Beat the Clock Time Trial Report - Sat. Sept. 20, 2008

This was the last Beat the Clock Time Trial of the season. RFA and I debated whether to participate, and if we did, as individuals or perhaps as a team. The racing season is over and we are in "active rest" for the month of September, so it was hard to get excited about this event. On the other hand, it is for such a good cause, always fun, and there are so few TTs. We decided not to do the team time trial (TTT) since we haven't practiced and didn't want to crash just before our Mallorca trip. When my friend (and competitor) registered, that was enough to solidify my decision to do the individual time trial (ITT) event. In an attempt to do some preparation, the week before, I rode my TT bike at the cycling gym two days and on Thursday did another speed workout (110 cadence) on the trainer on my road bike. I was also hoping that some of the track workouts would carry over. We got up at 5:15 AM and left the house at 6:15. It was still dark when we arrived at Canada and Edgewood. We used flashlights to put the bikes on the trainers. At least the air was moderate (low 60's) and almost no wind. The air however felt heavy with moisture so it would be difficult to set any new personal bests. The important thing is that the pavement was dry. RFA had a 7:30 start time and I was scheduled to start at 7:31. So it appeared that the start times were purposely set so that RFA would be my one-minute "rabbit." RFA used the Easton tubulars on his Cervelo TT bike and I was set up with the disc and the tri-spoke. In theory, the disk and the tri-spoke are definitely more aero. I felt that my top speeds were faster, but the wheels didn't seem as responsive on the climbs compared to my Eastons. My goal was to beat PD and LH but PD decided to scrap the ITT and only do the TTT, and LH was a no show. So now my goal was to pass RFA. We both had good starts. Nearing the turn around, I saw RFA already heading back. I guessed that there was a 30 second gap to close to pass him. I passed the guy who started ahead of RFA after the backside of the water temple but still no RFA. I started my Garmin before the start and guessed my time to be around 27 minutes. I was not real happy - but happy that RFA had a good time. If the starting times were correct, that would put him in the neighborhood of 27:30 which would be phenomenal given that his personal best for BTC was 27:54. Results were posted today and we are trying to make sense of them. I have a time of 26:37 and RFA's time is 27:56. If the start times are correct, that means I would have passed him - which I didn't. (BTW, RFA's electronics weren't set, so he has no personal data.) We surmise that his time is correct, the start times were one and one-half minutes apart and my time is about 23 seconds too fast. We'll see if they post corrected times. Regardless, I was the fastest woman! Even with a corrected time! The #2 woman was 27:24. Sweet!