Piru, CA ITT

I competed in my first time trial today. The distance was 20k. I'm glad I chose to do the 20k instead of the 40k. 20k for an all out effort was about the maximum distance I think I could handle.

I signed up for the Public 25+ category since I really didn't know how well I'd do entering a higher bracket. As it turns out, I was the only person competing in that group which was a bit of a bummer. I matched my finish time of 32:45 with those competing as Cat 5 racers and I would have finished 3rd. I think that would have been a much better place to start. Next month I'll remember that. And hey, 3rd in a field of around 10 to 12 racers is better than 1st in a field of one.

We started in order of registration so I started pretty early since I pre-reg'd online. The course was rolling with a few nice flats but headwind all the way out which made the effort hurt even more to the turnaround point. Everyone started 30 seconds behind the person in front of them. I managed to pass 2 people on the way out and was passed by 2 people on the way back. On the last climb towards the finish line somehow my left drop tilted itself and I ended up shifting the chain down into the small chainring and then couldn't get it to shift back up into the big ring until I had already lost the nice momentum I was carrying. It was a bummer but my finish time wouldn't have made that much difference anyway. It might have moved my up to 2nd in Cat 5 but that's neither here nor there.

They say a time trial is the race of truth. There are no shouldas couldas or wouldas since it's a race against the clock and purely your own effort. That is the way I look at my semi chain drop. My ride was good and next time I'll pay more attention to how I'm handling the bike during the race, and making sure everything is perfect before I get on it.

Now that I'm awake from my nap (yes time trialing is exhausting even when only 12.4 miles) I'll go find something to munch on and take the dog out to go potty.