Masochism

Today I decided to go out and hurt myself by doing the Virginia State Time Trial Championships at Stony Creek. Lets just say my ass hurts really bad. It feels like somebody had me sit on the bike seat and decided to hit me with a Ball-peen Hammer on each cheek a good dozen times. It hurts. Doing a time trial always sounds easier said then done.

How the day went for me:
I woke up feeling better than I have been in the past few days. I left at 6:30 to make a 10:43 start time. The traffic was horrible going down. People do not know the left lane is suppose to be for passing not sitting in. I mean when the slow lane is open and big rigs are in the middle it just makes things congested. Everybody just move over dang. I am glad I only drive on weekends because I will look 10 years older with just the stress of driving. I made excellent time and arrived shortly before 9. Got ready in decent time. The only problems I had was a little gas and right before the start I was coughing up white/yellow phlegm from my chest. I know its gross but I was. I rolled up to the start with a minute to go. It was pretty uneventful for me. I started out at an easy pace and got my heart rate into zone within 2 minutes so I don't over work it. My thirty second guy just left me in the dust. I was thinking oh great I am in trouble. But luckily my minute guy was becoming in site. I was gaining on him smoothly about a 1/3 of the race. And he had about a 10 second gap until the half way mark. It was pissing me off because I already reeled him in so much yet I just could not close it. When I got near the half way mark I saw some of my team mates and saw I closed some time on them for the most part. And after I made the turn around I wanted to see where Pete was since I was his minute man. My goal was not to let pete catch me let alone in the first half of the race. Boy he probably pulled in about 30 seconds on me. I was thinking that is not to bad since he is a great rider. I finally caught my minute guy a little after the turn and it is just one of those things where you just want to blow by the guy so it demoralizes him. I tried to do that but saw he was matching my pace. Dang it. And about 3/4 of the race Pete caught me. I was thinking at least I was able to hold him off that long and see if I could match his pace. I could not. Not much later petes minute chaser passed me. Damn it I was thinking because I was thinking I was hot stuff. I let them go up a little bit and just tried to match his speed. To be honest I relaxed a little bit more after those two passed me. I actually averaged 27-28 mph on the way back chasing hard. I was only doing 23-25 on the way out. I was watching my heart rate monitor closely and saw my time was getting close to an hour. I saw the white tent and a cluster of riders ahead of me not to far. That white tent was great because I just set my mind to the dang thing and pushed it. I finished this thing exhausted. It was amazing as soon as I crossed my body just felt like shutting down. My legs were locking up and I was just tired. I made the mistake of stopping and standing around. I could barely walk. My legs were stiff and sore. Amazing because I think this was the hardest I have ever ridden before. It takes a lot of focus and tolerance of a hot crotch. Sitting in a position like that really takes its toll on your manhoods comfort. The guys wanted to spin after wards on the road and I could barely pedal for a few minutes. It was horrible. I ended up with a time of 59:00.

I will be honest I am a little disappointed in my time. I really wanted to hit 57:00. I know that is a pretty high goal but that is really what I wanted to get. My goal for today was to beat an hour because this was my first real time trial and I am still coming off a cold. A couple of weeks ago I was stronger and more on top of things.I have done a zone 2 ride with an average of 23 mph. But overall I do not think it would have increased my speed that much. Just so many variables to account for. So maybe a minute if I was feeling like I was 2 weeks ago but that is a hard one to call. The guys on the team are great for telling me that is a great time for someones first time trial let alone within my first year of riding. Man I think if someone told me I would be riding a time trial and break an hour I would highly doubt it back when starting my training.

My gripe about Time Trialling is that the top cat 4's had fast times. I mean there was a huge stratification of times in the 4's field. Pete who has had some of the best results in our area resulted with a time of 57:33. He ended up 9th. The fastest guys had times in the 55 minute range. That is flying. I mean if you look at it in terms of categories that puts them in the top spots in the higher fields. It is not just this race but on many tt's you see the same results. What gives? Are these guys sandbagging or is it that it is their strength and they suck in other disciplines of racing. I now know that I really should think twice about forming a breakaway with these guys in the 4's field.

As in a reflection of my season it can safe to say that climbing of any sort is not my strength. In time trialling I finished 15th out of 29 today so I would have to say I am middle of the pack on this one. But in finishing I seem consistent for the most part. I would not go as far as saying that I am a sprinter but it seems that might be the category I could possibly fall in. I just dont want to claim anything yet until I know I can capitalize in that strength. Like the guys who did 55 minutes can say they are time triallist.

Part of me is wanting to do another time trial, but another part of me is like hell no. It is like asking yourself to whip yourself for sport. I think it is wierd how I feel disgusted but at the same time I want to improve to see how much better I can be as a cyclist. I have no regrets on my time and know I did my best. I felt sick as a dog and that is how a race is suppose to finish. My legs hurt so I am up in the air for RFK tomorrow. I think rfk's track will fit my abilities better but I might be walking like my grandfather and need to rest. My lungs are still clearing out and hope tomorrow it will be all clear if not by next weekend for Reston Town Center.