VIRB

Well, this past Thursday was the Barrie Cycling Clubs first bi-monthly 15km Individual Time Trial. It was held at our usual location in Oro, a simple out and back run on the 15/16th sideroad. The course is pretty undulating the whole way, a real leg breaker!

Unlike everyone else riding, I didn't drive to the course, I rode the 23kms from home at a very relaxed pace, avging something like 170 Watts. I felt pretty good, nice and loose, and well warmed up by the time I arrived.

I was placed to start last because I was the last to show up, and because historically, I was the quickest of the group, despite 4 guys using dedicated TT bikes, one guy even had a solid disc rear wheel!

I don't really mind starting last, as it usually means there will be someone in front of me to chase down That said, I had a specific goal in mind for this first TT of the season. My intention was to lay down a baseline run, so that I can guage my progression over the season, to help indicate if I am getting faster, or slowing down due to overtraining.

That in mind, I just wanted to keep my pedalling effort as consistent as possible for the duration of the TT. As I prepared to leave the start line, I told Mike D our timer that I was expecting to run a 25min TT. This is what my first TT of the season last year came in around, a few ticks over 25mins actually.

On the course, I was feeling pretty good. I set my powertap to display my avg power, rather than instant power, as I was more concerned with consistency, than I was with absolute power. I refrained from really even going over 450-500 Watts for all but a very short section, when I caught and overtook the guy who had started a minute before me! Of course I caught him on a hill, so a little more effort was used than intended, but I was able to recover on a downhill right after the pass.

By the time i reached the final km, my legs were really beginning to burn, 20mins of close to maximal effort will do that I suppose! I rounded the final bend, and the finish line was in sight, I dropped to my biggest gear, and really mashed the pedals now, crossing the line @ 50km/h, with not a second more effort left inside me!

After I had cooled down, and decided I wasn't actually going to puke, I rolled back to hear the times get announced. The fast time for the night, was Ryan Blake on his Time Trial bike, with a 23:17, he's obviously worked hard over the winter, he posted a personal best, and beat me for the first time. My time, a 24:04, shared with Scott Johnston for second place. I am very happy with this result, it's a full 1:02 quicker than the same time last year, even though i've only got half the mileage ridden. My avg power was 318 Watts, bout 10 Watts lower than my peak TT last year. I think this bodes extremely well for the season, I'm hoping to crack the low 22s by July

Here's the TT section of my Power Graph as generated by Cycling Peaks

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