May 18, 2015 at 07:11 PM
Vlad and I had a good time at the upper freehold race. The course is full of rolling hills and several sharp turns. The locals seemed to know the course really well (2010 NJ state champs were held here) and their knowledge was an advantage. We got there in time to drive the course which was helpful, but having a feel for how fast one could take the turns - especially one at the bottom of a 35+ mph descent was crucial.
I had a good race. I was within 10 seconds of my target time and held steady pacing across the 11 miles even with the hills. (Not steady wattage - I just mean not blowing up on the hills and not being able to push it on flats and downhills) In the end I felt like I could have pushed it harder in the last two miles but the last few miles were technical making it difficult to properly time the final push. Even though I passed the two riders in front of me and nearly caught the third, I was 7th in my field. I was 1:06 out of 1st place. It was frustrating not to get a higher finish given that there was only a dozen or so in my field, but given that we were so close in time felt encouraging. I have to figure out how to shave off another 2 seconds per minute...
Vlad sported his new high end dimpled skinsuit and Froome-dog KASK helmet. The CS skinsuit is see through at points and you get to see his tattoos below the Kissena logos. He has some pics he can post. I'll let him tell his own story but unfortunately for him his KASK visor started to fog up and he had to take it off and hold it by his bar extensions for part of the race.
ThIs meant I had the minor victory of beating him in a TT by about 30 sec. I'll have to hope for continued mechanical mishaps for this to ever happen again as his Peak coaching workouts show that he should be able to crush me.
We we are both planning on heading out to more of these NJ TTs this year - it's a lot more fun with teammates - hope to have some of you join us for upcoming races.
I had a good race. I was within 10 seconds of my target time and held steady pacing across the 11 miles even with the hills. (Not steady wattage - I just mean not blowing up on the hills and not being able to push it on flats and downhills) In the end I felt like I could have pushed it harder in the last two miles but the last few miles were technical making it difficult to properly time the final push. Even though I passed the two riders in front of me and nearly caught the third, I was 7th in my field. I was 1:06 out of 1st place. It was frustrating not to get a higher finish given that there was only a dozen or so in my field, but given that we were so close in time felt encouraging. I have to figure out how to shave off another 2 seconds per minute...
Vlad sported his new high end dimpled skinsuit and Froome-dog KASK helmet. The CS skinsuit is see through at points and you get to see his tattoos below the Kissena logos. He has some pics he can post. I'll let him tell his own story but unfortunately for him his KASK visor started to fog up and he had to take it off and hold it by his bar extensions for part of the race.
ThIs meant I had the minor victory of beating him in a TT by about 30 sec. I'll have to hope for continued mechanical mishaps for this to ever happen again as his Peak coaching workouts show that he should be able to crush me.
We we are both planning on heading out to more of these NJ TTs this year - it's a lot more fun with teammates - hope to have some of you join us for upcoming races.
Not exactly a TT, but yesterday I competed as part of a team in an Olympic triathlon in Ceour d'Alene Idaho with my brother in law and his girlfriend. I clamped on a pair of tri bars to my road bike for the bike leg of the tri which consisted of a hilly 40K/25mile course.