Harvard 33.3k TT race report...

Sunday morning 06.14.09:

Well the Harvard 33.3k TT results from Sunday are now posted so I can right up a short (ha!)note about my race day…below is the link to the results:

http://www.ambikerace.com/2009/Results/Harvard_results_2009v1.pdf

This race is located about 75 minutes NW from our homestead in the Chicagoland region on county roads safely (for the most part) tucked away from vehicular automotive traffic in the lightly rolling farm field regions just a few miles south of the Wisconsin border. This was my first time at the specific TT so as usual I pre-register so race morning goes smoothly. I arrived early to pick-up my bib for which I had start time of 8:38am with riders going off every 30 seconds starting at 8:30am. The wind was light out of the NE with diffused sunlight at about 66 degrees but the humidity was high this morning. As I got in a warm-up ride on the county roads for about 6 miles slowly working my HR up to my LT zone to get the racing motor warmed up properly I headed over to the starting line.

I took off after my 5 second countdown timer and was within the proper HR zones within a moment or two is I was settled into my TT race pace. As I was at about mile 3 I noticed my average pace was at about the 26 to 27mph zone but it was deceiving as the outbound portion of this cycling TT course has a slight downhill trend to it for the most part. I road as hard as I could as I knew the return direction would be slightly uphill and into the wind that was starting to pick-up this early morning. At about mile 8 the course sent you on some really rough county roads until mile 12 when you returned to the decent roadway…these 4 miles were tough on me as it felt like I was riding on gravel!

Once I got beyond this section of the race I was mentally trying to remain as focused on my PEL level and HR range but the early race effort was paying a price on my maintaining my speed ability. The gradual climb back towards the finishline and the wind in your face now was a real challenge. At about 1.5 miles from the end of the race I hit some shaded area of roadway by trees typical 1” potholes, which on an all carbon fiber bike feels like the bike, is going to explode beneath my feet as my teeth were chattering also. Unfortunately this completely rattled my focus towards the race as I thought I destroyed the frame and wheels…after a couple moments of analyzing the situation I dropped the hammer to the finishline completely exhausted.

I finished the 33.3k TT (~20.68miles) in 51:24 for an average rate of speed of 24.16mph with an average HR of 150 and a max early on at about minute 14:20 of 155bpm. On mile number six I averaged 27.3mph with a max of 31mph, which calculates that mile going by in 2 minutes and 11 seconds. In my Cat.5 class (novice) I finished 4th out of 11 racers…not bad but this biking TT stuff is serious business just like running. Believe it or not if I want to win these things in my class I need to be at least 2mph average speed faster but I’m training towards that continuously as biking is my main sport right now through early September.

Below is my typical Polar HR graph from the race effort:
http://www.twodogzdesign.com/cycle09/061409.JPG

Afterwards I went for a cool-down ride of ten miles to focus on what just took place.

All in all I’m happy with my result and my new TT bike is absolutely awesome! Now I’m working on my own personal engine to propel it at a higher rate of speed!

b