me. She caught me on the 1st road descent as 3 vehicles were blocking the road and I had to stop for traffic. But that stop didn't matter as she is way faster than me.
I rode as hard I could. The gearing was the right choice - it felt a little easy for Gashouse, just about right for Shinglemill (that is one punchy little climb, loose with lots of little power moves that take their toll). The is was ~6miles of road to the finish with the last mile being very steep and loose.
I only passed 4 people and none of them were SS girls. 1 expert girl who was suffering pretty good on Shinglemill and a couple of Sport women and a beginner man (the Sport Women and Beginner men did a short course) on the last climb to the finish.
On the last climb up it was all I could do to stay on the bike. I felt like was going so slow I was gonna to topple over - but I kept cranking and suffering. i watched the minutes tick away and saw 2:15 pass - I crossed the finish line at 2:17:39.
So I finished 5 out 5. Considering the competition (i still consider myself in the Sport class) I'm pretty happy with my effort. I don't feel i could have ridden any harder. The trail was super loose and I know i was tentative on the descents. I had pumped up my tires to 25psi - which is quite a bit higher than my normal 18psi. I'm sure that hurt my descending but I figured it was better to be safe (crashing is time consuming) and try to push as hard as i could on the climbs.
whew - I'm glad that is over with! :D
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