February 18, 2005, Valley of the Sun TT/SR
W of Phoenix, AZ   11.6 miles

This is the first stage of a 3 day stage race, an 11.6 mile Time Trial (TT, a solo race against the clock). Whoever completes all three stages with the lowest cumulative time will be the overall General Classification (GC) for prizes. I competed in the Men's category 4 race (rather than a Masters race) to try to get upgrade points to move me up to category 3. Only the Road race and Criterium race individual placings count for upgrade points, not the TT or GC.

I had spent a good part of December refining my TT position and improving my 5 Km training TT's to average over 26 mph. So I was hoping that maybe this year I can pull off some decent TT races. I had also upgraded my wheels to the best one could use for TT events.

The Category 4 race had 99 entrants with about half of them from out of state (the rider that started behind me was from MA). We start at 30 second intervals and my start time was 11:22 in the morning. So I was able to get a proper night's sleep and felt really good.

The weather was very questionable prior to the race. We had lots of rain the night before and the next several days had a high chance of precipitation. As I dressed for my event, it was sunny and 71 degrees.

The strategy of a TT is to ride at a level where your lactic buildup is just at the level that your blood can clear it out as you're producing it (the burn). Go too high and your muscles have to rest and you lose the ability to continue strongly. Go too low and you lose time. The best riders are able to maintain their heart rate within 2 bpm over the entire race.

For the first 3 miles I did fairly well, keeping my heart rate (HR) between 179 and 182. But the speed was only around 24 mph, so I figured I must be going slightly uphill (which turned out to be the case, rising 229 feet from start to turn around) and would hopefully make it up on the return leg. I could see the rider that started 30 seconds in front of me and hoped that I might catch him before the turn around point.

As I approached the half way point to the turn around, it seemed that I was not making good progress on my 30 second man. Then the rider that started 30 seconds behind my went passed. Great, well I guess I'm not going to do well in the GC of this event.

I tried to up my pace a bit, but the opposite happened as my HR slipped into the low 170's. Apparently I'm not yet able to extend my 3 mile training TT's without some more practice at longer distances. So I struggled on, searching for clues of the turn around point so that I could start the down hill section.

Just as I made the turn, I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone else might be catching me, and lo and behold, the 1 minute man and the rider that started 30 seconds before him were right on my wheel. Just after making the turn, they both passed me. But now we should be on the downhill section, but surprise, surprise, I now had a head wind to battle. I decided to see if I could at least maintain the pace of the two riders that just passed me and I soon passed the one minute man. I got within 20 feet of the faster rider, but couldn't pass him and he gradually drifted away. I was able to maintain a HR in the upper 170's for most of the way back and kept wondering where that other rider might be as I did not want him passing me again. Half way back it began to lightly rain, which would continue to the finish.

At about the 9.5 mile mark I started to fade some more, my HR went down to about 175 and the speed only about 23 mph. At 10.5 miles, I struggled some more and that other rider went passed me again. But I was now able to see the finish line and just poured it on, passing him back, getting my speed up to 27.6 at one point and my HR to 185, keeping that rider behind me at the finish. So I obviously had some energy left and have not yet mastered the mental ability to meter my strength for peak efficiency and definitely did not have a good day.

I may not be in good contention for the GC prizes, but now I can concentrate on the individual races for upgrade points, with the criterium being my best chance at a high placing. The RR is at 7:40 am Saturday, the criterium 10:40 am Sunday.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Climbing
(Feet)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)		 HR avg
(BPM)		 HR max
(BPM)		 HR waking
(BPM)		 Calories Burned
(Kcal)
11:22 am 11.6 99 29:17 65, OC, S@6 229 23.8 27.6 178 186 43 261

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