FINALLY, THE MANDA TIME TRIAL

     As the previous post proclaimed, my intention was to get in several rides around the time trial course.  Things kept getting in the way.  One thing I knew was that this area is extremely exposed and the wind is always stronger than what is forecast for Austin.  Since me and wind are estranged, I kept waiting for a forecast of less than 10 mph.  The last week in May came without another "acceptable" day.  Last week the ten day forecast was for rain and thunderstorms until June.  I despaired that I had squandered my chance.  Then God relented and moved the weather system to the northeast, giving me an opportunity this morning.  Low wind, low temperature.  I prepared the TT bike and set out, prepared for a mid-morning race.
     It is funny, being in a race with only one person.  And truly, since there is no age grouping, I'm only in it to be in it.  Of course, I didn't want to finish last so I gave it my best shot.  And, even though the Manda TT wouldn't give me first place, the Strava age group would.
     As it turned out, I should have been there for a nine o'clock start rather than ten.  As I warmed up on the last leg of the course, I could feel the wind freshen.  It would be in my face on the third leg, which was mostly uphill.  Well, it seemed like it was mostly uphill, Strava disagreed. I knew I wasn't in "race mode."  It's kinda hard to get the adrenaline pumping when there is no one around.  I felt like either one gear short, thirty watts low, or ten rpm's slow. 
     The ride itself was uneventful.  I saw zero vehicles on the road for the whole circuit.  Just as well, I managed to take up quite a bit of my side of the road.  In looking at the results so far, I see that Lawson Craddock is in town, or was last week.  Don Ford recorded a faster time, but apparently he is in the 70-74 age group.  Kosme Ramirez also recorded a faster time.  He didn't sign a waiver.  He shows up in a lot of my Strava segments, mostly ahead of me.  But since I can't track him down, I don't know if he's really in the 75-79 age category.  Speaking of Craddock, I still want to remove Tom Craddock from my age group on the segments he is ahead of me on.  Maybe with their upgrading, Stava will do that rather than giving me a hard time about why they can't.
     If you haven't done Manda, you have three more days to get it in.