Sunday, March 4, 2012

There's Always Someone Who Is Faster

You know what's the best about being prepared for the worst? (I've said this before) It's such a pleasant surprise when it turns out to not be as bad as you thought. :) And by that, I mean the weather this morning for our 20K TT.

It's been dumping rain here since ~11AM but in good news we were all done by then. Surprisingly the roads were mostly dry and as far as I know everyone stayed upright!

Speaking of staying upright, that was my #1 goal this morning. Last night I was thinking about my goals for this race:
#1. Stay upright.
#2. Get 30' CPT (power)
#3. Win.

Yesterday my stomach was turning with the forecast that said it was going to be howling winds with rain today. When I pressed myself further on why that was, I figured it out... Really it was because my plan had been to race on my race bike (instead of my training/rain bike) but the thought of riding that perfect pretty white bike in the rain just was making me sick so once I decided to just ride my black bike it was all good. :) And then I know I don't push quite as hard when the roads are wet so that was bumming me out too b/c goal #2 was to really test to see how many watts I could push and I was thinking dry roads would be better for that. And goal #3, well, that's pretty much out of my control. That's why it was #3 instead of #1. :)
That's not a smile it's a grimace.

So in good news this morning we had dry roads for warm up and then only one section of rain during the TT... that lasted maybe 5-10'? Must have been an isolated shower because we rode right through it and then it was all dry again. I felt good warming up and during the TT... was watching power and pushing and grunting and everything and at the end I was pleasantly surprised at my avg power. So that was cool! Of course then when I looked at how long it took me to ride the course (32:30) I knew for sure that wasn't going to be enough to win it. 90" slower than last year which was just weird and I have not reconciled that with myself yet. I felt stronger this year and felt like I was riding better and did not feel like I was dying at the end (indeed my power in the last 3' was as high as it was in the first 3') so I don't know. I'd like to blame that on my heavy Powertap wheel but maybe that's a cop-out excuse and I hate excuses so I'll just live with the fact that there is always someone who is faster. And I am thankful there is because how boring would it be if there was no one to chase??

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well you look great! And I'm happy you're safe. Curious about who is faster this time around and not at all surprised you are analyzing - for the next pounce!

Anonymous said...

You look great and I'm happy you had clear skies and safe conditions. Also not surprised you're reflecting and thinking about the next pounce. Go Mama!

mmmonyka said...

Second picture does not look like grimace. It is 100% a smile!

You have never been to a pool in Europe, have you? I am going to take a picture and I send it to you. Then we can discuss my "wussness" :)

Molly said...

Sure looks like smiles to me :)

I have a feeling even when it's pouring there, it's warmer than here! At least you will get lots of DRY time in AZ soon!

Kiet said...

I know you wrote something but I couldn't get pass the pics: always been envious of your TT position, it looks so pro (flat and low) while mine always looks so amateur (rounded and upright). Oh, and when do I get an e21 cycling kit?