Friday, August 04, 2006

Stony TT

Well, I'm back from Germany, so time for a little bloggin'.

Last Sunday was the Stony Creek Time Trial. I had designated this as one of my "A" races for this year. Because I had to get on the plane for Germany later in the day, I decided to go ahead and race Sport class to get an earlier starting time.

I got to Stony around 9:30am and registered. I was assigned a starting time just after 11am. So, I hung out for a little while, then got changed and did my warmup. I felt a little flat during the warmup ride around the lake, but I just tried to stick to my plan and not worry about it. It felt pretty hot outside at this point; the temperature was only in the mid-80's, but the humidity was pretty high. I ended up arriving at the start line with only about 2 minutes to go before my assigned time.

Since I registered on the day of, I ended up going about the same time as the Sport Clydesdales. That worked out OK for me, I could dump them on the climbs, and they kept me working hard on the flats and in the more technical sections.

Here's me at the first stream crossing. Here's a link to another stream crossing picture.

One of my main problems in this race last year was that I went out too fast at the start and blew up shortly thereafter. This time, I took it easier (although I probably actually went faster) and felt much better through the sections I struggled with last year. I was pretty cooked by the end of the race, but that's how it should be.

Here I am near the end (slightly off-line), trying to catch this dude who must have weighed about 100lbs more than me... I never did.

I maintained a good pace, for me, throughout and was rewarded by a time that was 12 minutes faster than last year! I ended up finishing 9th out of 13 in my class, but that was actually better than I expected. Particularly with the heat, I was extremely happy with how the race went for me.

I headed home almost immediately after the race, got cleaned up, and left for the airport...

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