How much faster? maybe a minute for me.
I felt much faster last night, more streamlined, definitely could feel the reduction in drag on that bike. Heavier it is indeed but it rolls well and I've done a few TTs on it.
Then the next pile of progressions were in 2013. Did it once in 2015, Prov Velo decided to bandit last year, I made three of those. and then I made three this year. First two were on the slow bike, the old cross bike. I mean holy crap slow, but the effort was there and I pushed myself.
Last night, pre-race prep def not like 2013. No ritual Bagel Gourmet steak burrito, and I probably did a bit to hinder my time but maybe not. Times are kind of how I would expect them to be even without anything screwed up that day.
I'm there and well, there were a couple carrots. First up the bike. the helmet, the rest of the gear. There's an undeniable mental boost using that crap.
Second, I'm starting behind Ciril again, and he brought Pizza, that he made, for us to eat at the end. I CAN PEDAL FOR PIZZA... only better carrot would have been beer.
I felt pretty good, but also it hurt but I was totally comfortable in that tuck, tip of the Giro teardrop helmet firmly and always in contact with my spine, shifting to the nose of the saddle, trying to keep the cadence in the mid to high 90s range, grinding it out only now and again for a shift of pace.
hitting Reynolds I almost thought I caught a glimpse of a jersey up in the distance? What? NO WAY.
Hello motivation. I pushed it hard on reynolds, yet still watched my avg speed drop... but just before crossing back under the powerlines I applied some torque then with that speed boost jumped back up to a higher cadence and worked the next section, took a breather through the slight downhill into the left hander and attacked into Peck, absolutely drilled it up Peck (see HR)... actually that's kind of cool, looking at the HR chart for the TT I can tell you exactly why the HR went down each time it did, the stretch before Reynolds, I think I had eased off a tiny bit in prep or thinking about the turn.
So I nuke it up Peck, out of the saddle initially then back in the bars on the nose of the saddle driving up the hill. Crest it and crank the speed up and Coast... recover... settle... and yeah that's someone up there but they don't look like they are on an aero bike (Ciril is) too high up... Oh well, still someone to catch. But at that point once I was done with the moment of coasting and speed dropped a bit I left it in the 53x11 and just fucking pushed it as hard as I could. I think i yelled at my legs and just dug deeeeeeep.
Sure enough I could see the Golden Monkey Victory beer jersey Ciril was wearing. I used to love GM, now i get queasy when i take a sip.
I'm pouring everything into it and holy shit he's turning we're almost done? FUCKING TIME TO GO, I launch out of that last turn, perfect turn no brakes, no cars, perfect apex, pedal through it and then Attack, out of the saddle full sprint accelerating all the way to the line. I passed him before the cemetery started and cleared the line first.
Give me someone to sprint and something happens, i find extra stuff I didn't know I had.... took me a long time before I could talk again, much less stumble around well enough. to find some water.
We ate pizza, i found out i had broken the 20 min mark, won a couple things in the raffle, just getting ready to go and the PVD crew takes off. Garber leading the charge with his E-bike. I had hoped to ride back with a group.
I didn't have my backpack on and when I did? They were gone.
Long solo ride home. It was difficult. Legs were really tired. ever present was the kid who was killed the other day in riverside near my house. A close friend to one of the bikeworks guys.
I made it home safely, in the total pitch black darkness. and cracked a Mighty Squirrel Mocha Stout. I had a couple. And i think maybe there's more coffee in there than is good to have before bed. I didn't sleep well.
And tired coupled with sore legs made this morning's commute a bit tough. Fortunately I got here and the morning session was cancelled. So I had a chance to catch up, and now write.
I'm still feeling pretty slow, but there is some magic I feel on that course. I know those turns, the road, it is never boring racing it, same as it is, always was but still, for me, that familiarity feels like an advantage and I kind of like it. Even when I'm going slower. Maybe next year I can find that bit of speed again.
heddwch
G
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