Well, the announcement that the 2021 State Time Trials were going to be held Saturday, May 22 came just three weeks before that date. Given that I'm the oldest in the 75-79 category, unless I were to be the only rider to sign up, this wouldn't be a ride for medals, just an excellent workout. As it turned out, three other riders signed up, two of whom were 75 and known to me. And much faster. It would be a battle for third place.
The forecast leading up to the race called for 80% chance of thunderstorms. A tropical storm was brewing in the Gulf. On Friday I packed the car, but was prepared to stay home depending on the weather. Hempstead is a two hour drive and my starting time was close to 7:45 am. It turned out to be 7:53. So, I was up at 3:00 to shake the cobwebs out, have breakfast, and do a final check of the weather. From what I could see, given the way the rain-bands were moving, it would rain in Houston to the east and Brenham to the west, but Hempstead would stay dry until late morning. I picked up rain in Giddings and it didn't slack off until Brenham. Sure enough, Hempstead was dry for the morning races. I left around 10:15 and just north of Hempstead, drizzle started hitting my windshield.
I pulled into the package pick-up and gave the lady my name. She asked for my USAC license or my driver's license. It was then that, while I had packed the kitchen sink for racing, I managed to leave my wallet at home. I used to carry an old license in my saddle pack, and looked there, but I guess I'd tossed it awhile back. She took pity on me and got my race numbers.
I really need to get a proper warm-up procedure. Due to the possibility of rain, I took my trainer and trainer bike and set up under a awning at the middle school. Fifteen minutes on the trainer, then change to the TT bike and a bit of warm-up on the road in the tuck position. This was really insufficient, but since I wasn't all that stoked to race, it was all I would do.
Then it was time to race. This is a south-north, out-and-back course, mostly flat. The wind was pretty stout, coming from the ESE, so on my left shoulder going out and slightly behind my right shoulder on the return. My plan was concentrate on cadence against the wind and power with it. That was the plan. Mostly, I stuck to it. But that came at a cost.
To back up a bit, I started out and quickly gained 90 RPM, my goal. That gave me a speed of 22 mph, also my goal. The heart rate moved up to 147, which is about 95% of my maximum. I didn't think this sustainable and I wanted to be in the 142-145 range. As it turned out, I averaged 146 and only dropped to 142 when I sat up for a quick breather and liquid. When Whitney passed me at the two mile mark, my suspicion that I was slow was confirmed. On the outbound, a 2.9 mile Strava Segment had my time at 8:10. My best time is 6:48. The inbound segment showed 17:58 but my best time is 15:12. Overall, my time of 36:36 is about three minutes slower than my best time. My average power number of 182 is 19 watts short of my 201set in 2018. That was with an average cadence of 80.
I came out of my tuck just once on the outbound, but multiple times on the way back. I'm sorry about the lack of performance, but not unhappy. Three weeks is not enough time to get ready. That is what these early races are for, to show you where you need to improve. I have a road map to do just that. Oh, btw, I did get third place. Possibly because the other rider didn't show up. I've been faster than him in the past.
