The start time list was posted for Wednesday's time trial, and it turns out I'm not the only Clevelander who will be throwing down in Anaheim. From Texas Roadhouse, Paul Martin managed to snag bib number one, starting next to last of the Elite Men at 9:35. He's signed up for the road race, too; knowing that, I might be heading down to watch over the weekend. Our hometown hero Brooke Miller of Team TIBCO, made famous by Snakebite's own JimmyNick, starts at 9:49. Your's truly starts at 9:26, nine minutes ahead of PM, and twenty-three minutes forward of Brooke.
Today got me thinking about my goals for this race. I'm not well prepared, and my overall fitness level has certainly dropped since the Summer Solstice Stage Race in June. At the same time, I have far superior equipment to my last time trial. With that in mind, my goals for Wednesday are as follows:
3.) Finish in under 48 minutes.
Fifty minutes for a 33km course works out to 25.63 mph. This would be a moderate improvement over my last two time trials (22.89 mph and 24 mph, respectively). Of course, neither of them were nearly this long, but Paul Martin wasn't chomping at my heels either.
2.) Don't break myself.
Some would argue that this should be priority one. I argue that while I can heal for free, the bike cannot.
1.) Don't break the bike.
While Beatrix and I are new to each other, I like her a lot and I don't want her to run away just yet. Of course if she doesn't behave, David Miller might be onto something...
0.) Ride my race, not someone else's, and represent my team with honor alongisde my fellow cyclists.
My high school cross country coach always said "Run your race, not someone else's." I have no illusions about the caliber of riders I'm up against. I'm going to get passed. I can't hold a pro-level time trial pace for more than a few hundred yards. I'm going so I can pour every watt my legs can generate into the pedals for 33 km of beautiful California roads, while surrounded by some of the best cyclists in the country. I'm going to get a benchmark, get some exposure, and meet some SoCal teams. I'm going because for me, showing up is half the fun. And hanging out with a bunch of other cyclists, surrounded by bike porn, watching people turn in blistering time trials, is plenty of fun indeed.
3 comments:
Rick and I had a PM sighting on Valley Pkwy last night. I guess he'll be leaving today for CA, which will change the dynamic for Westlake tonight. Anyways, I digress.
I came across this site when trying to figure out my bike pace for the Cleveland Tri on Sun:
http://www.bx3.com/phil/tri/tricalc.asp
You'll be glad to know 48min, not 50, works out to the 25.63 pace. If you ride that pace, PM would have to do 31.55mph to pass you. Now while I tend to try not to underestimate PM, he won this TT not too long ago at a 28.4 pace. I don't think you're going see PM until after you finish.
Thanks for the link and the vote of confidence, Gary. And I meant to say "Forty-eight minutes" where I said "Fifty." My original plan was a fifty minute race, but when I ran the numbers, the 48 minute goal seemed like a better one.
good luck Mike!
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