I'm a little late in posting this one.
Last weekend was the Seaside Time Trial, an 18-mile race on super-flat roads with just a couple of turns.
The course started out along a curvy road along the Atlantic coast. It then made a sharp right then a left... and then went completely laser-straight for 7 miles. Turn around, go back the way you came.
Most races are about how hard you can go. This one was about how well you could focus your attention. With no turns, no hills, and no real landmarks other than sand and trees, you had to constantly keep the pressure up. It was a rather serene ending to a crazy week.
The week before was my company's annual conference. It took up large chunks of time for weeks in advance to prepare. The week itself was filled with installing software in computer labs and meeting with customers. Oh yeah, and the public announcement of the project I'd been working on for the last year. By the end of the week, I was run ragged.
On Friday, I picked up my new bike: a Trek Speed Concept 9.5. We did a fit on it, setting it up as close as we could to my old Specialized Transition. I went to a different shop and picked up the disc wheel that I rented for the weekend... only to realize that the disc was wider than my normal wheel and had to go back to the bike shop to have the brakes adjusted (the Speed Concept uses a custom brake system like none I'd ever seen before and I was not about to mess with it).
Finally, Shelli and I were off to the shore. We were spending the night before there due to the 7:00 start of the race. Friday night traffic on the Garden State Parkway reminded me of old movies of demolition derbies with cars flying everywhere in the diminishing light of dusk. Not fun.
Saturday morning came. We got up, got over to the race, and got warmed up. About 10 minutes before my scheduled start, we put away the trainer and other gear and for the first time I rode the new Trek... the 200 yards over to the start line. Kinda daring....
It was almost a perfect morning for racing. About 55 degrees and no wind, kind of overcast so there was no sun glare.
The rider in front of me did not show up, so there was a minute between me and the rider before me. I complained to the officials at the start that it would take me a while to catch him. My confidence was definitely up.
The official held my bike, I clipped in, and watched the clock tick down.... 3....2.... 1... and I was off.
The race was not that exciting. Not many turns and very, very flat. The power meter really helps me on days like today since I can keep my intensity right where I want it.
Mentally, I divided the race into quarters. I knew that thinking of 14 miles of dead flat with nothing to look at would cause me to slow down. I was guessing that I would finish in around 44 minutes. Breaking it into four 11-minute sections helped me a lot. I even hit the Lap timer on my computer every 11 minutes so that I could make sure the average power was where I wanted it to be each quarter.
I hit the turnaround at 21:30. Nice, I was ahead of schedule. Coming out of the turn, I saw... no one. It was almost a minute before I saw the next rider, so at least I knew no one was gaining on me.
The way back was pretty uneventful. I caught a couple more riders, one of them right at one of the turns. I wound through the final neighborhood to the finish line.... 42:10 at 264 watts, 25.1 mph. Very nice.
I was wiped out. I rolled around for a few minutes catching my breath and then going back to the car to get out of the wet spandex (which by now was starting to get a bit cold).
I got a drink and a power bar, changed into dry clothes, and then we started towards the registration area to see if the results were posted. We realized that we didn't have the camera so Shelli went back for it. I wandered over to the tent to find that the results were already posted. I found my group and started at the top of the list. I didn't have to look far: I was 2nd again.
Whenever I get second, I can't help but think about what I could do to win... not this time. The winner beat me by 2:20. Short of another year worth of training, I don't think I could have done anything to beat him.
We had planned on doing the time trial on Sunday, but the rain and wind really didn't inspire me. We decided one good race result for the weekend was enough so we called it a trip and headed home.
With 5 races done, the racing season is almost half over already. I have 2 races in June, 2 in July, 1 in August, and 2 in September, most of them on courses that we have done before so I won't be freaking out as much over studying the courses in advance.
