Both bikes ready to race.
I arrived at the race venue and bumped into a guy from home who had just finished his TT. His advice was to take it a little easy for the first mile or so and ease into it as the return leg was into a head wind.
About 30 minutes before my start I jumped on the trainer to start my warmup. I got my HR up to 180 for a minute and was feeling good.
Ready for warmup.
I rolled over to the start and noticed that I was by far the oldest guy rolling around for the warmup. I was going to be the 4th guy on the road for the Cat 2's.
My goal was to get my HR to 185 and hold it there for the entire 14 miles.
I took my turn on the ramp and watched my 30 second man go, then it was my turn. 12:54 and I was ready to go.
5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. Weeeep! I literally launched off the ramp with a wheelie that lasted half way down. I managed to get the front wheel back on the ramp just before I hit the Tarmac and I was off. So much for an easy start, hopefully I'd be able to calm down and ease into it.
Within about 2 minutes I could see I was catching my 30 second man and it looked like I was also gaining on the guy in front of him. Just as I caught him I was also caught by my 30 second man. Two more guys came past me before I got to the turn around. I'd managed to hold my HR at 185 all the way out and was feeling relatively good. I was comfortable on the bike, more comfortable than I'd been on any TT bike in the past. I was suffering but feeling good doing it.
On the return leg I was pushing hard into the head wind and maintaining my speed and HR of 185, I wasn't fading but I also wasn't going any faster or slower.
I was gaining on the guy in front of me and with 1K to go I'd almost caught him. I'd caught 202 and 201 but been caught by 204, 205 and 206. It didn't seem too bad.
I gave everything I had on the last few K's and was completely spent when I came across the line, coughing and unable to swallow as my mouth was so dry. Id pushed my HR up o 187 at the end and was happy with the effort id given. I'd stashed a bottle near the start and went straight to it. I was parched in the dry air and could barely swallow.
After picking up another bottle at the car I spent another 30 mins rolling around trying to loosen up the tightening ham strings. It felt like they were being sucked up my ass like spaghetti. I put the bike away and walked over to the start to find the results. When the results were posted I wasn't on the first sheet, it wasn't till they posted the second sheet that I found my name in 71st place.
The big question I was trying to answer was if a 46 year old Cat 2 could get enough points to upgrade to a 1. The race of truth was showing that this was going to be much harder than I remembered. I'd spent many years racing Pro/1/2 and the only Cat 2 race I'd ever done was the Visalia Road Race in 2000 and that doesn't even exist anymore.
This was my first stage race for over 10 years and I'd been back seriously training since October. Obviously not long enough at this point. It's hard to think that I'd placed 11th in a State Time Trial back in 1996. Looks like I have plenty of work to do but 71st is a long way off where I wanted to be. I guess a national level race like this is a hard place to start the comeback. I eed a lot more power if I'm gona do this.
I picked up a burrito on the way back to the hotel and went back to start the recovery process.
Tomorrow is the road race and everything is ready to go. Even the DODOcase jersey is pinned up with numbers. It's going to be hot so I'm going with the white jersey.
The DODOcase jersey ready to go
With a 95 mile road race and tomorrow I have nothing to lose being 71st on GC. I'm going to have to get back to bing the crafty bastard that got me where I am today. Let's see how it goes. I'll sit in and conserve everything I have for the end and see if I can squeeze my way to the front.
Food for the day
2 bagels with cream cheese
Muscle Milk
Caffeinated gell 30 mins before start.
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