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Time Trial…

I decided to leave my TT rig (road bike conversion) at home and see if I could get similar results with my road bike. I brought along my clip-on aerobars, my disc wheel, and my aero helmet. To make it as close as possible to my TT position, I lowered my stem by 20mm and reversed my Thomson set back seat post to get over the BB better.

The course is the same course that I have done the last two years, so I had some basis for comparison. The course is rolling at first with a 1/2 mile hill near 1 mile out. After that it is all downhill (or flat). Since I was using my road frame, I had my SRM to see if the power numbers that I have been seeing on my Polar WIND power sensor make any sense.

After warming up, I lined up to get ready for my start time. I was happy with my start and the first part of the hill climb… I slowed down more than I cared for over the top, but was putting out good wattage numbers. Going down the descent, I pretty much spun out (definitely missing my bar end shifters from my TT bike). I held it pretty well together over the dam and down towards the picnic area.

As I approached the final curves, the sun was in my eyes and there was a group of about 20 people walking along the road (walking back to the parking area). They were well clear of my path, but at 30+ mph in the flickering light, it caused me to hit the brakes a little into that final part. This is probably what caused me to roll a time a little bit worse than last year. I ended up with a 9:02 compared to a 8:55. It is probable that there was more of a headwind as well. In any case, the 9th place it gave me was pretty disappointing. Road bike 0, TT bike 1.

Criterium….

The Cat 3 crit wasn’t until the afternoon on Sunday. The weather was pretty mild and the rain chances forecast never materialized. For the Chattanooga course with the bricks in the corner of Market and 13th Street, that is a very good thing. In the morning, I converted my road bike back for criterium action. The way the cables are setup, I have to remove my front brake caliper to get the stem over the steerer tube. This small thing would prove to be an important detail during my race….

The River Gorge criterium is a pretty wide open flat course. The wind and high speed cornering pretty much do the damage on the field. Matt and I warmed up riding all over and around downtown Chattanooga. In general, I felt pretty good going into the crit. As normal, there were a few pair of fresh legs at the start, but I figured it would not be that big of a deal.

Lined up front row, got a good start and settled in about 10 back into the first turns. As we hit the first corners as a big blob, a little braking was needed to stay off the wheels in front. I noticed that I was basically bottoming out and my brake caliper quick release was open. Down the long straightaway, I closed the front one as the field surged. Going with them felt a bit tough, but I thought it was just the previous day’s climbing coming back to haunt.

Surge, cover, repeat…. The criterium proceded as a normal late season crit does, with everyone trying to beat the field into submission. Matt jumped off the front of the field and got a few people to go with. I surged up to the front and took the lead for a half of a lap to assist in developing a gap. On the long straightaway on the back side, the field surged around me and I found myself gasping for the back of the field. Unfortunately, it was the start of a vicious circle of at the back, off the back, back to the pack that meant that I was doing a lot of work, but not getting anywhere. Occassionally, I would find the opportunity and move up, but the surges would send me back to the back.

After the half-way point, I found myself off the back and chasing for 2 laps+. It about killed me, but I made it back. A break of 8 had established in the interem and the race was pretty quick. I ended up last in the field sprint (23rd overall). After the race, I was thinking how could my fitness be that bad? It didn’t make any sense…

When I got back to the car, I picked up my bike to take off the front wheel to put it in the car. When I did that I noticed that the wheel didn’t move. I gave it a spin… it only went about a 1/4 turn before stopping. Nice. Hard race made even harder by a split second decision on lap 1.

I ended up with an average speed of 26.0 mph and a NP right at my FTP. (IF = 0.997). Hard race, bad result. Now it is time to lay low and gear up for the 2nd season… CYCLOCROSS! I plan to race mostly in October/November this year.

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I took a bunch of photos of the Cat 4 crit, but unfortunately, the first 100+ are trash since I had the camera on the wrong mode…. Here are the good ones…