Spring Stage Race II
Stage III- Elmendorf Time Trial
This course holds absolutely no mysteries for me, as I ride it just about every day of the week. I know every rise and crack in the road. You'd think that would be an advantage, but in my current state of fitness all I could think about was how much the next little rise or false flat was going to hurt. Compounding this was a lack of sleep the previous night, as my youngest tap-danced in his sleep up and down my back. I woke up contorted and sore, with rolling cramps in my legs to balance everything out.
I pulled my disc wheel out of its bag and examined the tire for cuts. Its getting a little long and the tooth, and I was unsure if it would even last the season. I found a long flat spot where I must had braked too hard and removed a bit of rubber from the tire. My level of trust was gone, and so was the option of using the disc. Granted, my inspection should have happened well before this point, when I could have replaced the tire with plenty of time to spare, but what's the fun in that?
I arrived and immediately set about not warming up, fearful I would waste what energy I had before the clock even started. A little spinning and a couple hard efforts and I lined up. I had my pacing plan all figured out, backed up by many training rides and home-field advantage. However, once the timing guy indicated I should probably start moving sometime in the near future, all that went out the window. Once again I quickly established sustained power was not in my bag of tricks for the day. My power files looked like a series of one and two-minute low-end VO2max intervals separated by a near recovery pace. That's all I could do.
When I hit the long, gradual downhill heading back to the lake, I tucked in as much as possible and tried to keep the pedals turning. I was doing around thirty five when Jason Lamoreaux, the age grouper who took the overall at this year's Lavaman, blew by me like I was standing still. This was disconcerting, because he started about three days after me. Amazing what actual ability will do for you.
Sweat was pouring off of my face (that's my fat crying) as I pushed down the hill towards the finish. The loss of water weight wasn't enough to trim anything off of my time, and I slipped down a spot on GC.
Since Chris Knott didn't do the TT, I was pretty much in the same place, but the names around me changed. Tom and Matt continued to distance everyone else, but I was jumped by Clayton Walker and now tied with Pete Johnson, who edged me by 5.1 seconds. You can bet I was missing my disc wheel as I heard the news. I don't know if it would have made the difference, but not having it certainly hurt my chances. That left me with a two point deficit to get on the podium and not a lot of confidence in my ability to do it.
This course holds absolutely no mysteries for me, as I ride it just about every day of the week. I know every rise and crack in the road. You'd think that would be an advantage, but in my current state of fitness all I could think about was how much the next little rise or false flat was going to hurt. Compounding this was a lack of sleep the previous night, as my youngest tap-danced in his sleep up and down my back. I woke up contorted and sore, with rolling cramps in my legs to balance everything out.
I pulled my disc wheel out of its bag and examined the tire for cuts. Its getting a little long and the tooth, and I was unsure if it would even last the season. I found a long flat spot where I must had braked too hard and removed a bit of rubber from the tire. My level of trust was gone, and so was the option of using the disc. Granted, my inspection should have happened well before this point, when I could have replaced the tire with plenty of time to spare, but what's the fun in that?
I arrived and immediately set about not warming up, fearful I would waste what energy I had before the clock even started. A little spinning and a couple hard efforts and I lined up. I had my pacing plan all figured out, backed up by many training rides and home-field advantage. However, once the timing guy indicated I should probably start moving sometime in the near future, all that went out the window. Once again I quickly established sustained power was not in my bag of tricks for the day. My power files looked like a series of one and two-minute low-end VO2max intervals separated by a near recovery pace. That's all I could do.
When I hit the long, gradual downhill heading back to the lake, I tucked in as much as possible and tried to keep the pedals turning. I was doing around thirty five when Jason Lamoreaux, the age grouper who took the overall at this year's Lavaman, blew by me like I was standing still. This was disconcerting, because he started about three days after me. Amazing what actual ability will do for you.
Sweat was pouring off of my face (that's my fat crying) as I pushed down the hill towards the finish. The loss of water weight wasn't enough to trim anything off of my time, and I slipped down a spot on GC.
Since Chris Knott didn't do the TT, I was pretty much in the same place, but the names around me changed. Tom and Matt continued to distance everyone else, but I was jumped by Clayton Walker and now tied with Pete Johnson, who edged me by 5.1 seconds. You can bet I was missing my disc wheel as I heard the news. I don't know if it would have made the difference, but not having it certainly hurt my chances. That left me with a two point deficit to get on the podium and not a lot of confidence in my ability to do it.
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