My choice to subject myself to this torture wasn't on my race calendar, but I felt I left something on the table at last Sunday's Frostbite TT. While the TT discipline may never be a strength of mine, I already have a good sense of what the effort should feel like if I play pain management correctly. And, I wanted to come away feeling like I had done that. The fact that it was to be sunny and dry this day was a clincher.
Equipment-wise, I genuflect to the high-zoot bling that mills around a TT race. I don't have an aero frame or wheels. However, I did have a bit of decision to make. I've just started using the Profile ZBS TT clip-on aerobars, which are not cut to length yet and have the appearance of a large BBQ skewers. On my Velo Vie Vitesse 300SE, which I used for the Frostbite TT, they arm rests were a little higher than I desired. So, I swapped the bars over to my Titus Oseo, which put the bars lower and hopefully would help me achieve better aero position.
I drew another late start, but still had to arrive early enough to register. Plenty of time on my hands for relaxing and for a deliberate preparation. Our team had several starting off early in the morning and I enjoyed being around to encourage them on. Most of us though had the benefit of the rising sun chasing the early morning chill away. In fact, I was able to race without arm and leg warmers. "Ice Breaker"? Hardly!
Despite all the preparation time I had available to me, I pulled a rookie mistake and didn't check my Garmin's GPS time against the official race clock (which happened to be faster). So, I was unaware when my name was initially called to the starting area, as I was off getting some last minute warm-up on a nearby dead end road. Fortunately, my timing reference was only a couple of minutes off and I was able to work my way into the start queue in time for my scheduled start. That mix-up tossed in a little bit of helpful adrenaline to get my systems ready.
The starter counted me down for my adventure to begin at 10:43:00 AM (well, 10:41:03). From the bat, I was able to get into the "TT groove". Perhaps the thought of Ian McKissick bearing down on me helped (I had a 60 second head start). Regardless, my heart rate quickly approached where I wanted it. Ian passed my like a freight train, way too soon to be believed, and disappeared up the road equally fast. I remained undaunted though, and kept focusing on heart rate management.
The outbound leg had just a touch of wind, and the return leg had a minor incline to it. And I was able to handle both with equal effort. The twisty nature of Green Valley Road is much better for me mentally, as there is a limited view to see what and who are ahead. The Frostbite TT course is quite the converse, and doesn't play well in my head.
For my 24:46.9 seconds on course, I felt like I redeemed myself--objective achieved. The post race analysis of my heart rate is the most telling as to why my tail was between my legs after Frostbite and why I took comfort in this day's result. Note the sloping increase in my heart rate during Frostbite versus the relatively constant effort for Ice Breaker. I'm not sure the explanation on what happened at Frostbite, but I do know that it was indicative that I wasn't on my game.
Heart Rate: Frostbite TT (Feb. 28)
Heart Rate: Ice Breaker TT (Mar. 6)
There was a lot of confusion about the day's results which took quite a while to sort out, but as of now it appears I ended up 27th out of 76 in Cat 4/5 men. For not being a TT guy, I'll take it!
Results:
http://gcracingllc.com/Documents/2010-ICE-BREAKER-TT.pdf
Photos:
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