Jack Frost Time Trial 2/26

I suck at time trials. I want very badly to get better at them. They're boring and painful, but they are also a good indication of one's strength.

The grand prize at this event is a ribbon. If you win, you get 0 upgrade points. If you win, you won't even know it until later in the day when they tally up the times. Big motivation, huh? Still, they're good for training. With everyone watching the times, it's an opportunity to put in a good 30 minute interval at top pace. This for me was a $10 training ride. Jess and I rode out to the course, which was just west of Vancouver, WA. I had my pump, saddle bag, fender, rainwear, et cetera. We got there 15 and 18 minutes before our start times, raced, then rode straight home. It was a training ride.

This approach was a mistake. I forgot that no matter how little my result mattered, that I'd still be scrutinizing it later. Now, I sit wondering how much all of that mattered, and whether or not my disappointing time would have been much improved had I been decked out in my fastest gear. I feel like I put in a good effort. There're always ways you could have improved your run, but in this case none of those flaws were at all disastrous. My 30:28 ranked 18th out of 24 Cat 3's that raced. Duncan, pictured below, beat me by 1:26, Mike Bene by :55, JV by :25, Jess by :24. I list these teamates, not because they're the competition, but becuase I ride with them all the time and we use each other for fitness reference points. The point is, I was slowest. By a lot.

I'm trying to tell myself that it was a success: I, as planned, put in a really hard :30 interval in middle of a 3+ hr Sunday training ride. I got stronger. But my confidence took a pretty hard blow today. I didn't plan on that.

Thanks to Alex Johnson for again taking excellent photos of the event.
Here's me:
http://pacificsportsphotography.exposuremanager.com/p/part_3/psp_jftt_56426
http://pacificsportsphotography.exposuremanager.com/p/part_3/psp_jftt_5048
The similarly-equipped Jess Graden:
http://pacificsportsphotography.exposuremanager.com/p/part_3/psp_jftt_55731
The out-of-uniform JV:
http://pacificsportsphotography.exposuremanager.com/p/part_3/psp_jftt_58242
The grizzly Mike B:
http://pacificsportsphotography.exposuremanager.com/p/part_3/psp_jftt_42642
Our fastest rider on the day, Duncan :
http://pacificsportsphotography.exposuremanager.com/p/part_3/psp_jftt_57917