That's better

After the debacle of last week the pressure was on to lift my game. The Neighbor picked me up plenty early so we would arrive at the course with lots of time to spare. Mission accomplished. We got there a full hour before the first rider went off. JT and AC were already setting up and The Quiet Achiever was nearby. Jamie B was enroute (and lost…I think…).

First thing I did was get on the bike for a warm-up. 20 minutes or so to my personal ‘interval mix’ iPod playlist got the blood pumping, heart rate up and legs embrocated from the inside. Did I mention the cold – well it was cold. I would say 36-37oF- cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass wombat. My race was 10.30, about 20 mins after The Neighbor, and JT and AC on the tandem started. So I rode over to see them off.

Apparently the wind was blowing in the opposite direction from last week. WhatEVAH……Went back to the trainer for another 10mins of warm up just to be sure. Popped TWO hammer gels just to be sure. Then it was back to the start line. I was to be released 1 minute behind QA. The start line was pretty much the last time I saw QA. I was careful to pace myself a little better in the first few hundred yards in order to tackle the dreaded hill with some common sense. It felt good going up the hill not totally maxed out. Then it was a period of mostly down hill and I was reaping the benefit of the 11/23 which had replaced the 12/27 in the week. I was going so well in fact that I NEARLY missed the ‘hidden’ LHer that claimed me last week even though I KNEW it was there. A quick tweak of the brakes saved the day and I swept through the turn with the grace of an ice dancing hairy-nosed wombat.

The rollers ahead were powered over for the most part paying attention to turning the pedals in circles (as opposed to hammering) and staying down on the bars for as long as possible. About this time I passed a recreational rider on a MTB. He was probably wondering why be was being buzzed by a never-ending stream of uptight lycra-clad Cancellara wannabes. Near the turnaround I could see QA in the distance and we looked to be about a minute apart (still). Dang, he is a tough nut to crack. Unfortunately, he was too far ahead to lob rocks at and demoralizing mind games do not work at a distance of 300 yards. It was clearly going to be a tight race between the two of us.

The second half was uneventful with care once again paid to pacing and technique, and went quite quickly with the slight tail wind. The downhill sprint to the line was fun. With a time of 32m46 sec I took about 40 secs off last week’s time. QA came in at 32m45s. I was beaten but not disgraced, and actually quite delighted with taking so much time off last week’s time. Shows what can happen when care is taken with preparation, warm-up and technique. Jamie B had a great time at 31m something, Neighbor came in at 33m something. AC won her category and JT got second. These two blew the other team away in the tandem race.

The hills make this course hard to get right and I enjoyed the challenge of taking apart my first effort and seeing the improvements in the second.