Weekly TT Update

[Crankin]

Congrats on that super time! Your training camp sounds grueling, but it did pay off. I clicked on your blog and was amazed to see all of your pictures of all of my familiar riding places! You are right; we take this beautiful area for granted and at times I even get bored with some of my local routes. But then I go ride somewhere else and I always come back and say how jaded we are.

I took my first road bike ride with a group (a very small group) to that spot at the top of Prospect Hill Rd. by the Fruitlands. This was only 7 miles from my old house, but I managed to drop my chain twice and fall over at the base of Madigan Rd. because I freaked out when i started climbing up the hill and I didn't shift. But after a lot of crying and some not so gentle encouragement from my husband, I made it up. Looking at your picture reminded me of how that was only 5 years ago!

[RoadRaven]

What was the distance, SheFly? This is still the 10mile course?

You rock, girl. You truly do. Just under 40kph... something I will never achieve now...

I have mentioned our road surfaces before - NZ roads are notoriously slow because mostly they are covered in a coarse chip.

What kind of surface do your roads (or more specifically does THIS TT course) have? Just that will help me relate your effort to what I know/see over here.

Wow... another 36 secs... on a less than ideal night... can you go any faster???

[SheFly]

Thanks Robin and Raven! I am still kind of shocked at my last week's performance on the course...

Raven - yes, this is the same 9.75 mile course. We use this same course each week, which is good for setting PRs and maintaining consistency. The other thing that using the same course allows is for me to know every inch of the pavement, and what the best line is through some of the rougher sections. Most of the roads are in good shape, with smooth pavement. There are sections, however, that are badly pot-holed and cracked (we get frost heaves here in New England that impact the pavement). At times, you need to take the entire lane (not closed to traffic) to get around these sections.

After three full seasons of racing the same course, I now could ride it with my eyes closed, but I won't try that just yet .

I have to adjust my gaol now - I am only 15 seconds slower than the 3rd fastest woman. We also have to go out and retry our tandem TT record this year, so I HOPE I can go faster .

SheFly

p.s.
I found out that I was the 4th fastest woman to ride the course, behind an Ironman Hawaii winner, a Cat 1 Elite road racer and a highly ranke Cat 2 road racer - some pretty select company for a lowly Cat 4!

[SheFly]

Current TT Course Tandem Record: 20:41.0
Our current tandem best time: 20:43.2
This week's result: 20:52.9

It's amazing what 12 seconds means. Now we have to go out and do this again...

Oh - and we had ANOTHER near death experience this week. As we approached the finish line, there were two cars stopped. This is in the final uphill sprint, at which point we were moving at about 27 mph! After committing to go around the cars on the left, the first car decided to turn left . I let out a scream, DH somehow went left of the second car and right of the first, and we crossed the line intact. All of the timers, however, were very nervous, and were also yelling and gesticulating wildly. A scary moment for everyone.

Hopefully the pursuit of the tandem TT record won't be the end of us .

SheFly

[RoadRaven]

SheFly!
*Raven puts on best stern and growly face*
You must... I repeat MUST... stop, cease and desist from having near-death experiences!
It frightens me, upsets me and I shall have to come find you and send you to your room and confiscate your bike!

Seriously, I am so pleased and relieved you and your DH are ok... its such an easy and quick thing to be fine one moment and then wondering how you are going to avoid the crash a split second later.

What fools in the car to do that if they were stopped near the finish line - surely the marshalls, cones and other cyclists gave them a clue that it is wise to LOOK FIRST!!!

Bl***y idiots!

Now, if you had just pushed yourselves a tad harder, you would have been past them 9 seconds sooner and thus avoided this situation all together! I dunno its ONLY a few seconds.... ONLY a teeny bit more power ONLY an uphill sprint

Next time... next time

[Crankin]

What were those cars doing there??? Were they on Liberty St. or Monument? I mean were they part of the crowd waiting for cyclists or just stupid people in the way? That is really scary.

[SheFly]

SheFly!
*Raven puts on best stern and growly face*
You must... I repeat MUST... stop, cease and desist from having near-death experiences!
It frightens me, upsets me and I shall have to come find you and send you to your room and confiscate your bike!

Seriously, I am so pleased and relieved you and your DH are ok... its such an easy and quick thing to be fine one moment and then wondering how you are going to avoid the crash a split second later.

What fools in the car to do that if they were stopped near the finish line - surely the marshalls, cones and other cyclists gave them a clue that it is wise to LOOK FIRST!!!

Bl***y idiots!

Now, if you had just pushed yourselves a tad harder, you would have been past them 9 seconds sooner and thus avoided this situation all together! I dunno its ONLY a few seconds.... ONLY a teeny bit more power ONLY an uphill sprint

Next time... next time

Yes, mom . We made a slight adjustment to the rear wheel lat night, crafting our own version of a "disk" that is lighter than what we had run previously. Hopefully, with the weight savings and NO NEAR DEATH experiences, we can conquer that 9 seconds this week...

[SheFly]

What were those cars doing there??? Were they on Liberty St. or Monument? I mean were they part of the crowd waiting for cyclists or just stupid people in the way? That is really scary.

They were on Liberty, turning left into the visitor center parking lot. I don't honestly think they had a clue, and I KNOW they didn't see us... Scary for sure, but we were fine in the long run.

[SheFly]

This week was our last TT for the year. I have to say that unlike past years, I am happy to hang up the TT rig for the next 6 months, after 13 races this season!

My goal for this year was to beat last year's PR of 24:32. After our "training camp vacation", I managed to post a PR of 23:56 this year, becoming the 5th woman to break the 24 minute mark. Unfortunately, the end of the season saw my times going up rather than down, despite some fancy new Zipp wheels...

We sadly didn't hit our goal of recapturing the tandem record this year, despite 5 attempts (and some marital discord ). After some [too] close calls with traffic, and a disparity in the timing of our training, we just couldn't pull it off. Guess we will have to wait until next year for that one - maybe by then, racing the tandem will be fun again .

The end of this season, however, brings the beginning of the next. 'Cross racing starts this weekend in Milford, NH, and then becomes more intense with races both days every weekend through December. I've been out practicing dismounts/remounts, and trying to get rid of the dreaded "stutter step remount" I developed last year.

Time to change the bike, change the training and change the focus. Thanks for being interested in my reports!

SheFly