Omelette Perfection

Sometimes the small victories mean the most...

Especially when they're all you've got. The Mt A TT was yesterday. I was defending champ in the 45+, so of course I wanted to do well. More importantly, in each of the four previous years I've done this race, I've ridden faster than the year before. I wanted to keep the streak alive. But it did not work out that way.

I had a decent week of training. Tuesday night at Wompatuck we had around 65 riders, which is the biggest field I've been in down there in recent memory. It was almost like the golden old days. I raced well too, staying up or off the front the last 17 laps, except the one that counted, when a nice break I initiated at four laps to go got swarmed by the field on the bell lap. Good effort. Thursday night I rode from home down to the Bikeworks TT in Rehoboth. I rode cannibal and paced myself super easy for the first half, as I was not digging for a good time. I just wanted to get in some hard tempo and complete another of the five entries required for end-of-series prize eligibility. There was a tailwind though, and when I picked it up in the second half I had good legs. Because I don't like riding in the dark, I never stopped to check my official time, but had 19:05 on my watch, best cannibal yet, and only 23 seconds slower than my TT bike time. After the finish I kept right on going and trucked home, only needing the blinky the last 15 minutes or so. My first half of the race was 12 seconds slower than last week's 19:10, so my second half must have been around 17 seconds faster. This pacing stuff might really work.

Saturday I wasted much of the day dicking around with my CX bike, preparing it for D2R2. After waffling on speed versus comfort for the last few weeks, I settled on the CX bike and it's flexy steel frame. I rigged up my level/T-square contraption and checked the fit, finding that I had my saddle a full 3cm further adrift than on my road bikes. No wonder this thing felt so funny. After remedying that, the bike feels much better, although the reach is now 15mm less than on my road bike, despite the overly long (looks too big for me) top tube on the CX bike. It's all a consequence of its 72 degree seat angle and the accompanying massive 18 cm frame setback. Now that I've got the points of contact all dialed in (could probably use a 1 cm longer stem, but for CX and D2R2 the shorter reach might be more comfy so I'm trying it as is) maybe this thing will actually handle decent for me. Late in the day that I started trying to rig up cages, which is a chore. Running out of time, and getting a sore body from bending around a bike all day (put on a compact, wrestled with brakes, adjustments, wheel/tire swaps etc) I finally headed out for some Mt A openers at 7 pm. Not the best prep...

At Mt A we are all required to ride semi-cannibal. Aero wheels and helmets are allowed, but not bars. I just winged it and skipped the helmet and booties this year. Too hot. I'd packed my carbon wheels, but driving in on the dirt road revealed that it was f'd. Lots of giant potholes and tons of loose gravel. The fast part at the beginning was not so bad, but I wasn't going to risk my good wheels. Instead I ran GP4s with Tufo S33 Pros that I used here the past two years as well as at Battenkill. They are actually a pretty old and slow setup, but cheap and tough. Kind of like me...

After a good warmup on the trainer, I timed my trip to the start house perfectly. Trying to pace myself, I still think I went out too hard. My HR was jacked, but mostly I think it was wind. Despite this, I hit the end of the flat part in 8:30, 15 seconds slower than last year. Then I tried to hit the paved hill in the middle hard, but remained in the saddle as much as possible. Probably too much. Following this same strategy on the dirt road, I ended up in my 38x27 much of the time on the two steep bits. In between them I sped up big time though, going all the way to the 38x12. Back on the pavement, I could see over 18 minutes had already elapsed. Not good for your hero. On the access road I think I made a big mistake, and tried to sit all the way to the switchback. Standing on the earlier steep pitch would have been better. As it was, my sit-down legs ended up loaded with lactic acid, and by the time I stood I was too maxed out to shift up and make power. The rest of the way ended up survival mode. Near the top, once it was clear that I wasn't going to beat last year, I think I cracked a little. At the line the clock stopped in 23:36, over half a minute slower than 2008's 22:59. Post-race Polar file analysis reveals that in addition to the 15 seconds lost on the opening stretch, I lost 5-10 more in the middle and around 15 on the final climb. With the wind difference from last year, I may have still gone too hard at the start. Then I got no respite in the middle, as the condition of the dirt road sucked this year compared to last, so I suspect I was digging deeper this time, as that section was the closest split. All this left me with nothing for the final climb, despite good current climbing form. My poor execution of standing/sitting strategy did not help matters. Some dude I never heard of before, Dave Burnett, smoked the 45+ field to win with a 22:16. I looked him up and I guess he's a TT specialist. Pretty stellar performance. I ended up squeaking out 2nd, just 3 seconds ahead of Bob Roldan (Everactive).

Good ride afterward with the mates.


Wife or daughter?

Sprinter, tough competitor, and all-around Good Guy Patrick Ruane's wife Danielle has come out of nowhere this year to start winning big week after week. Patrick flatted on the dirt road, but Danielle saved it for the family by setting the fastest womens' time for the day, and was rewarded with this awesome hammer trophy. Mt A rocks. Thanks to Team Noreast Cycling for putting it on, and thanks for reading.