2012 Ice Breaker Time Trial

Putting in time on the TT bike over the Winter is something I always plan to do.  It always turns out to be a couple of nights on the trainer two days before the first race.  I was still scrambling Friday night to get my TT wheels ready and the bike dialed in.  I had no real goal for this race except to beat my time from last year which shouldn't be too hard since I cracked my sternum skiing the day before the race and had trouble taking deep breaths.  It was my slowest time ever on that course so.....
With the new USAC reg. setup and getting start times right next to each other Mark and I were able to roll out together at a decent time.  The only problem was after dealing with some traffic we arrived with only 1/2 hour until our start time....DOH!!  I like to have at least 40 minutes of warm up for a 10 mile TT and after getting ready we ended up with only 10 minutes.   Oh well. 

Time Trials are boring as hell to write about and probably even more boring to read so I'll spare you the minute by minute blow and try to get you through this as fast as I can.  Mark started 30 seconds in front of me so I had an excellent rabbit to chase.   I took off and of course my legs and lungs were not ready for this full blown effort.  I was not loose and the first two miles totally sucked.

What made it even harder (for me) was that there didn't seem to be a consistent head or tail wind on the course.  It seemed to be swirling.  Maybe it was just my oxygen depleted brain playing tricks one me.  I felt I had a tail wind at times, then a head wind and then I would get pushed towards the ditch by a strong side wind.  At least it was consistently inconsistent.  By mile three or so I finally started feel OK and got into a good rhythm.   I don't remember much after that.   Pedal, pedal, breath, breath...Don't look back dumb ass!  I do remember that I burped up puke once on the way out and once on the way back.  I went as fast at I could and ended up beating last year's time by almost a minute, good enough for 32nd overall out of the 200 races that showed up.  I will get no Fabian Cancellara comparisons but I'll take it.  After the race Zack, Alex, Mark and I took a spin on the road bikes out to the bakery in Black Diamond.   Time to switch gears and focus on Mason Lake Tomorrow.

photo by Kevin Tu