RACE REPORT: Nor Cal Championship TT - Sattley - June 29, 2104
This one will be brief - really! After all, it was only a 20k (12 1/2 miles) for us oldies - I think the officials want to get us home in time to do our knitting or something! It’s insulting, really, and in the end, maybe even harder, since raw speed is more important than endurance.
I arrived on Saturday and rode the course at noon - LOVE this course - flat, wide open, good pavement. Cheese quesadilla and strawberry smoothie for lunch, and plenty of magazines to enjoy throughout my quiet afternoon at what has been nicknamed the Haunted Hotel. I stayed upstairs here last year and survived, so here I was again, only downstairs, which is nice when there is a bike to pack in. Seana joined me around 4pm, and a handful of other racer gals stayed here this year, so we enjoyed a multi-team dinner on the deck - and having had stomach distress at Mariposa, I packed noodly doodlys and vegis plus tomato soup with melted string cheese. We turned in around 8:30 and I played around on my nook and fell into a sound and restful sleep -unusual before a championship race.
Race day: up at 5:30, for oatmeal and a five minute drive to the start line ☺ I intended to use my trainer, but was able to get a 10 mile road warm up before the races started. I prefer the road to my trainer, and I felt great out there - no wind! Slight chill in the morning air, but no jackets needed. ☺ It all felt really good -inhaler works, legs were ready for a fast race! Head was ready for a fast race! New PINK skin suit had just arrived (yes, I test rode it in 2 club races), and both HAMMER and Town Center Bike Logos were plastered all over it - I was psyched! ☺ I didn’t feel nervous, just intent. It all felt right until I got out there, and for whatever reason, I fell apart badly coming in. I’ve ridden a LOT of TTs this season, and thought I was controlling my pace. My plan was to race ~ 30 sec faster than last year, having had good results locally lately. My turn-around time was ~ 10 sec slower than I’d hoped, but I felt like I could still come in strong. Well, 4 miles from the finish, my stomach was knotted up and I was becoming restless on my saddle - even my arms were suddenly not right. I kept wriggling around trying to refocus and get comfortable, but I was hurting Way Bad, and not in the usual TT bad way. It was just different. I tried to just refocus and get to the line, but my 32:24 was a huge disappointment. I was DEAD, and just had to hope I could hang on to second in this 60-64 event. (Multiple national record holder Mary Ellen Allen took the race; no surprise there!) I now had one hour to recover and get to the line for the 50-54 40krace, which I’d entered because I was just curious what my time would be, after having raced it in exactly one hour 20 years ago. I just had to know. I drank my HAMMER Recovery drink and ate a HAMMER apple bar, and sat down for a few minutes, hoping I would regain some use of my legs! Actually, legs felt better than stomach or arms, which is bizarre. As my start time drew near, I rolled down the road in a fake warm up and tried to convince myself that this second race would be fun ☺ I was not very convincing, but I rolled to the start to do this all over again - only twice as far! People thought I was NUTS! Again, I just had to know what I could do on the “real” distance, having won it in younger age groups multiple times.
40K: Well, guess what?! The 40k actually WAS more fun - since I rode out at a more sane pace! I felt controlled, but still fast-ish, and breathing and legs did what I asked of them ☺I peeked at my turnaround time and realized I could race a 1:08 and felt ok with that. On the return leg I was able to stay focused and realized I was speeding up without feeling the stress I’d experienced in the short race, so I powered on to break 1:07! I was very happy with that, coming in over a minute faster than going out. Of course, I still felt like I might explode as I crossed the finish line, but I’m used to that and knew I’d be OK shortly. And of course I was.
Podium: well, this part was GREAT! I was second in the 20k and 3rd in the 40k, so I had 2 nice USAC medals. ☺ It was a great feeling to make the podium twice in one day! Unfortunately, I did not get any good race photos (photographer’s angle was weird), but I do have a nice podium shot with champion Mary Ellen Allen. I so wished that 3rd place finisher Narda Roushdi had stayed and joined us - she has made huge gains and had a GREAT race this year. It would have been cool to share the moment with a long time racing friend. A friend took podium shots of the 40k race, but I haven’t seen them yet. Hoping for some nice “logo shots”! ☺
Times: as it turns out, MAE was ~30 sec slower than last year (I was :40), and few, if any, records were broken in any categories. People talked about heavy air, but for whatever reason, times overall were nothing to write home about. Hearing that helped.
20K: 32:24 Garmin 5 mile splits - 12:43 (23.6 mph) and 13:20 (22.5 mph), with last 2 1/2 miles at 23 mph, so at least I regained some semblance of form coming in! It still does not LOOK to me like I went out too fast, so I don’t know what happened. HR was consistent on both legs at 147, however, nowhere near my usual 155-158. Total ave was 23 mph.
What I do know is that I’ve been tired for awhile now, and I had the flu 2 weeks ago. Since then, I’ve had very normal days, and very low energy days. Thankfully, I was headed to Genoa, Nevada for several days to visit my sister, paint a mural in her house, and take 5 days off the bike. Interestingly enough, my front tire “Sssssed” flat as I was putting my bike in the car after the races. Maybe my bike was tired, too!
40K: 1:06:48 (22.3 mph).
5 -13:29 - 140 HR
10 -13:46 - 144
15 -13:36 - 141
20 -13:14 - 144
24.8 -12:45 - 144
2nd place 60-64 Nor Cal 20k TT Championship
With Champion Mary Ellen Allen. She is amazingly blazingly FAST!