The day dawned still and fine for our time trial at Rottnest. Perfect conditions, no wind until the last couple of km of the course.
I did a warmup lap of the course, which was much nicer than the lap we did last night in 35kph winds! Then I made my way to the start line, getting there about 20 min before my start. I felt so much more relaxed and organised than last year. I actually missed my start last year so getting there early was much less stressful!
The first rider set off, and then my nerves kicked in. I started 8 min after the first rider. Soon it was my turn to walk up the stairs to the top of the start ramp. A lovely gentleman holds your bike so that you can clip both feet into the pedals. Ten seconds to go. Start the Garmin. Five seconds .... and I'm off.
For the first 5km I focused on sitting at the right power level, not going out too hard. I was feeling good. The next 5km are the most interesting part of the course, we go out around Parker Point, which has a few fast corners, then some of the longer hills. On the hills, I was focusing on keeping my power within a manageable level going up, and pushing hard to pick up speed going down.
I saw the 10km to go sign (halfway point) and thought "Oh good that's the hardest part over". I was wrong. The hardest part of the course may have been behind me, but the section from 10km to go to 5km to go was tough mentally. Tough to keep working at the same power level.
At the 5km to go point, we turned into a rather narrow path with lots of tree roots. But from that point, it is a little easier to push through the pain, as you know it is not far to go. And mostly downhill. Sadly it was also mostly into a headwind.
2km to go. Across the causeway. Crosswind, try to tuck down and get more aero. 1km to go, push harder. 500m to go, go legs, you can see the finishing chute, come on, keep going, all out now. Up the finishing chute and over the finish line. Done.
I was relatively happy with how I'd ridden. Until I looked at my time and compared it to last year. I was 34 seconds slower this year. With an extra year of training and experience behind me, plus this year I had a time trial bike and fast race wheels. Last year I did it on a road bike. My reasoning is that last year I really wanted to qualify. I also didn't have as much data to guide me during the ride last year, so I just pushed as hard as I could the whole way, with my competitive edge driving me on.
What did I learn from today? That I'm not pushing myself hard enough!
The day wasn't all bad though. There were only three women in my age category, so I was guaranteed a podium finish even though I was 4min slower than 2nd place. But it was also the State time trial championships, and only women with a WA State race license qualify in the state Champs. Neither of the other two women in my category had the right license - so I got a surprise gold medal for my age category! Pretty chuffed.
Road Race tomorrow, it will be a hard day.
No comments:
Post a Comment