Tonight was the 3rd Donaldson Center race against the clock. The second one for me. It was also the second real TT I've ever done.
Time Trials are a thing of beauty and the people in this world who have it down to a science are some of the most gifted disciplined people who walk the earth- or pedal a bike for that matter. Time Trails are different than most other races. They are a solo effort, man and his machine against the clock and his brain- especially in my case.
A good time trialist doses his effort out over the whole distance. The maximum effort he can preform for the entire TT. The Fabian Cancellaras and Levi Leiphimers of the sport have made an art form of being able to know their bodies and accuratley pace themselves over any distance against the clock.
That leaves people like me. I have done two full on TTs in my life- technically 3 but one was a climbing TT and I didn't give it much. I have done countless efforts against the clock and bike legs of a triathlon, but none of those are the kind of effort a TT requires. TTs aren't like an interval, people preform those with the intention of going at a set pace for a short amount of time- it can be a long amount too, but still- and they have the intention of doing a similar effort following a rest period. TTs are all the rider has and its all for the whole time and nothing afterwards. That is so easily said but nearly impossible to do properly.
Last time at the TT I did a decent job pacing myself. This time I borrowed a friends Zipp disk wheel- it gave me some false confidence- and I thought I could go harder because: 1. I've done more training 2. I've done a TT before and 3. I had one of the fastest wheels in the world- I ended up putting too much into the first part of the TT and forced my body into recovery on one of the hardest sections of the course. Needless to say my goal of having a faster time than last time wasn't achived.
I learned two valuable lessons tonight: 1. Go easier at the beginning of a TT and ease into the effort and 2. You can't by speed. I guess technically you can but my experience proves just becuase you have a fast wheel doesn't mean the racing legs- or mind- can keep up with the wheel.
At first it was hard for me to see the good in tonights experiences and I was actually rather disappointed with myself. I guess thats part of what this blog is for, it helps me sort things out and find the good in a bad situation.
I can't wait until the next race, August 6th, when I will not be expecting a better time just a better overall performance at this discipline.
Have fun,
T. Crotts
