Fourth 15km Time Trial: Metallic Legs & Figuring Averages

Joy here...After my painful two-loop ride of the park on Sunday, when my back and my legs were screaming in pain, and I tried in vain to convince myself of the truth in the slogan that "pain is temporary," I took Monday off and was all set for Tuesday's weekly time trial.

The day was not too hot (around 28C), with very little wind, blue skies spotted with white, cotton clouds, and a number of team race riders showed up to compete, making us all think that tonight was a night for fast times and personal bests.

While last week only 14 riders showed up to race in the gusting winds and the rain, this week there were 34 racers gearing up to start.

While last week my start was screwed up a bit, this week, I was off like a flash as soon as my countdown was done.

I quickly hit 40km/hr as I got up to speed, topping 400w.  So I was all set for a good ride.  All I had to do was keep my power at around 200w and my speed over 35km/hr for 15kms.

It wasn't a tall order.  I've done it before.

Lady Deathstrike

But somehow, each time I looked down at my little computer, I was disappointed with what I saw.  My wattage kept dipping down to around 180w, and then I'd have to pedal harder to get it up to my target of 200w.  Then I'd hold it there, thinking that I held my cadence steady, only to look down and find out that my speed had dipped down to 33km/hr.  No matter what I tried, I just couldn't keep my numbers up.  My legs must have been pumped full of liquid adamantium, like that scene from the X Men 2 when Wolverine kills Lady Deathstrike by filling her veins with liquid metal...as he lets her die we hear her head clink hard against the glass container in which she is laid.  And I somehow felt like I knew what she must have been feeling, because as I was out there riding tonight, I'm sure my legs would have clinked heavily were there anything to touch them, because they sure weren't moving fast at all.

There's nothing more discouraging than looking down at disappointing numbers, but not being able to do anything about it.

And then, when I was feeling dispirited, at the 11.44km mark that back pain from Sunday's ride showed up with a vengeance, and all I could do was convince myself that I had less than 4kms left of suffering, and I just needed to stop looking at anything--distance, speed, time, wattage--and pedal my little heart out until the finish line, blocking out everything (including back pain and metallic legs).

In the end, my time was 25:50 and my speed 34.84km/hr, so certainly not a personal best, but better than the day I raced with two glasses of champagne working their way through my system.

Discounting that tipsy ride, I now have three 15km Time Trials under my belt:
June 5th--Time: 25:44, Speed: 34.97km/hr
July 3rd--Time:  25:41, Speed: 35.04km/hr
July 10th--Time: 25:50, Speed: 34.84km/hr

Thank goodness for salty, post-race delivery food!

So my averages for these three (giving me a baseline measurement) are:
Time: 25:45, Speed: 34.95km/hr.

Now my next step is to look into getting aero bars for my bike and playing with positioning, to see if that can help me improve on that average baseline.

But before that...I'm going to settle down and eat a nice meal from Greek on Wheels who just showed up at my doorstep with balm for my hurt and metallic soul.

Over and out,
Joy