Did I say equipment matters...?

Race: Exeter 40K ITT
Date: 03/15/08
CAT: CAT 2
Field size: 15
Teammates: none, but it doesn’t matter in a time trial

The course: A semi hilly out and back course that was twisty near the turnaround, but otherwise not very technical. Semi hilly means a 1.2 mile climb near the start, false flat on the way out with a couple more risers, and the repeat on the way back.

The Plan: Get into a good groove, keep concentration throughout and go as hard as humanly possibly

The Conditions: Almost as bad as it gets with 15-25mph winds, some rain showers, and one really bad hail shower about ¾ of the way through.

The Race: I started off ok, trying to get some good rhythm for the first 2 miles before the hill came. I didn’t want to start too hard so I could push the hills hard to make up as much time as possible. I made it to the top of the first climb and caught my 1 min man, who was two riders in front of me as we went off in 30 second intervals. After the downhill and two 90-degree turns I got back down in the bars and tried to get comfy. Unfortunately my 1 minute man caught me and I tried to keep up with him (not drafting!) hoping he was just a better climber than me. Not so, he was flying and I had to back off.

After another mile of doing ok, my aero bars started to move on me. Another mile later and they were completely loose as it started to rain. I no longer had control of the bike while on the bars so I was forced to ride on the drops, which is considerably slower than the bars. This also wreaked havoc on my mentality as I suffered really bad on the way out desperately trying to keep my speed up until the turn around.

At the turnaround a guy yelled “2:12” to me and I assumed that’s how much time I had lost to the really fast guy. Unfortunately for me, on the way back was more wind friendly and it was the time to really get a good groove going in the aero bars. I had to settle for riding the drops and making sure I didn’t let my bars fall into my front wheel, which would have been really bad to say the least.

I went as hard as I could and even passed a couple of the slower CAT3 guys, but I knew my result was not going to be good. At least I got a nice 5-min hail storm to keep me occupied.

As I crested the top of the last climb the two guys up there were laughing at me and jokingly asked if I needed a wrench. I just laughed it off and hammered as hard as I could and sprinted the last 200 meters for a time of 1:03:45 or 23.41mph. This ended up being 6.5 mins slower than the winner who had the second fastest time of ANYONE on the day and 2:45 behind second place. I’m sure the aero bars cost me a min (or more) and the mental aspect of equipment failure cost me too.

Thoughts: After struggling with the bars I cannot find a way to tighten them more than they were so I’m gonna have to give them to a professional. My TT bike is also too big (too long of top tube) for me so I need to re-evaluate the whole thing so next time I can be more competitive.

Results: 9th