State tt championship 2008
From CRCycling
By Chris
June 22, 2008 - Groveport, Ohio
I headed down on Saturday with my 1 week old Felt B2 TT bike to see what I could do at the state TT championship in Groveport, Ohio (just on the souteast side of Columbus) a 23.7 mile TT. I did not expect great results since I only had 2 rides in on the new TT bike, knew my position was not dialed in yet, and hadn't practiced many TT type rides this year. Looking at the course profile showed some rollers throughout and I really didn't have any idea what type of time do expect.
With a start time of 9:23, I timed it to arrive at the start area at 8am. The parking area and start were at a recreation center with plenty of parking and areas to warm up. The registration was a breeze and by glancing around I could see why this could be called the state TT Championship, there were some serious competitors down here including Paul Martin. I would guess that at least 30% of the competitors were from NE ohio, maybe more. Bike Authority had a army of people, Snakebite and Lake Effect were well represented, and a few Summit and Stark Velo riders.
I did a very brief warm-up (what was I thinking??) and decided I didn't need to warm up any more. Well that was a brilliant decision. Everyone else was on their trainer for 20-30 minutes while I sat in my chair or just cruised around the parking lot waiting for my start time. Each rider was separated by 1 minute intervals. I had Samantha House from Elves & More right behind me and what appeared to be a strong rider right in front of me. I kept in my mind to start slow and not blow up. Since I didn't really have a goal for this TT, it was not hard to keep the HR down. At around mile 2 I was feeling the pain of not warming up with lactic acid building up and my body telling me to quit already. The combination of not being warmed up, dealing with rollers on my TT bike, and going against the wind made for a miserable start to the ride.
At mile 8 I knew I should expect to be passed any minute now. Well somehow I held off anyone from passing me until mile 10 when someone that started a few minutes behind me blew past me and then I looked back again and I had another rider right behind me. It was Samantha House and she was maintaining a slighter faster pace than me. At the half way point my avg speed was around 21.5 I believe and I knew I would not be setting any records today. The route back to the finish was with the wind somewhat at our back and the course was much easier on this half than the first half. I was now feeling better and maintaining a 26 mph on the flats. I finally started catching a few slower riders and was approaching the finishing road with 2 miles to go. My time at this point was slightly under 56 minutes. Even though I didn't really have a goal for this race I was hoping for under 60 minutes. So I knew in my head I would have to maintain almost a 30 mph pace for the last 2 miles to come in at under an hour. I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:00:15 and a average speed of 23.6 mph, missing the hour mark by just 15 seconds. Average HR was at 178 with a max of 185 for the 1:00:15 ride.
I wasn't thrilled with this ride, but didn't expect much because I hadn't prepared for it much and was riding a new bike. The time put me at 7th place in the CAT 5 group. Somehow there were CAT 5 riders in the 54 minute range! If I would have rode that time in the 2007 TT race I would have finished 3rd. Either some sandbagging CAT 5 riders, I am weak, or some Tri-athletes that don't do much with their USAC license.
Overall it was a good workout and I realized some of my position flaws with how I had the TT bike setup. I will be back next year and hope to greatly improve on this time.
Results of the TT here: [1]
