Posted by Dan on 24. August 2010 08:35
The last time trial of the year would be a 40k jaunt departing from Stoney Creek and heading south alongside I-95 toward Emporia. Not only was it the state senior time trial championship, it was a Cycor Production so you KNOW it'd be good. I took second place as a Cat 4 last year and took home a check, a silver medal and some of the best lunch meat ever. Knowing what was on the line, I prepared for this race. I decided not to attend the Church Creek Time Trial (#2) in Maryland so I'd have fresh legs for this one. I convinced Frank to hold off on a trip to Wintergreen so I didn't have all that climbing acid lingering about when there was a Fiorucci meat bag on the line.
I flawlessly went through my checklist and did everything with plenty of time to spare. Following a good deal of stretching, I took the bike off the trainer, swapped wheels and got a little more warm-up on the road before lining up to start. I would be the last Cat 3 with only four Cat 1/2 riders behind me. No matter how bad I did, I could only be passed four times. That was nice.
I moved to the line when it was my turn. I was in the right gear. I made sure my PowerTap computer was on and pressed the lap button to accurately record my ride time. The display was set and my bike was held for me so I could get into position and clip in before my launch. Gilbert Craven gave me the countdown and off I went. I was very conscious of my power in the beginning so I quickly got up to speed and tapered off to just below threshold. I was feeling very good with this output which was surprising. My threshold was set on the road bike and due to an aggressive aero position, I have a hard time achieving that power for extended periods on the TT bike. The winds were blowing from the SSW at 5-6 mph which was both odd and welcomed. I understand the winds usually come from the west causing a pretty stiff crosswind mixed with a swirling wind from the passing trucks on I-95 making a ride with a rear disk difficult. The swirling winds were still there, but the dominant wind was in line with the road, more or less.
Also in line with the road was Mike Fawell as he came blasting by me. It wasn't that I'd been passed or even that I'd been passed before the midway point. What got me was that after he passed me, he stopped pedaling. Several times. Maybe this was a rhythmic pacing strategy - ten hard rotations followed by a few seconds of coasting. Dunno. What I do know is that I watched a guy coast away from me as I consistently put out 300+ watts. I'd have chased him down, but I was terrified I'd be DQ'd for following within 66 feet.
The turn around point was where all the action was. There were at least four volunteers in the road making riders aware of the upcoming turn and herding us into the left lane. I could sense they were all frustrated by the way they all yelled (what they yelled I couldn't say - all I could hear was the wind in my ears) and ran back and forth trying to create a channel for me to follow. The natural instinct for all of us was to follow the right side of the road and swing around, trying to maintain as much speed as possible, but they weren't having that. I did my best to follow their moving markers once I figured out what they were trying to do, but it's entirely likely I was one of those inattentive riders the sheriff wasn't happy with. Maybe a sign or volunteers that stand still and waved flags instead of dancing around the lane would help.
With the turn out of the way and the wind at my back, it was a straight shot home and that bag of meat. Though I was passed again by who I believe to be Robert Garwood, I was OK with it by now as I'd passed a few of my own. I was making great time on the way back. With a 25.5 mph average speed on the way out, I was hoping for a 29-30 mph average on the way back and wasn't too far off that.
With exactly 3.6 miles to go, I heard what no one wants to hear when in the middle (or 3.6 miles from the finish) of a time trial: the familiar hiss of a tire going flat. My rear tire had sprung a leak and was rapidly losing air. For a brief second I considered dismounting and walking to the line, trying to calculate what my time would be if I walked at 5 mph. While doing the math, I realized that I could continue to ride if I just held the wheel straight and avoided areas of the road angled toward the ditch. Though my speed was definitely lower, power output was not. I held the bars as straight as I could and motored to the finish line, stopping a few feet after the line and walking the bike back to the car, hoping my precious PowerTap wheel was not destroyed. There was just enough air left in the tube to prevent the rim from touching pavement. So I had that going for me, which is nice.
When the dust settled, the results had been posted. I did the 40k course in 0:56:41 with an average speed of 26.25 mph and took 8th place. After downloading the ride data into WKO+, I considered exporting it to Excel and modifying those last few miles to conservatively reflect my average speed prior to the flat so I could get a rough estimate of what my time would have been had I not flatted. Then I occurred to me that I really didn't care. Even if I came up with a model that could accurately predict my time, I'd still have no Fiorucci meat bag so what did it matter?
Changing the flat tube today, I found a tiny hole 6" from the stem a few mm from the seam on the inside of the tube. A tiny piece of glass must have found its way onto the rim tape and waited for the most inopportune time imaginable to pierce the tube. It seems the turnaround karma got me.