Who says brain not required for TT??

posted in: Race report | 5

The running joke is that Time Trial race is pure brute force, brain is not required.

Well, I beg to differ!
Today I did my first TT race, Red Kite #3: Tempus Fugit, an out and back on Cull Canyon Rd in Castro Valley. I registered in the Merckx category. I didn’t expect spectacular result, but that I placed second to dead last was, well, quite disappointing 🙁

I arrived pretty early for my start time. Registered, said hello to Matt B and Chris M. (who placed 4th and 5th, congrats!) I went to ride around a bit as warm up since I didn’t have a trainer. 20 min before the start, I downed a gel and a couple of shotbloks. Dropped the water bottle and my costco-sized saddle bag in my car, and thought I was ready for the race.

Rolled to the start point, waited for my turn. Punched hard on the starting point, felt good… But only for like 2 minutes. Very soon, I was talking to my legs. Hey guys, it is too early for you to complain! I am not tired yet, why don’t you want to move??!! @!$#!#
*sigh* Mistake #1. Shouldn’t have followed that cute girl from Mike’s bike to Crow Canyon Rd for warm up! She did say she finished racing and was just going out for a ride!! ** THINK THINK THINK!! ** Chris said to warm up for 6 miles and burn the legs a couple of times, but not climb a hill right before the race!!

Well, maybe it is not too bad. I am pushing between 19-20 MPH. it is about 5 miles of slight uphill, so i could probably finish this outbound leg in about 15 min, that should be decent timing…

Then about 4 miles in, the guy who started behind me passes me. @$@!$% $#@% $#@% !!
Sorry Jacob, instead of seeing people and passing them, it is more like seeing people and letting them pass me–without putting up any fight, as I was already revving in the red-line and there was no upping any speed 🙁

*SIGH SIGH SIGH* the real mistake? I shouldn’t have done the reconnaissance ride yesterday. As I was riding up Palomares, I remember what Larry said: Really think about how much work you want to do before the day of the race! But by the time I remembered it was too late, and the only adjustment to be done was to return from Castro Valley to Fremont via the flatland.

Lesson learned. Hopefully as I train with the team I get stronger and smarter. Despite what road racer jokes to tri-athlete, even in TT, brain is still required =)

PS. Thanks Katie for going out and take pics!!

5 Responses

  1. Lina Gourova

    Hey, Tin, thanks for posting, it helps to learn from each other’s mistakes!

  2. West K

    And you learn a lot more from your own mistakes than any first time success. Riding Palomares the day before might not be bad if you had put a cap on your power output and made the ride easy, used light gears and spin more and keep a cap on the total distance. Also, in a relatively short ITT, it’s important to not start out too fast and exceed your redline right away. If you feel right in the first minute, you are probably going too hard as you are pumped up on Adrenalin.

  3. Francis Tanjuatco

    Thanks for posting! Sounds like you gave a strong effort and learned a lot in the process. The outcomes will take care of themselves. 🙂 Francis