Yesterday I had planned on doing Soyoco, but the forecast for 40 degrees, pouring rain, and 25+ mph winds caused me to skip it.
Time trial:
Today I did two races near Carlisle, PA: a 20K time trial and a 7.4 mile hill climb.
The 20K was supposed to be a 40K, but the course was partially flooded from yesterday's very heavy rain, so I opted for the shorter distance (it was about 150 yards of 4" deep water with rapidly moving current. No thanks.).
Like yesterday, today was VERY windy. The Weather Channel said that the winds at the start time were 26 mph. Ouch.
Making matters worse, I got almost no warm-up. I misread the directions for the day, so we were at the wrong end of the course looking for the start. I got there with just enough time to get my number, pin it on, and get to the start.
The course was rolling hills, with some steeper than others. Without the wind, I think it would have been really fun. With the wind, though, I could barely use the aero bars on my bike. I spent most of the 10K out to the turnaround wrestling with my bike trying to keep it from blowing across the road. I really struggled to keep my speed up, but between the rolling terrain and the wind, I really had a hard time finding or holding a decent pace. A few times the wind whipped around me enough that I had a hard time breathing.
After the turnaround was like another world. Suddenly the wind was at my back and the course was more downhill than uphill. My speed was much higher than on the way out. I still fought with the bike a little, but it was much easier to control. My speed was so high on the descents that I had a hard time keeping my power high enough while still keeping my speed where I felt in control of the bike (did I mention that I've only ridden that bike for 40 miles since last July?).
Some numbers to put it in perspective:
Total Distance: 20K (12.4 miles)
Total time: 34:26
Average Speed: 21.6 mph
Average Power: 234 watts (248 normalized)
Time to turnaround: 20:32
Time back to start: 13:54
Average Speed to Turnaround: 18.0 mph
Average Speed back to start: 26.9 mph
Like I said, quite the difference.
Hill Climb:
Let me put this in no uncertain terms: I have a new favorite event: the South Mountain Hill Climb.
The hill climb was among the most fun things I've ever done, and I finished dead last! (by about 25 seconds).
It starts out with a very slight uphill for the first 2.5 miles. There were only 9 of us and we really pushed the pace for those first few miles. Then we hit the first real climb.
I was the second one to drop off the pack. After that, I just held as high of a pace as I thought I could sustain for the rest of the climb.
I had explored the course on MapMyRide.com to get an idea of where the steeper sections were and what landmarks I could tell them by. I also kept my bike computer in mileage mode so I could see just how far I had gone (and so I knew how far I had to go).
With about 2 miles to go, the guy who was behind me passed me pretty quickly. I was doing 11 mph, he was probably doing 12. At that speed, there's not much draft, but I couldn't hang onto his wheel anyway. Once he got about 50 yards in front of me, his pace dropped enough that I could keep him in sight but I couldn't bring him back.
With about 400 yards to go, there's a slight downhill, then a flat stretch, I sprinted like a lunatic, just trying to get the best time I could. I hit 27 mph.
Since I could get into a rhythm on the climb, my power numbers were much better than they were in the time trial.
Some numbers on the hill climb:
Total Distance: 7.4 miles
Total Time: 32:52
Average Speed: 13.5 mph
Average Power: 268 watts (275 normalized)
Total vertical climb: 1540 feet
I really loved the hill climb. It was a totally new challenge. I was by far the heaviest rider there. Everyone else was my height but probably 20 pounds lighter. I didn't care. It was my first time and I was there for the experience.
Now I have even more incentive to lose as much weight as I can.
