Well, I did that t/t also. I used a different strategy of climbing the first half in my 42t. I use to just mash it in the big ring. I was able to be 30 seconds faster to the tunnel using the 42 and just spinning up the bike trail. I found that my legs were fresher to do the rollers in my 54.

However, I almost crashed when a car was trying to pass me and make a right turn onto one of those canyon roads. That totally jacked up my momentum and I had to brake very hard as about 40ish mph. It took me awhile to get back up to speed since another steep-roller was just ahead. Oh well, what can you do right!?!?!

Sorry to hear that you almost got hit by that car. You would think that people would have noticed that a race was going on huh.



Interesting you said that about your 42. I red-lined immediately and it took me over half the course to recover and by that time it was over ;-). I did hit some good mph numbers when I recovered, but since I haven't ridden at all lately and zero hill work I was OK with the race.

What kind of speed were you holding on the hill beginning at Cook's Corner to Modjeska Grade?

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Matt Ford was 20 to 30 seconds off setting a new course record, from what I heard

Ill be out there in the spring (feb, mar, apr races)

For the first time ever, I ran out of gear (53-11) and was coasting at 46. Well running out of gear as in turning 120+ RPM for a mph or two vs coasting and resting (which I was plenty tired from Cooks)

That's waaaay fast. But, I was talking about the hill climb prior to that.
Crossing that bridge at speed always unnerves me. Too fast to look to see if any cars are coming up from behind, but I don't want to be anywhere near the edge of it.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

sorry-
I suck at that climb, even asked others what they do after the race. I was at 13.5 on the last climb after cooks (i'm 6'3 200lbs). Seems like 15.5 was typical for the faster-ish guys.

I have no idea what I can do it in. I work in RSM and it's about 5 minutes to the TT start. I'll have to try a lunch ride TT one of these days.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

You know what, I really have no idea what speed I was holding??? I have done that time trial probably about 8-10 times over the last few years or so.... I seem to have figured out time splits to help me instead. Like the start of the t/t to the tunnel is about 7:30 to about 8:00 minutes for me. Then, my time from the tunnel to the top of the last major hill takes about 6:00 to 7:00 minutes(or 14:30-15:00 minutes from the start of the t/t.... sorry if that's too confusing)

I think the race is definitely won during that first 4 mile climb... because, we all seem to do the latter half of the canyon at around the same speeds(give or take a few seconds). I am more of a Kilo type rider/build/quadziila guy, so the pure roadie-type/climbers really kick ass on that course. But, there are a few big riders that are strong no matter what the course is like. At least for me I seem to do about 28 minutes or so on average. I know that I have a lot of power but just not that super fast high end climbing speed that the other's have.

I was one of the first rider's to start and I know that the tail-wind was getting stronger for the latter part of race starts. So, maybe I would have been alittle faster if I registered later??? LOL, listen to me, I am making all of these excuses to make myself feel better... ha ha.. :p

Thanks. That gives me some good numbers to work from.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

I posted the results from both weekends' races guys: http://socalttseries.com/

- gary