Icebreaker or heartbreaker

Sunday was the Icebreaker TT, run by our team. As far as I could tell, the race organization was flawless, and I'm not just saying that because it was my team running the show.

So, I worked desperately to correct my mistakes from the Frostbite TT a week ago:

I pinned number on the night before, by stuffing a pillow in the skinsuit (sort of looks like a decapitated quadriplegic cyclist)

I managed to get in enough warm up - I spun easy for 16 minutes, brought the HR up to 155 for 5 minutes, back to an easy spin for 5 minutes, and then a 2 minute hard effort in the big ring to a HR of 165 before a final 5 minutes of super easy spin. I was sweating, and my heart was quickly responding to the changes in effort, so I knew it was a decent warm up.

The course was fun - I've never been on the Green Valley Rd, even though my team has done training rides that included it in the past.


Here's me suffering in to the finish. A teammate described my helmet cover as though I look like an English butler with a Bowler. I'm not sure that is a compliment.

However, all didn't go as well as it could've. I went out perhaps a bit too hard to the cone at 5 miles, and when I turned around and discovered a slight head wind plus a slight uphill grade, my speed plummeted from 28 to 23 mph. I managed to keep it above 23 mph for the way back to the finish, but never exceeded 24.5 mph except in the last 200 m. Oh well. I wasn't last this time, so that's an improvement! My goal was to finish under 24 minutes for the 10 mile course, but I blew that by 30 seconds.

In the scheme of things, I have to remember that I only started riding the bike again last May after a many year hiatus in which I did little or no riding, and only some running. So, the top-10 finishing Cat 3 rider in me is still working its way to the surface. Hopefully I will be back to my old self, or close, by the end of this season - in time for Cyclocross!

My teammates are all wonderful people. I forgot how nice it is to hang out after a race and just gab, complain, and dream big for the upcoming race season. I sure picked a good group to join.

The night before I was prepping the bike, and thanks to my talented wife Bree and Hot Tea Apparel (which is Bree) I have an awesome apron to wear while getting greasy and dirty with the bikes:


Today I got in 15 miles on the bike and a 20 minute 2.5 mile run. It was wet. But, the rest of the week looks sunny and dry! My next race isn't for two weeks, and it's a road race, so I'll have to adjust the training a bit.

This weekend it is time for another 40 km test TT around Lake Sammamish. I'm betting I will be faster.