First TT of the Season

Amazingly, the weather last night cooperated, and our club held it's first TT of the season! At ride time, it was sunny, temps in the 50s (that is balmy for us in the Northeast right now), and a light wind (tailwind out, headwind back).This was my first ride on the new TT bike and new aero bars.

The Vision bars are MUCH lighter and more aero than the previous bars I had, making the front end seem much "twitchier" than I was accustomed to. At times during the race, it literally felt like I was all over the road. The other thing was that descending at speed was a little bit scary - the bars put me further over my front wheel.

After a warmup, I was 4th off the line, with Mike starting 30 seconds behind me (that's always an incentive to me - how far can I go before he catches me?). I quickly got into the aero position and was off. At first, I felt great! Speedo indicated that I was moving along nicely at about 24 mph, and I didn't feel like the effort was too taxing (although my HRM said 177 bpm!). Mike passed me and was amazed at how long it took him, and said that I was moving really fast (and looking good). I managed to keep him in sight for quite awhile...

The backside of our loop is slightly hillier and more difficult than the front side. I was getting tired, and literally gave up at one point. When I saw my HR hit 160, I kicked myself and forced myself to go harder, despite whatever my speed/time were saying. Kicking up the final climb, I actually saw 12.9 mph - not good. However, it is all downhill to the final turn, and I managed to come in at 26:41 for 9.75 miles (a little more than 22 mph).

I didn't feel great last night, and was disappointed with my time. Mike and my friends were great though - it WAS the first race of the season, and I can only [hopefully] get faster from here...