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Newb TT Race Report & Lessons Learned
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Did my second TT race on Sunday, at Fiesta Island here in San Diego. It felt a bit brutal (because I went out too hard on the first lap), but was still fun. Improved from 29:35 at 24.9mph avg speed for the 20K race and a mid-pack finish in January to 28:23 at 26.3mph avg speed, finishing .5 seconds out of third place this time, darn it! :)


I went out too hard on the first lap, was too excited; had I gone out easier, I'd have held a higher avg speed for all laps and possibly had a shot at second or better (18 seconds was the time gap out of first place). Still, I'm certain I could've gone a little harder a few times anyway and at least taken third. First lap, I averaged 28mph, so if I'd have gone out more conservative, probably would've had an overall average of 27+ instead of 26.3. I did the exact thing you're not supposed to do; went out hard and got slower each lap. What a ding-a-ling! I'm going to have to work my way up to being able to hold 28mph average. Normalized power was 301 Watts and 20min power was 296W. HR avg was 163, max HR was 197 (that was on the first third of Lap 1, haha, what a nut).

Also made the mistake of taking a few gulps of water with hydration mix in it about 3 minutes before my start; on the third lap felt like it was trying to come up, yuck. Will remember not to drink anything within 15 minutes of the race start.


Experimented with some new data fields on the Garmin for this race, these were the 3 I used:
10 Second Power (to eliminate spikes)
Speed Avg (I knew the avg I was targeting, so this was a good motivator)
FTP % (rotating this field with Elapsed Time and Current Lap)


Next, I'll update the fields to 4 like this:
10s Power
Speed (current)
Speed Avg
FTP% (rotating with Elapsed Time only; no more Current Lap, wasn’t helpful on course, just a distraction)


Will work on better pacing next time, with a slower lap 1 and then ramp it up instead of down (classic rookie error, which I somehow didn't make in my first race in January). And will probably take a couple spacers out from under the aero bars and drop the front end about 20-30mm to get lower, will tilt saddle slightly down in the nose at the same time, raise saddle height about 2-3mm and see how it feels and if I'm still breathing easily enough. Time to get back on a fit rig and make adjustments while watching power. Ideally, I'll get this done before touching the bike. Other than that, will work on getting more aero with head position a little lower and farther forward if possible (hard to see ahead in aero position, but I'm getting used to it, and when I'm not putting the head out front far enough it starts to impinge at base of the skull, bordering on a bit of blurry vision at times, not great). Will also work on making a smoother, faster line on course wherever I can, and will need to actually train hard with structure, which I've not been doing yet. All in all, solid TT progress, now to get more committed to working on strength and conditioning...and aero, always need to get more aero. :D


Balancing in the start house.



Take off:



Getting on it:




Got to ham it up on the morning news before race start.


Last edited by: Super D: Apr 17, 18 9:40
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Re: Newb TT Race Report & Lessons Learned [Super D] [ In reply to ]
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Super D wrote:
Did my second TT race on Sunday, at Fiesta Island here in San Diego. It felt a bit brutal (because I went out too hard on the first lap), but was still fun. Improved from 29:35 at 24.9mph avg speed for the 20K race and a mid-pack finish in January to 28:23 at 26.3mph avg speed, finishing .5 seconds out of third place this time, darn it! :)


I went out too hard on the first lap, was too excited; had I gone out easier, I'd have held a higher avg speed for all laps and possibly had a shot at second or better (18 seconds was the time gap out of first place). Still, I'm certain I could've gone a little harder a few times anyway and at least taken third. First lap, I averaged 28mph, so if I'd have gone out more conservative, probably would've had an overall average of 27+ instead of 26.3. I did the exact thing you're not supposed to do; went out hard and got slower each lap. What a ding-a-ling! I'm going to have to work my way up to being able to hold 28mph average. Normalized power was 301 Watts and 20min power was 296W. HR avg was 163, max HR was 197 (that was on the first third of Lap 1, haha, what a nut).

Also made the mistake of taking a few gulps of water with hydration mix in it about 3 minutes before my start; on the third lap felt like it was trying to come up, yuck. Will remember not to drink anything within 15 minutes of the race start.


Experimented with some new data fields on the Garmin for this race, these were the 3 I used:
10 Second Power (to eliminate spikes)
Speed Avg (I knew the avg I was targeting, so this was a good motivator)
FTP % (rotating this field with Elapsed Time and Current Lap)


Next, I'll update the fields to 4 like this:
10s Power
Speed (current)
Speed Avg
FTP% (rotating with Elapsed Time only; no more Current Lap, wasn’t helpful on course, just a distraction)


Will work on better pacing next time, with a slower lap 1 and then ramp it up instead of down (classic rookie error, which I somehow didn't make in my first race in January). And will probably take a couple spacers out from under the aero bars and drop the front end about 20-30mm to get lower, will tilt saddle slightly down in the nose at the same time, raise saddle height about 2-3mm and see how it feels and if I'm still breathing easily enough. Time to get back on a fit rig and make adjustments while watching power. Ideally, I'll get this done before touching the bike. Other than that, will work on getting more aero with head position a little lower and farther forward if possible (hard to see ahead in aero position, but I'm getting used to it, and when I'm not putting the head out front far enough it starts to impinge at base of the skull, bordering on a bit of blurry vision at times, not great). Will also work on making a smoother, faster line on course wherever I can, and will need to actually train hard with structure, which I've not been doing yet. All in all, solid TT progress, now to get more committed to working on strength and conditioning...and aero, always need to get more aero. :D


Balancing in the start house.



Take off:



Getting on it:


hahaha that just reminded me of Sanka from Cool Runnings...
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Re: Newb TT Race Report & Lessons Learned [LuchaLibre] [ In reply to ]
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LuchaLibre wrote:



hahaha that just reminded me of Sanka from Cool Runnings...

Feel the Rhythm! Feel the Rhyme! Get on up, it's Time Trial time! :D

I think relating my TT skills to a B-level comedy is quite apropos.
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