February 28, 2015, 20 km Picacho TT 60+
Picacho AZ
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

I hadn't done a time trial in 6 years, but that one was twice as long as this one. For me they are not only boring, but I'm usually not successful in them. They lack strategy, tactics, marking your competitors, the attacks and chases, the alliances, planning corners, preparing for the sprint, the high speed finish; all the aspects that make other racing fun. A time trial is just you punishing yourself for the duration of the task, trying to keep the effort to the maximum, trying to ignore the pain, and praying for it to just get over with.

Since I had felt pretty strong in many of the criteriums, pushing the pace and finding myself in the front, I thought I'd do this race as a test to see how well I could endure a solo effort over the time span that a normal criterium takes place. The racers that do well in the time trials did not push me in the criteriums, so perhaps I could be strong on my own as well. Only one way to find out.

I had put brake levers and an old style shift lever for the rear derailer on my pursuit bars. Due to the wind, I put a 53 tooth chain ring on, instead of my usual 50.

The leaders of this race in my class usually average about 25 mph on this totally straight, flat course. We would go out for 6.25 miles, ride around a cone in the road, and then ride back to the start. My original plan was to ride just under 25 mph to conserve myself and then see if I had enough to pick up the pace on the second leg. Unfortunately, the weather created a huge headwind for the outgoing leg, making those kind of speed comparisons impossible.

I had Shannon Fox from Boulder Colorado starting 30 seconds in front of me and I hoped I could keep him in check or catch him. After a minute of riding at 24.5 mph, which seemed easy at the time, I thought I should pull back and maintained 22 mph for the next 2 minutes. I was making ground on Shannon, but soon discovered that this was not going to be sustainable. I slowed to 20 mph for the next 3 minutes and kept my gap with Shannon, but then that became a struggle. The next 3 minutes were at only 19 mph, trying to be as streamlined as I could be into the headwind, and Shannon began to pull away.

By the time I was halfway out on course (5 km from the start), I was struggling to keep 17 mph and wishing that I could just quit and go home. Although I wanted to have the feeling of putting the hurt on other riders trying to keep up with me, I actually felt like I was dropped and struggling just to finish the damn race. I was able to keep 17 mph most of the rest of the way to the turn around, but Shannon was out of sight. The first leg average speed was a dismal 18.8 mph and I saw some other riders not far behind me as I made the turn (meaning they were catching me).

With the tailwind, it felt like a whole new ball game as I quickly ramped it up to 32 mph and was flying. That was more what I was used to. Maybe I could make up ground on this section. Though I was going along at a good clip, I soon heard the sound of a noisy disk wheel coming up beside me and a rider quickly passed me and pulled away. So much for excelling with the tail wind.

I was struggling to maintain 30 mph, when Duane, who started 30 seconds behind me, caught and passed me. So at this point, the best place I could hope for was third, but only if I was lucky. I picked up my speed a little to try to use him as a marker, but it didn't work, as he also drifted away. What a demoralizing race. Fortunately nothing was cramping or causing any severe handicaps; it was just a matter of how much I wanted to suffer, both during and after the race. Since I hoped to also do a long road race the following day, I didn't want to completely kill myself, so I just rode within myself to the finish, knowing that I was going to have a less than stellar performance. Both Shannon and Duane finished faster than me, but I was able to hang onto 3rd place.

So I hated the last TT from long ago and this race was no more fun. I can't see myself doing any more of these and I have no intention of altering my training to do better at them. They're boring, tortuous, and not exciting at all. I'll stick to the high speed action that's a lot more fun.

Results    
Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)
11:43 am 12.5 5 32:29 70, SSW@20 23.1 32.1

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