Laketrail TT

There's nothing like riding in the rain. My most memorable days training for the Little 500 were doing hill repeats alone in a warm 80 degree shower. Maybe it was the feeling that I was Lance Armstrong ascending the French Alps into the town of Sestriere. Maybe it was knowing that I was getting better while everyone else was inside on the couch watching tv. Maybe it was knowing that I'm the only one simply crazy enough to be out in this weather. Whatever the case was, I loved it.

It's raining out today.

Which means its a gorgeous day for a post work ride. The path will be empty which will make for a great workout (though I'd rather be climbing in Bloomington). The only downside to the rain is I can't ride to work as I get absolutely drenched - great when in cycilng clothes, terrible when in work clothes. Speaking of, today was the last day I'd be leaving for work from our current place. Crazy to think about since we don't move in for another 9 days. From now on it will be either a one minute bike ride or a brisk 15 minute walk from our new place. I was really getting used to that extra 30 minutes a day marked on my training log!

Anyways, yesterday I did another Laketrail South Time Trial. Recently, I marked out a down-and-back course that takes me around 45 minutes to complete and ride pretty much to exhaustion. I've always been a terrible time trialer and really want to get better at it. If you can't TT you can't win a solo breakaway, something a really powerful road rider can accomplish. So what better way than to race down a path filled with bike riders, pedestrians, and the occansional vehicle. I live in Chicago, do you have a better idea?

The course has a slight incline to start and one 'hill' in the middle that makes you shift down a gear or two to efficiently get over. Beyond that its flat terrain with a lot of bumps. The goal for me is to do this on my road bike so that it simulates what I would be able to do in a race. Of course I could be far faster on a Time Trial specific bike, but I'm not sure that'd be quite legal to bust out in a road race (plus everyone would know exactly what your plan is).

Mentally this is what goes through my head during each stage of the TT...
-0:30 - "*sigh* this is going to hurt"
0:00 - "Hit the stopwatch!"
0:02 - "Missed the button, turn around"
0:00 - "Hit the stopwatch!"
0:02 - "Ok, we're rolling"
0:05 - "Get over this bump and find a nice hard rhythm.
0:20 - "Found my rhythm, now move, cut corners, and dodge pedestrians"
0:50 - "Look right, left, clear, cross, go."
2:30 - "Ok, there's a clear tailwind here, I'm going to need at least 3 minutes at this point on the way back to get a personal best.
3:00 - "Wow, this hurts, no way I can hold this for another 40 minutes..."
5:00 - "Zone Out"
10:00 - "Really my legs are the only part that hurt"
10:35 - "Just got over the climb, keep pushing after the climb just as hard, you'll lose significant time otherwise"
12:30 - "Ahh, smoothest terrain yet, put your head down and punch, you are Dave Zabriske"
20:00 - "Approaching the turn-around point, about 40 seconds off your pb split, must not have been a big enough tailwind...right?...right!?!?"
20:15 - "Turn, turn, turn, turn, accelerate!!!"
20:30 - "H.E.A.D.W.I.N.D...ugggghh"
20:31 - "Keep cadence and move"
26:00 - "Everythings starting to give out, numbing in places you don't want numb"
26:30 - "Pedestrian, no way they're just going to stand...
26:35 - "...in the middle of the bike path..."
26:38 - "...MOVE!!!!!..."
26:39 - "BREAKKKKKKKKKkkkkk"
26:40 - "(Expletive) and accelerate"
26:45 - "Wow I just lost about 10 seconds there easily, and now I'm shot from accelerating..."
32:00 - "I can see McCormick's Place, 10 minutes and you're there, push"
38:00 - "I feel like I'm flying just keep moving and you may be on pace"
40:30 - "Just crossed my last checkpoint, I'm definately behind pace by 15 seconds"
42:30 - "So Close!"
43:20 - "(Expletive), 7 seconds off"
43:30 - "Good workout nonetheless, begin high cadence spin, I'm sleepy"

Last few weeks times:

5/20 - 44:36
5/27 - 43:13
6/04 - 43:22
6/10 - 43:20

I can't wait to see what I could do on a real TT bike. The standard for a 1 hour time trial is doing 40k in an hour. Right now I'm doing about 36k/hr with a poor course, wind, and absolutely nothing aero, which is positive. Pretty steady times thus far; I missed my mark by under 10 seconds for the last two weeks which means I'm pretty much keeping fitness / may need to take a rest and recovery week soon. Perfect time for a California trip I suppose. Originally I thought this trip would be quite the hinderance on my season as I will miss several local races, but it may really be a blessing in disguise as it will allow me to mentally and physically regroup after a rough training and racing week as July is going to take everything out of me. As long as there are excersise bikes in Cali, I will be golden.

And hey, I may be able to climb Mount Diablo on the weekend! First 'real' climb ever. Pretty excited if I can make it happen.

But until then, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the Chicago rain.