OKC Velo Time Trial race #1

So I borrowed Steve's P3 for the 1st TT. I brought it home, put my pedals and powertap wheel on, then took it for a quick shakedown run (basically up and down my driveway). Steve and I are right at about the same height, so I didn't make any changes whatsoever to the bike as it felt pretty good when I test rode it. I also borrowed Charles' old LG helmet to make the "aero package" complete.


Saturday morning, after getting registered, I took the beast out to get warmed up, as well as try to get used to the SAPP (super aero package position). It was pretty cold at first, but once I got warmed up, my impression of the bike was: "this bad boy is bad, boy". The bike felt very fast and the SAPP was pretty easy to get used to.


I had signed up for the cat 123 class, and I must admit, I didn't think I had much of a chance in making it into the top 5 because there were some pretty salty characters that I would be up against. I guess my main goal was to: 1- Beat my all time time on this course and 2- Try to set a new 20 minute personal power record.


The riders were going off in 30 second intervals. The hardest part for me in time trials is the pacing for the first 2-5 minutes. On my best TT at this course, I averaged 317 watts, so, I wanted to stay around 320 watts or slightly over. As I started, it seemed very easy to keep the power between 350-400. Sure enough, at 5 minutes I'm on the edge of blowing up. I backed off and managed to recover and get back to 320ish.


My personal best time on the course was 18:35 from last year. As I was going around the big curve on the south side of the lake, I thought I may be able to break into the 17's. I got close with an 18:20 with an average power of 333 watts. I was pleasantly surprised to find out my time was 3rd best in the 123's! Later on when I downloaded my powertap info, I had set new 10 and 20 minute personal power records.


I'm going to use the bike again this Wed in the TT out at Draper. I'm also gonna make a few changes to my SAPP. The seat nose is angled down too far, which made me keep sliding forward and hitting my knees on my elbows. The coming week is going to be a recovery-mini taper period. My only real intensity will be the TT on Wed.


The Firehill crit is this Sat. It should be my last race as a cat3. It will also be my first race of the year with a positive TSB number. Hopefully I will do better than the poor performance I had on this course last year.

We got our new kits in. We switched the color scheme around, which I think looks pretty tough!