Break-Away Bicycle Club TT/Indiana State TT Championship

With the exception of some minor wind out of the southwest on the way out and crosswinds on the return, it was a great day for a TT. Early morning temperatures were in the 70's and bright sunshine. Again, there were only two participants in the women's open category which was surprising because this was the IN/KY District Championship. I made two major changes since last week's time trial in Monrovia: 1) attached plastic wheelcovers to the rear wheel, and 2) took the heart rate monitor off the bike to reduce distractions. All-in-all, everything evened out because there was a little bit of headwind going out to the turnaround, and no tailwind to help on the return. I also lost a few seconds while trying to figure out what started rubbing against the seat stay about 3/4 of the way into the ride (it was tape covering the valve steam opening coming unglued). The winning time was about 70.5 minutes (70:35, I think) and mine was 71:13 which was 3 seconds slower my time from last week's race in Monrovia.

Another 4th place! The weather was great, the wind was slight, and the competition was tough. I started the TT thinking the wind was going to be in my face slightly and then grow in intensity throughout the race hoping this would drop my time. I realized that wasn't the case after climbing out of the hole about a mile after the turnaround. The wind direction was perpendicular to the course so I received no benefit. The turnaround was a bit sketchy as I converged with a tandem. I entered the corner wide behind the tandem and exited short to pass.
The first half of the ride back was painful. I must have been delerius because it appeared that the road had a slight grade to it at times. With about one quarter distance left, I was passed by Jason Romaine on a track bike. I've raced against him many times and was a bit surprised to see him. In response, I pushed a little harder to try not to lose more time to him, but he was really moving. As a side note, he ended up winning Cat 3 with a 55:35 or so. That little bit of motivation, I think, helped me get a PR yesterday. Even if it was only by one second, I feel pretty good about it. I validated last week's TT by 9 seconds and the next guy up from me was about a minute and a half quicker.
I changed only one thing from last week. I set the shifter to index the gears so I could tell what gear I was in. That'll give me a good benchmark for training. I can do intervals in the next higher gear to give me a bit more strength. That's what it'll take to go to the next level.