State ITT
I took second today in the ITT M40+. My competition was a national track champ and 2nd in masters world track. So I was very happy when I rode my fastest tt this year averaging 26.7 mph for a 56.10 time. Not fast enough however.
It was not a smooth race. I forgot my HRM and I don’t run power so I was a little in the dark.
I passed my first two competitors within the 5k mark. However by 10k Karl promptly passed me. I kept him close but at the turn around he was gone. I forgot to say he was riding a single speed bike to rub salt in my wounds.
I was riding 30 mph on the return leg and felt pretty good so I settled in. I definitely could have gone faster but I was afraid of blowing up and having the two guys behind me catch up. With 10k to go I decided I better pick up the pace. Which I did but with several k to go I was done.
I think with a steady pace I could have improved my time considerably. Thank goodness there’s always next year.
Congratulations to Shane and Rich who killed it today. Shane’s time was amazing but I’ll let him tell that story.
-Tim
Really awesome job by Tim and Shane. I think everyone asked Shane to quit taking the drugs. When he posts you will see why.
I signed up at the last minute thinking I may be able to pull out a 3rd place for a podium, first and second are way out of my reach. Figured since I can’t win I might as well train, so I went and road Mnt Lemmon on Saturday. With a slight head wind still made it to Ski Valley in just under 2 hours 6 minutes, don’t think I was recovered from doing it on Thursday.
Any how, for the Merckx ITT:
There were 4 of us, and Nippy had me go first. I don’t like the lineup!
I went out hard from the gun, then kind of easy as the head wind picked up. At the turn I timed each of the riders behind me. 1minute after the turn I passed Steve Brechner who started 30 sec behind me (thought he was 1min behind), then at 1min20 sec Nelson Cronyn who started 1:30 behind, and lastly Huhn at about 2 min (I thought he was 30 sec behind me at the start). I was not thinking clearly at first as I thought both Steve and Nelson had gained on me and would win, but that I would clearly beat Huhn for my anticipated 3rd place. It was not until about 5 kilometers later I re-did the math and realized I passed them at 1min and 1min20, but they still had about 30 to 45 seconds to go to the turnaround where my timer started. Eureka moment! I was at least 30 seconds ahead at the turn. This energized me a bit as I now thought there is a chance this race could be close! I went just a little harder. I crossed the line at 1:02:07 for an average speed of 24MPH. Once the dust settled, it turns out I won by over two and a half minutes. I told the guys, if I thought I had a chance, I would not have done Lemmon yesterday. I am more then pleased with the results.
Later I was talking to Michael Batson from Yuma, nice guy I have raced with several times, he said they laid him on the ground at the start! First they tried to keep him back for another rider until he points out his start time is in about 20 seconds. Then they rush him up and drop him to the ground! ouch! Tim Scott said they almost dropped him as well! sheesh! Glad I had a smooth start.
I want to thank Philip Brown for coming all the way from Rio Rico to spectate and support us! It was great to see him there. He even captured a very glamorous shot of me somewhere on the course. It didn’t look like I was slaking at the time.
Lastly I would like to let everyone know we formally extended the team invite to Gene Rowley! We are not to make it public yet until he has personally talked to his team. Once he has done that we will get his email added to the Aggress group. We are excited to have him join us and extend the family!
If anyone wants to loosen their legs Tuesday morning, Branden and I are doing Lemmon to break 2hrs to Ski Valley, he can do it with the new bike fore sure!
-Rich
I’ll try to keep it brief, on second thought…no.
Heading into today’s race I knew I had a couple guys who could keep close. One month ago we rode a TT over the same distance on that course and I won by 22 seconds over Steve Martin, so I figured I had to be on the top of my game today. I was a bit concerned as I rolled out of bed this morning as I was still feeling a little sluggish after yesterday’s prep ride, oh well you race with legs you have that day and not the legs you wish you had.
Before the race I was telling Tim a little about how I monitor things during the race. I have my Garmin set to record 5k laps, if you ride 7:15/5k lap you are on track for a 58 min 40k TT. On the way out my first 5k was 8:37, uh oh, this is not good pick it up, 2nd 5k 7:30 something and now there is a headwind, stay calm, but your losing it…they are gonna catch you, enough of the splits. Got to the turn in 30 and change, that is a 1hr 40k and will get you knocked off the podium, oh wait… is that a tailwind? Since it was, trying to keep the speed above 30 mph on my way back. Now I am turning 5 1/2 min 5k intervals. With 5k to go I had to do a double take on my Garmin, my time was 49 something, a final 5k in 6 mins would result in a 55 min 40k, keep rolling that big gear, they are catching you. I finished in 54:18, 27.46 mph. Only a handful of seconds behind the cat 1’s and Karl Baumgart in the 40-44 age group.
All week I’d work on visualizing the race and hitting the finish with nothing left, today was the closest I’ve come to that feeling at the finish.
Great rides by Tim and Rich brought home more hardware for Aggress. Awesome job guys!
Thanks to Philip for making the drive up from Rio Rico, it was great seeing you out there.
-Shane
