6/20/10: State TT Champs

It's been awhile since I've raced a long ITT. Last year, the final stage of the Dead Dog Classic was a 10-mile affair, but the State TT Champs would be 38km (or 23.75mi). Back in the 90s, when I raced triathlon professionally, there was no need to think on the bike. We swam hard, sprinted for our bikes, and just went as hard as we could for the 40km bike leg before dismounting and running a 10km. There was little thinking involved. TTing was our world, start to finish, so we triathletes simply inherently knew how hard to press given the context of a (roughly) 2-hour race. Sometimes we got it wrong; most often we got it right.

The State TT course is a tricky one. The constantly rolling course is completely exposed to the whims of the wind. And it's always windy out there by DIA! Planes taking off and landing directly overhead adds another unique dimension to the race venue. The course consists of two out-and-back, L-shaped legs. The first leg rolls slightly downhill and includes the benefit of a (mainly) tailwind. Given this leg was about 10km long, it was imperative to hold back and conserve energy. I hit this portion perfectly, feeling strong but very much in control.

At the turnaround, I had ceded some time to both my 30sec and 1min man, but was confident I could start making it up as we ascended the rollers back to the start line and the right turn to the second L leg of the course. As we hit this halfway point, I could tell I was re-catching the guys in front of me and was holding steady with the riders who started behind me. All in all, I was feeling good and having a strong result.

The third leg is chock full of more rollers, but it's hard to tell whether there is a net gain or loss in altitude. The main thing to contend with is the crosswinds here and avoiding the deep cracks in the road. As I was warming up pre-race, one earlier rider was walking his bike back to his car after rolling his tire off his carbon rim when he hit a pothole. Trashed his wheel. Luckily he didn't go down. In any case, I kept pressing this third-of-four legs, building on my momentum and striving to reel in the two riders directly in front of me.

It was at around the final turnaround, heading into the final leg (the final 9km) of the race that I started to realize I had probably pushed the middle half of the race too hard. As I checked the time between myself and those in front of and behind me, I had begun to lose ground to both groups of riders. However, not much. For example, my teammate Lance Niles started a minute behind me and was roughly 30sec behind me 3/4 of the way through the race. Lance is a super strong TTer and looked incredible on his bike; I could tell he was having a hell of a ride.

That final 9km was more of a death march than I expected it would be. Everything started to fairly quickly go south. First the guy who started 30sec behind me came shooting by me; then not too much later, Lance came flying by. Had I not been falling off the pace, I could have been able to stick with each rider for at least a little bit as he spurred me to dig deeper. However, I was powerless and was only able to watch them zoom on by. The finish line could not come quick enough!

Finally, the uphill drag to the finish was in sight. I tried to pull another couple watts out of my fried legs, crossing the line completely spent. 52:14 by my watch, about 27.5mph if my math is correct. Not bad. Then I realized back in the 90s, I could bike that fast and still run a 10km in the low-30s. On this day, that would have been a 10km fast walk at best - HA!

15th on the day in the P/1/2 category. Really, I can't complain. Hadn't been on the TT bike but once in a year. Rode it every day the week of the State TT race, but might have done more harm than good given how sore it left my hip flexors and hamstrings. Note to self: Ride the TT bike consistently year-round, even if just on short, easy recovery days.

It was great to see my teammates coming and going out on the course. We were all too maxed out to shout words of encouragement to each other, but we definitely "locked eyes" as we crossed paths, which helped spur me along. As we cooled down on the trainers afterwards, Lance (who finished a great 9th!) was clearly amped. He is already preparing for next year's race with the goal of going for victory. I wouldn't put it past him!

The highlight? It's got to be Donuts smashing his time from the previous year. He's a year older but seems to be "coming into his own" in every type of race. A well-deserved victory HAS to be right around the corner for Matt!

Next up, Dead Dog on 6/26-27 in Laramie, WY. Long, hard 85-mile road race on Saturday through the Snowy Peak range with 2 ascents to 11,000ft; then on Sunday the morning criterium followed shortly thereafter with the early-afternoon ITT. Looking forward to it!

Ride safe,
Nate