I'm not a time trial rider. I know this. But I do a few each year just for BAR points and as a kind of self-test. How many times a year do I push myself to my absolute limit for an hour straight? I dunno... About as many time trials as I do each year.
I went out in this TT with the Conquer the Canal TT in mind. I went out too hard in that race, and decided for this one, I needed to ride a smarter race, ease into my LT heart rate, and push a lower gear, too.
I succeeded in doing all of the above. I ramped up my HR to my LT of 168-170 over the first 2 miles, and settled into a good pace. I didn't have a speedometer or cadence, so I was basing my effort solely on heart rate.
I thought I was going pretty fast, but I wasn't sure, without the speedo. I knew there was a headwind on the back section of the course, so I didn't want to burn myself up early, either.
The legs burned, but I kept my HR where I wanted it for most of the race, and even though I didn't know how fast I was going, at times I knew I was making better time than I ever had before.
I was right, too- I posted a 56:09, for an average of about 24.75mph. This beat my previous best on that 23.1-mile course by almost 4 minutes. It also beat my previous best average speed in a time trial (a 12-miler) by almost a full mile an hour.
What I was wrong about was my perceived placing. I thought I may have gotten 8th-10th... somewhere in the middle. Nope! I got 16th. Which, consequently, was exactly how many people raced.
That's right... My best-ever TT and I got LAST FREAKIN' PLACE. I rethought my strategy of how to race a TT. Now I'm rethinking my strategy of ever racing one again. Actually, I'll race them, but I won't put a TT ahead of another race on the calendar- this coming weekend is the State TT Championships, and I'm not about to go do that when there's an awesome crit in Arlington.
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