TNTT Report, 8/5/2014

Tuesday, August 5, 2014: Typical day for this summer. Not too hot, but definitely on the humid side. Today started out like so many other mid-summer mornings, alarm rousing me from my too-few hours of sleep to prepare for work. Showered, dressed, lunch packed, and I sit in front of the computer to check the progress of the Thirty Days of Mick and see what the forecast is for the evening. Warm, but not hot, good. Winds from the northeast at 6mph, a silly grin spreads across my face. TNTT (Tuesday Night Time Trials, my weekly bike race and fitness test) looks to have a lot of potential for speed. Off to the factory for the next eleven hours of my life, knowing that I'd be thinking about and planning that night's race throughout the work day.

Suffering through the tedium of car after car coming down the line, putting the same parts on the same place, the same way, over and over, my mind quickly checks out and goes to a happier place. My happier place? Today it's this evening's race. I ponder what gears I'll use, wonder about road conditions, gravel, all the factors that play a part at the TNTT. If the forecast is accurate (ha), then it could well be a fast night, and dare I hope, a PR (personal record) night? I get through the work day, hoping that having been on my feet all day will not have an affect on my performance.

It's quitting time and I head for home. Grab a Coke, and check the conditions again. Not quite as good as the forecast, but still better than most of our race nights this year. While wind is always an issue for time trialists, this year it feels like we've been subjected to an inordinate amount of blustery conditions. Generally by mid-July the heat has taken over and the wind subsided, but in 2014 the temps haven't been particularly high, and the wind has been relentless. I give my TT rig a quick check over, air up the tires, and load my helmet, shoes, etc. into the car and head for the race. Arriving at the empty parking lot early I take a quick spin to see if all is ready...yep, ready to go. Back to the parking lot I get signed in for the 20k (12.43 miles) race, and then head back out for a warm-up ride. A quick spin up to loosen the legs for a couple minutes, and then a big-gear power run up to high speed. Hmmm. The legs feel a little heavy, maybe a race two days after a fixed-gear century isn’t such a good idea, but these conditions are just too good to pass up! We line up for the start in ascending order of anticipated average finish speed (fastest rider starts last). I look at the riders around me, feeling a bit like a couple Mustang GTs (me and Curt) lined up in front of a few Corvettes (Mike and Jason), in front of a Ferrari (Kevin), all in front of a Top Fuel dragster (Chris).

5..4..3..2..1..GO, and I’m off! I clip in and jump out of the saddle, sprinting up to speed, settling into the aero position as I move the shift lever once...and again, feeling the bike lurch forward, hearing the chain slam into the next gear each time. I approach the first turn, monitoring my heart rate closely to get up to my max without over exerting myself. Through the first (and slowest) turn I now focus on Curt, long time TT nemesis of mine and the rider immediately in front of me. With some dismay I see that he’s adding to his 15-second lead, but it’s early in the race, and I know he’s always been a better climber than I am. I’ll try to reel him back in on the long flat sections. For now I concentrate on maintaining speed. If I start to feel comfortable, it’s time to upshift. TT is no place for comfort. Approaching turn two (a fast corner if one is brave, or foolhardy enough) I see and hear no cars so I swing wide, keeping power flowing as I drift wide into the left lane. Cruising now, heart rate dead on target, I start to catch some of the early starters...Wait, I forgot about the really fast guys who started behind me, and I hear a bike gaining. Jason slowly passes me as we both overtake some of the early bikers. Jason started a scant 15 seconds after me, and we are very close in speed, so as he passes I push a bit harder and we begin a battle that would take us all the way to the finish. I mentally list the other riders who started after I did, and wonder when they would overtake Jason and me. I vowed to make them work for it. This long west stretch has some rolling hills on it, and being lighter, Jason would edge away from me on the climbs while I would regain the lost time on the descents. At the end of this road is a mental time checkpoint; at the turn north, if I'm at 20 minutes I'm having a decent run. I make the fast right turn, glance down to see 18:25! Okay, still five miles to go, some with a slight headwind, it's time to prove to myself I can run with the big dogs.

As Jason passed me just before that turn he muttered something about being unable to see, and upon exiting the turn he pulls off his sunglasses and goes to stuff them into his jersey pocket. He fumbles a moment, and then drops them on the road, just inches in front of my front wheel. I swerve to my right and narrowly avoid running over them! A half mile later we approach the fastest corner on the course, a flat wide right-hander. Jason rolls through ahead of me, and I glance back and ahead for traffic, it's clear so I use both lanes, barely slowing at all, and come out of the turn at speed. Taking a corner on a TT bike in full-aero position at high speed is really an exhilarating experience, you can feel every pebble, every road surface imperfection trying to interfere with your traction, the bike seemingly defying laws of physics as you feel the tires drift outward. Turn complete, I now calculate...with five miles remaining, eighteen and a half minutes elapsed, I need to complete those miles in just over eleven minutes to.....I shake my head. Need to clear my thoughts and focus on the task at hand. My legs are screaming in pain now as I struggle to match Jason, and we slowly move in on Curt. The big descent and ascent are directly ahead now. No letting up as I gain a few precious seconds on Curt on the climb. Gasping for breath I make the turn after the hill, and open the throttle. Only about five minutes before I can end this self-imposed suffering. We pass Curt and find Matt a short distance ahead, pushing the pace just a tiny bit we almost catch him when I hear the unmistakable whooshing of a disc wheel behind. Chris rolls by, but not as quickly as I’d expected him to, either he was feeling the effort or I was on the ride of my life! Now we're down to about a mile and a half remaining, with Chris slowly pulling away from the foursome of Matt, Jason, Curt, and me. I jockey around, ensuring I am not in any of the other's draft (a huge TT violation), and am pleased to see the others doing the same. As we strive to beat the others to the line we are sometimes four abreast on the road, so I'm keeping an eye peeled for traffic. One fast curve, and a truck appears, heading our way. We all easily get safely out of the way, and prepare for the final turn before the finish line. Coasting through the turn, and out of the saddle for the sprint to the line. We all call out our numbers as we cross, and my Garmin emits a beep, signaling I've ridden 20 kilometers. I glance down to see...YES!!! First time ever I've finished in under thirty minutes!

It's unofficial at this point, but I'm confident that the time will stand. TNTT director Kelly makes her way back to the parking lot with a huge grin, announcing that six people will be happy tonight! She reads off the results...and it's now official. I finished in fifth place with a time of 29:53!

Now the official results email has been posted, and I can look over the overall finishers. It was a fast night for all, with an amazing seven racers finishing under the 30 minute mark. That’s over 21% of the riders beyond the barrier. In my many years of TNTT I’ve never seen such a performance. Truly incredible. I’ve never been so happy to finish in sixth place!

Huge thanks to TNTT Director, Kelly, and to all of her volunteers. Very nice work keeping track of us racers flying past them at the finish line.Thanks for reading!

Sub-30!!!!