2009 PA 40k ITT Championships

Sunday was the 2009 state TT championships. A date that I've had targeted since the end of last summer when I finished second in last year's edition of the race. Henry and Steve B. came over the evening before and we went to eat at Panera bread. When we got back to my place Henry and Steve were busy making last minute cassette changes and we still had to look up directions to the race but still ended up getting into bed at a decent hour at about 11 o'clock. Sunday morning we had to leave at 6:45am so for a race day that is like sleeping in. At the race we met up with Steve M. and Skip who decided to make the drive from Pittsburgh that morning. Everything was going smoothly until I went to put my disc wheel on and noticed that the hub had come loose and the entire wheel could move back and forth about 1/4 inch while in the drop outs allowing it to rub the brake pads with each pedal stroke (maybe this is what slowed me down most in VA). Anyway, 10 seconds and an allen wrench later and that problem was solved. My warm up felt great and I was off the trainer and ready to roll at 9:11am (10 minutes til my start time). Put on my glasses and helmet and head to the start line. I get there with about 5 minutes til take off. Time to take a final drink (I didn't take any water with me) drop my jersey and line up. It's a good thing they were sending us out at minute intervals this year because the official at the start line had more instructions than I have ever experienced before so he needed the whole 55 seconds to fit them all in before the 5 second count down. I start out and start down the initial false flat. I feel like I'm going slow but I just focus on keeping my cadence up and hammering. I was trying to keep my cadence high so I wouldn't burn myself out on the uphill sections on the first half of the course and have something left for the return trip.
I felt really good the entire race (which probably means I should have gone faster) and I even waved at Henry when I passed him. He was about 3 miles into his race when I was 3 miles from the finish. I flew through the finish because I wasn't sure of where it was and I didn't slow down until I realized I was back at the start which was just around the next corner before a major intersection. I felt like I had ridden well but I still wasn't very confident in my ride until someone actually came over to my car and told me to get over to the awards presentation because I had won and they were calling my name. We headed over and sure enough I had won the Cat 3. Steve M. won the Cat 5 and Steve B. pulled out a bronze medal in Cat 5 after not even wanting to enter the 40k event because he said it was too long for him (sandbagger). Goal accomplished! Now I just want to thank everyone who helped me get here and everyone who will help me move on in the future. (tears welling up and starting to sob) You have all been great and I love you all but I'm keeping the medal and I won't share it:)

Great balls of fire (VA state ITT)

(this was the only welcome I revieved in VA and by later in the day all I could think about was getting as far from here as possible)

My journey to the VA state ITT started at around 11am on Saturday morning when I left Mt. Holly Springs for VA. With no lunch in my belly I started to get the rumbles in my tummy at around 3 so I decided to stop and get something to eat and being the type of guy who hates to waste time and loves to multitask I decided to fill up on gas at the same time. Now I'm sure there are many places where you can get gas and some good food at the same time but I chose 7-11. Now for the food part, I picked the last 2 roller dogs that have been rolling for God knows how long (Mistake #1). The rest of my trip was uneventful and pleasant enough. I arrived in VA just before 4pm and got checked into my hotel. After unloading my car I decided to go for a small ride to stretch my legs and see the TT course. I got dressed and started down the road. It was only 2 miles to the course and completely flat. So I rode the course armed with 2 bottles for my 25 mile ride since it was 97* outside. On my return to the hotel (3 miles to go) I started to get the rumbles in my tummy again but these were a different kind. These were the kind of rumbles that tell you that you've eaten something that you shouldn't have and you need to get to a bathroom or else. I hurried back to the hotel and scurried through the lobby, up the stairs, and down the hall with my bike in tow to get to my room to relieve the "situation". Great now I'm nauseated, probably dehydrated, and I have a 40k in less than 18 hours. Force myself to eat dinner and get to bed relatively early. Maybe a good night's sleep will fix this mess.

Up in the morning and feel fine. I had a good breakfast at the hotel and it was off to the race. I get registered and get everything ready, maybe it's going to be OK after all. I get on my trainer for my normal warm up routine and my legs feel dead. Every movement is so difficult. "Maybe this will pass", I think to myself. I get off the trainer and to the start line in pretty good time for my start.

I'm off and going well. I passed my 30 second man and 1 minute man only 6 minutes into the race. I must really be flying (and they must be really slow). I continue to chase and pick up people til the turnaround and I'm feeling pretty good. I make the turn and within 30 seconds I get passed. "What is this? This is crazy. How is it possible that this guy is passing me?" I keep hammering and keep him in sight the rest of the race but he is pulling away. With 8 miles to go both legs start to cramp simultaneously and now this is difficult. With 5 miles to go I feel even more pain and the first thing that pops into my head is Jerry Lee Louis singing "Great balls of fire" and that's not a good thing to be think with 5 miles left to race with your legs already cramping. The rest of the race is a blur of pain/suffering/dehydration induced delirium. I ended up finishing 4th with a time of 0:55:53 but I wasn't even close to 3rd. Now it's time to try and recover this week and try to be firing on all cylinders at the PA state ITT next Sunday. I'm officially off 7-11 roller dogs for good.*

*if all of this just sounds like the ramblings of a madman it's because I have a million thoughts running through my head right now and wanted to put just a few of them out there for others to enjoy/make fun of.

*Update: 4th cat. 3, 7th overall. If I had been a cat. 1-2 I would have placed better:)

Tuesday night Yellow Breeches TT

Today was my second attempt at the Yellow Breeches Racing weeknight TT. Since the first one I have moved into my new home and now I'm only 4 miles from the TT start. It's nice to be able to ride to the start and home again afterword. The first time I did this race I finished in 23:??(about 19). My goal is to someday do it in under 23 minutes. Tonight was not the night. Every thing started well enough but when I got to the turnaround point I made my turn about 1/4 mile too early because someone had placed a traffic cone there to mark something on the road. I saw an orange cone and just turned. I didn't even think that it was the wrong one until I was headed the wrong way and the guy that I had just passed seconds earlier was yelling at me asking me where I was going. I thought about throwing in the towel and just soft pedaling back to the start and home but I decided to turn around again and go to the correct turn around and try to finish strong. This being one of my last really hard intervals in preparation for the PA state TT next weekend. I ended up with a time of 24:05. Not really that bad since I lost a bunch with two extra turnarounds, some extra distance added between the turnarounds before I figured out that I had screwed up, and some lost time when I was coasting and trying to decide if I should bag it and go home or turn around and finish hard. If the weather holds the plan is to do this again on Thursday so maybe I'll get a clean run and be able to take another shot at sub-23.

Philadelphia Amature TT

(I'm in the money)

After waking up at 3am I still managed to get 1st place Cat. 3 and 5th place overall. It was a beautiful day and a great venue. Super smooth blacktop and completely closed to traffic. The only part of the course that kind of sucked was the expansion joints in the road 1/2 mile into the course and then again 1/2 mile to the finish. There were 3 of them and they were huge. Enough to make me loose my bottle. Not that it mattered on a course this short or at this particular temp but still. This was the most professional amature TT I've ever seen. The timing system was great and they had a spotter calling the upcoming riders # ahead to the finish so they had your time and finish place on the clock as you were approaching. This would have been great except that I didn't get to see mine because I ended up passing my 1 1/2 minute man in the finishing chute so his time was up on the clock and I never did get to see mine. The weather couldn't have been any better, sunny and 70 degrees at race time with very little wind. It was a really nice race but driving 2.5 hours at 3am to race 8.6 miles is crazy.