Today was my first real shot at the sub-hour 40km. The bike was ready. The conditions were good (sunny, not too much wind, perhaps a bit hot for my liking, but better than too cold!) The question that remained was whether I was ready.
Yesterday was a slow easy ride on the TT bike to test out some position tweaks to the bars (wider at the forearms, and rotated slightly ‘in’ to give my thumbs a better spot to rest). I’m sure I will continue to tweak the position, but it sure is better than the original setup! I’m also considerably more comfortable on it than I was on Tuesday, after a few more hours riding it and getting used to how it handles. Unfortunately, I felt terrible physically on the ride, so perhaps it wasn’t the best sign of things to come. I had everything packed and ready for a quick getaway this morning, and was up with the alarm at 6am.
I arrived at the start (boat launch in Calabogie) and signed in before getting dressed and warmed up. I was number 32 of 37 (I think?) on the day, so there was a very good turn-out. This is especially true considering a few riders are in Sutton this weekend who may otherwise be TTing.
Like yesterday, I was once again feeling less than stellar during my warmup. I had to really push hard to get the bike up to 40km/hr; not a good sign when you’re hoping to average 40 for an hour! However, I figured that things could change quickly, so tried not to let it get to me. I arrived at the start ready to go, and John and Bob gave me a good clean send off.
According to my very unofficial time check, I had gained ~30 seconds on my ‘minute man’ in the first 12km despite feeling fairly crappy. I started to feel a bit better around km 13 or so, and in the next few kms I pulled in a lot of time and passed my minute man. However, shortly after he passed me back, and stayed away for another km or so as we neared the turnaround. I was thinking the turn around was soon, so thought it would be best to let him go through first before passing again. I eased off just slightly to match his pace, so I wouldn’t be drafting and/or gaining on him just before the turn around. After a couple more corners, it was evident that the turn-around wasn’t coming up just yet, so I went by him again on a hill. At one point, he was almost by me again, but I picked it up so he couldn’t pass. At the turn, I was far enough ahead to not impede his turn (I am still taking the turn-arounds very slow on the TT bike!)
From the turnaround, the return leg is only 19kms, and has significantly more downhill sections, so it goes a bit quicker than the 21km first leg. At this point, I finally started to feel fairly good, so tried to give that extra little push. I knew from quick glances at my computer that I was not likely to break the hour mark unless I could really hammer the return leg. I started passing some of the slower riders in front, and having the constant ‘carrot’ of the next rider always just over the next hill was a good motivator to push that little bit harder.
The last 15kms or so felt very long, with the last 3km being a complete blur. With 1km to go, I was almost completely spent, but had a rider in front to reel in to keep me motivated.
Unfortunately, but not completely unexpectedly, my time was greater than an hour. 01:01:14 was the official verdict. Crap! I’m not entirely unhappy, since I knew yesterday I was not feeling 100% physically, and that the bike is still new and is going to take some adjustment (both the bike itself, and my body to the new position). However, my time was still 3:54 faster than a year ago on the same course, so there’s some noticeable improvement. Whether that is due to the new bike, an increase in fitness, or a combination of remains to be seen.

Graph of HR during the TT (click image for full zize)
As you can see from the graph, I was able to keep my heart rate fairly steadily in the 171-194 bpm zone (red band in graph), which is pretty much where it should be for a TT. My average for the 40km was 174bpm, so towards the low end. I’d like to see this a bit higher–which will come as I get more comfortable hurting myself for a solid hour. I believe at this point that it’s a mental wall, not a physical one, so should be ‘movable.’ (Ignore the ‘greyed out’ portions of the graph outside the vertical red lines–this is my warmup/cooldown.)
For next time, I need to do a longer warmup, getting up in to zone 3 for longer to get the body awake and moving. It took me 12km or so to start feeling decent today, and that could easily have cost me 1:14.
August 8th is the next shot at the hour mark, and I’ll be ready :)