Greetings,

Just tried doing a two-lap TT in central park, at a bit below the effort I thought I'd need (want) to manage in a race.

Was hoping for around 31 minutes on slow wheels and tires.  Not there.  a bit over 33 minutes was too long and I faded in the second lap, though I did have to come to a near standstill by W72nd and the west drive on lap two.  I was shooting for about 275w NP on the first lap and then upping the effort to 280-285w NP for the second.  It was 278w for the first and 264w for the second.  

got some work to do.  

@mugwump you got about 2ish 3 weeks to work your way up... 

That's why I started now.

The TT the week after is at Prospect, three laps...

Just saw this:

I usually ride down that hill at 40+mph

Signed up for the PP TT- time to break out the fast wheels and tires!

Matt Budofsky said:

Signed up for the PP TT- time to break out the fast wheels and tires!

I might be working that event for Alex as he needs help. But I'm doing the CP one.

The CP one is unfortunately during passover, so I'll be riding around NJ then stuffing myself full of matzah

I'm in for the Central Park TT.  
Road bike, 45+.

mugwump said:

I'm in for the Central Park TT.  
Road bike, 45+.

Registered road bike 40+.

Got registered for PP, still thinking about CP, the drawback is the start time being sort of far away... 

I know I’m going to suck for a TT, not my strength, but somehow feeling the competitive vibe already. Hyped up! 

Looks like I'm not racing tomorrow. Race bike is KO, and need to order some parts. Not in the mood to get my Roubaix up to snuff, so I'll be there to support my girlfriend, and help Alex run the event...

Bummer for Andrew.  I was disturbed seeing him dressed up and not starting.

TL/DR.  Don't know results as of this writing.

I was looking forward to this TT.  Paying money to have a 'clean' run at CP laps seemed incredible in concept.  It's been years since I've been in the park when it was empty enough to go full-gas by myself outside of a mass-start race.  I hadn't done a TT in Central Park in over 20  years, and the last time, me and this Colombian who had just joined CRCA teamed up to two a two-man four-lap TTT against four-man teams.  Don't remember how we did, though I did get crashed by a woman we were passing.  That was early, still got up and finished the thing.  

I kind of like time trials.  It's a focus activity and I usually find that I seem to ride stronger in the races immediately after the TT.  It feels as if I get better at using more of my leg muscles.  

When I saw possible rain, I actually thought it might be a good thing.  Fewer people in the park.  As there was also a biathlon, I hoped the rain might depress turnout there.    

Organziation, while well-meaning, was less than ideal.  The numbers issued made little sense.  I was in the 400 series, starting after the 700 series.  Made it impossible to feel comfortable doing more than a small warmup of just rolling around.  And bathrooms were extremely inconvenient.  And they expected you to stand around for at least 5m before your start--based on where the start was, this was pretty much inevitable.    

Still, a race!

I had high hopes.  Three weeks ago I did a 2-lap effort in CP on my standard wheels and lots of traffic.  Wasn't great, but wasn't bad.  two weeks ago, I had knocked out a 293w 20m effort on rollers (w/ Headwind unit). And I felt pretty good doing it.  I had been working on negative splits for long efforts.  And I'm usually more powerful on the road.  On Tuesday, I did a 20m effort on 9W going north from Englewood.  I wanted to play with efforts, so I ramped it for the start, up to 294w up the hill and then settled down and let my power drop, aiming to ramp it up on the rises and for the final minutes.  But I wasn't good at holding steady and my head didn't feel totally focused.  20m one-way would finish me on a downhill, so I turned around just before the scout camp dip, and finished with a strong 2m, but still only 282w.  To get extra time at intensity for this weekend, I then spun to the alpine dock on River Road and climbed up to 9W. Managed 311w for 7:55 after less than a 10m break, so I clearly had plenty left in the tank.  

Saturday, I did a 20m tempo effort coming southbound on 9W from Palisades.  Felt pretty good.

Saturday night, did not sleep well.  I guess first early morning race worries.  

Warmup was just rolling around.  Sometimes it works for me, but I'm starting to think I need a sharp effort to focus my mind.

at the race, I wanted to hold myself at 280w for the first lap, and then try to go a bit faster the second lap.  Figured the thing on the second lap is raise the power up 110berg, dial the effort down a bit after the top, then attack the next hill and hold that to the end.   If I could end up with 285w for the effort, I'd be happy.  

