Friday, July 30. Tannersville, NY. The Catskills.
2.3 mile ITT with 479 feet of climbing. 4.1% average grade, but the course was stair stepped, so there were punches of climbing and then some flats/false flats.
I am racing in the 4As (There are two fields of 4s (A and B), supposedly split randomly, but they kept teams together). Rocking Tetsuoni’s Catskill Mountain Multisport jersey.
I arrived in downtown Tannersville around 12:45 and the TT was already underway. About two hours to my start. The setup was really cool, main street had one lane closed to traffic for the TT. The start area was right in front of registration middle of main street, so you could see all the riders queuing up. Definitely a lively atmosphere. The first 50 - 75m was straight up main street, flat to gentle grade, then about a 95 degree right hand turn onto the climb with a 50m 10-12% punch right off the bat.
I noticed almost no TT bikes were being used. After studying the course profile I thought a TT bike was the right choice, there were enough flat parts and the expected average speed was such that I thought it was a no brainer. Either nobody has TT bikes or I am being a contrarian here. I will say I only saw the Masters, 5s, 4s and 3s before I left. Maybe TT equipment was more prevalent with the Pro 1/2s.
I warmed up for about an hour. Did not feel all that great. Have not felt on since I rode Whiteface last Saturday with Dev and ST crew. You could not descend the course so there was another descent back to town, very similar grade I used for warmup. Did that twice with some flats. Did some spinups, a few 30-60 second harder efforts. Done with about 20 minutes to spare. There is a bit of wind, with some real gusts and we get some sprinkles of rain, but mostly sunny. The wind will be from the side on the TT course.
Go put on the aero lid, and a Flashpoint 60 front wheel. I have a disk cover, did not think it was worth much in this race, so just a standard rear wheel. 39/25 with 180 cranks.
How to pace it? Not sure. Need to go hard early, but maybe hold back a little bit. The legs are loose, I feel decent, but not electric. I can do a solid ride here. I honestly believe I am capable of winning and a podium is not a stretch.
I start out in the small ring, not wanting to risk a chain drop on the downshift 50m in. Take the corner very well, maintaining speed. Hit the climb mostly in the saddle. After the first rise it flattens at bit and I am in the big ring. I can already see my 30 second man. At 90 seconds I am breathing hard and this is really hurting. Keep punching it, and I catch my 60 second man (30 second man was still ahead), he seemed to be soft pedaling and I blow by him. At 4 minutes I realize I am at least half done, it is really hurting, not sure if I went too hard, breathing really heavy. Shut up legs. Catch my 30 second man at about the 5 minute point. Need to hang on. I sense I am getting close and I know it will flatten bit and I will get back in the big ring. I power over a roller in the big ring out of the saddle and then bring it to the line. I don’t have much of anything left, I have to circle back before I can head up this little roller I have to do to get to the descent back to town. Throat is very sore.
7:53
Based on last years results I figured 7:30 would definitely win the stage. 7:45 would have a shot.
The winner in my race went 7:33. 2nd was 7:47 and third was 7:48. I was 4th. 1st gets yellow jersey, 2nd gets polka dots, at least third gets on the podium. Doh.
Overall, I was very happy with the result. I executed well, stayed seated and aero. I think maybe I got the effort just right, it should hurt a lot of the second half if you meter the effort right, it is never going to be easy. TT bike, undoubtedly the right call, definitely saved me at least 10 seconds I would have to think. This is not necessarily a climbers prologue, this is a good course for the strongmen, who can power over small steep rollers with momentum from the flatter parts. If you are a power rider this is 80% big ring, maybe more in a prologue scenario. Good balance, I am a climber but the course is fair and does not preclude “non-climbers” from getting a good result.
Good news is, I beat all the 5s and all the girls. I also beat about 75% of the 3s. Floyd Landis went 6:59 (I think good for about 11th) and the winner of the P/1/2 went a sick 6:31. Based on the results, the 4B is much weaker than our field, 7:47, 8:05 and 8:11 were their top 3. With more luck in the sorting (if I was in 4B) I would have a polka dot jersey.
Put on the compression socks, head back to the motel and grab a few beers. Got to rest up for Saturday…