5 June 2008

Swanton Time Trial

I left work early to head home to get changed and head out for the time trial. It was pretty warm, but quite windy. There was a headwind on the way out, so I was slow getting out to the start, but I still got there a little before people started lining up, so I started in the first quarter, rather than at the end like last month.

It started out with a strong headwind, that was gusty at places. When the road twisted, the hills provided some shelter from the wind. When the road twisted away from the coast, a couple of times, there was a brief tailwind, but the headwind returned with a vengeance when the road twisted back. After descending into the valley, I caught sight of the guy who started a minute ahead of me. I made up a bunch of ground on him on the shallow rise. After a few more curves in the road, I went by him. After a few moments, I heard him shifting, and realized that he had latched onto my wheel. Whatever. This is a very low-key event. I just maintained my effort level, as this was an ITT. There still was a little headwind. At the bottom of the hill, I shifted into my little ring, and the guy behind me surged ahead. He soon faded and dropped way back. I saw the riders who started before me descending. Finally, I made it to the turnaround and called out my number. On the descent, I saw that the guy who started a minute behind me had overtaken the guy who started a minute before me. There were also rocks on the road in places, and I ran over one of them, around golf-ball sized, sending it skittering off. I made sure to avoid any more of them. After the descent, there were the latter riders on the outbound leg in the first third or so of the valley. The tailwind had me going pretty quickly at times, and the uneven road surface made the handling a little sketchy. Leaving the valley, the tailwind was stronger, making the climbs faster than my expectation. On the first of the last two little climbs sandwiching the hairpin right, there was a little twinge in my left calf, portending a cramp. It was so close to the end, so I kept pushing. There were more twinges in my calf over those final two minutes, but it didn't cramp. My time was 35:14, which would probably be around the top of the bottom third in the results. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't break 35 minutes. The guy who started a minute behind me probably pulled in 30-40 seconds on me, but didn't catch me. There were plenty of fast riders this time, but, for the first time, due to luck of starting order, I was never passed.

After recovering for a while, I headed back. There was a really strong tailwind, so I was flying. I had a new personal best from Bonny Doon Rd to Western of 19:27.