Didn't happen.  272w for the first.  267w for the second.  My time appears to be 30:54 for just under two laps.  though my hardest 1m effort was the final minute.

(damn you aging!  ten years ago, I was routinely doing a 280-285w lap in CP)

It rained the whole time.  Drizzle for the first, rain for the second.  I could say I slowed a bit on the curves down to Harlem meer, but upon inspecting my data, I managed about 29mph for the upper section both times, and 26mph for the tighter right-hand curve both times.  I would have been faster in the dry, but I don't know how much.    

Didn't feel like my head was in it.  Wasn't focused enough; I was going hard, but not consistently hurting.   Trying to figure out how to get back into the TT mindset.  I once did a 45km+ TT as part of a regional TT championships.  Might have been longer.  The winner was Sean Nealy, ex-Kissena and sometime pro, who was minutes ahead of me (he did have a TT bike, but Im pretty sure I had a disc).  I remember seeing him after the race going to collect his jersey.  He could barely walk.  I was tight but not like that.  Today, my muscles definitely weren't sufficiently torqued.  I think one should aspire to feel like he looked.  

I think I need to work on a better warmup among other things.  Maybe I was fatigued going in.  Maybe caffeine doesn't do it for me.  Just not happy with the result.  

I also wonder if riding hard with others would be another way to get focused on the effort.  Someday soon I hope.

I figure the competition in the 45+ was Jason Gould.  He's a few  years younger.  I think when he was racing full-time, He might have done a four-lap TT in CP on a TT bike in something like 53 minutes (gotta check with him on this).  He's been away from racing for a long time, but he's looking fitter than I've seen him in years.  

Of note:  the Parks department people shut us down when we were waiting for results.  not enough social distancing.  While I hope that doesn't adversely impact bike racing in the future, I think it was the right thing.  And it started pouring at that moment.  

Kind of want to do the prospect TT this weekend, but currently scheduled for shot one on Friday.

A few Victor Chan photos

https://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cycling-Races/2021-Racing-Season/Arias-Sportswear-Central-Park-Time-Trial-32821/i-wQMthWJ/buy

https://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cycling-Races/2021-Racing-Season/Arias-Sportswear-Central-Park-Time-Trial-32821/i-zD9jwFv/buy

@mugwump your legs were probably fine; going that deep takes practice is all

I would have liked to race but I was a quite angry after struggling with the race bike and realizing it would not be safe for race day. It was something I should have addressed last year but kept putting it off and I guess over the winter on the trainer with nice salty sweat made the problem worse. The parts arrived yesterday so today (since I'm on a small StayCation) I plan to fix the issue.

@AndrewJohnson

Any word on results?  

@mugwump

https://www.bikereg.com/BR/a/10698/Results-Overall-CP-TT-3.28.21.pdf

The good news is that the bike is fixed...

Is there going to be a big KCC contingent at the prospect park TT? I’m not racing but considering heading over to take some photos. 

@mugwump

RobertMullen said:

Is there going to be a big KCC contingent at the prospect park TT? I’m not racing but considering heading over to take some photos. 

So far I see 4 Kissenas registered. I'm supposed to work the event, though not sure with the move to chip timing. Either way I'll be there too.

Cat 5 non TT field is looking deeeeeeep

Looks like Alex does not need my help since he will be chip timing the event. Which means I can reg for Masters 45+ non TT bikes. That's if I can figure out how to ride again... Lately been sucking at my workouts and I'm becoming quite discouraged with my form, fitness, etc...

Well I'm in.

Throwing out a meme applying it to this setting:

Feeling discouraged/unfit is hard.
Getting yourself out there again is hard.
Pick your hard.

And looks like you already did
See you on race day!

Anyone else getting super nervous for tomorrow?

6:34 start time for me tomorrow. For some reason I had it in my mind that riders were starting at 8am so any hope I had of it warming up a touch are totally gone

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B7SRKAEt3LxcrBo83pSeRklqHa22PIlNSUI64LjRXB8/edit?usp=sharing

I made an easier to read google doc of the start list. Tab 1 is by start time, tab 2 by alphabetical order.