Blackdog #3

Last night was the dog—finally a calm night. I luckily made it past the “over 25 minute” traffic jam to get to the race in time. I quickly registered got my bike ready to go for a quick ride on the course to loosen up the legs. Walking up the stars at work during the day was a chore—I felt every Afton hill in my legs.

I felt pretty good, but waiting to go off I could feel my legs start to tighten up—Great! This was going to be the hardest 7 mile race in a long time.

I was next but noticed I was in the wrong gear. Every move I made to fix the position made it worst. Finally the official said “you have 15 seconds” Ohh no! My Chain fell off! I got it back on with just enough time to clip one foot in before he said “Go”. UGH—I needed 15 more seconds before I was ready. I never got to reset my computer so I had no idea where the splits were or my average speed. I just had to go as hard and fast as I could but my legs started to tighten up on me right after the first turn.

I can't complain I kept a steady pace the entire race. I was so much in my own zone that I couldn’t believe I passed the guy who started 30 seconds in front of me! He looked to be a fit guy, also on stock, who has put in a few miles or so on the bike. Once I passed him he let out this defeated sound once he knew it was me. That kind-of brought a smile to my face—I never thought I would catch him much less pass him and still put another 30 seconds on him. Thanks for being my carrot whoever you are.

I got 2nd place within my category, but beat my best time by 22 seconds (18:08). I’ll take it!

Time trialing is quickly starting to become one of my favorite racing. It’s funny when your tt-ing your in your own world. Head down, eyes slightly open, the sound of your rhythmic breathing, feeling every flex of your leg muscles, the coach inside of you telling you to push harder and don’t give up—not even for a second. Don’t get me wrong, you feel like you are in some third world POW camp and the entire time you just want the pain to stop. But the best thing about TT-ing is no matter your performance or what the race results said as long as you gave it everything you had for as long as you could—you won!

This weekend is the St Peter 40K TT. I’ve been waiting for this one before my race even ended last year—so many things went wrong. Most of all I didn’t feel good on the bike. My time last year was 1:16:19—one of the worst times of all the racers.