Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/82680234 (Shannon's)
When Shannon brought up this race earlier this week and how he was planning to do it, I just couldn't resist. 1) It's been forever since I've been out on any event with Shannon and 2) it was a time trial and we get to use our time trial bikes. Despite not knowing anything about this race, these two reasons were enough for me. I guess this took the place of Tom's Farms TT due to some construction on the road where these used to take place. That doesn't really say much given I've never raced Tom's Farms TTs either. HAHA
Driving out to this race, one of the first things that came to mind was why would anyone want to race way the hell out here? I was certain we'd be able to gamble legally after the race if we wanted. The town we drove through seemed pretty desolate, so it's even a wonder how the location for the time trial was chosen. You're also misled to believe that the race may be on smooth roads as there were a lot of resurfaced roads as we were driving in. However, once we got to Arrowhead Lake Road that leads to the start point, the roads started to show their wear. Oh great.
Arriving at the start point, it was basically just some cars and trucks pulled over to the side of the road with a couple tables setup for registration and also a porta-potty. Shannon got a nice spot under some shade, but the temperature was a little cool upon our arrival. Registration was quick as it took just completing race form, paying, getting our number and being assigned to a class. Shannon had signed up for CAT 4/5 but I ended up signing up for Masters 45+. I didn't really think about what class to sign up for as the lady just said to me "45+" to which I responded yes. In a way, I was glad because I thought signing up in the same class as Shannon would just mean one more person ahead of me.
Since we arrived early enough, Shannon and I got to get out and do a dry sighting lap through the course. This came in handy just to know how some of the turns were going to be since they did caution us about one spot where entering it too hot may be dangerous. After all, it was NOT a closed course and vehicles were sharing the road even while we were racing. Wha? We found the road to be a little rough but manageable for the most part, and the course seemed like there were two climbs with one at the start of the way out and the other toward the early part of the return. After each of these climbs, however, were some pretty fast descents...especially on the way back. The tricky part of it all was trying to figure out how to ride the course in terms of when to power up and when to recover. In the end, we decided we would just do what we can and try somehow to manage our power accordingly.
Now for the race....
Shannon had signed up just after me, so he was scheduled to leave 30 seconds after me. I knew based on this that it was just a matter of time before he caught me, so I told him to let me know when he was coming so I can make sure to give him space. They didn't have a starter to set you on your bike to take off while clipped in, so we everyone had to start with one foot down. This, along with trying to make sure I was in the right gear, totally had my mind consumed with just trying to make sure I was ready to go once I rolled up to the start. Sure enough, starting off had my gears changing unexpectedly as I wasn't able to get it in the right gear from the start and I missed the first couple crank rotations before finally being able to get my right foot clipped in. Sigh.
Once I got going, I was already in chase mode as the guy who started in front of me was on a road bike. There is a short climb right away that I decided to stay seated for where I watched the power number spike right away, but once I got over it I started making my way quickly to pass the guy in front of me. When I did, I took another look down and saw that my Garmin had actually turned off by this time. I was so focused on the gear and pedal at the start that I totally forgot to start the damn thing. Craaaaapppp!!! From this point on, I felt like I was navigating blindly.
As best as I could, I pushed on but at some point during the climb, I started feeling like I was in the red and getting deeper fast. I ended up dropping to the small ring at some point and may have even gotten down to the shortest gear just to try and recover. One guy had already passed me who seemed pretty legit, and as expected, Shannon came by offering words of encouragement as he made his way passed me too.
I was able to pick it up a little, especially as we were getting close to the descent where I wasn't too far behind Shannon. I didn't want it to be believed that we were riding together so I rode more toward the middle of the road just to ensure that I was not in his draft. Knowing that the road wasn't closed, this had me looking back a time or two to make sure I didn't get taken out. On the straight section of the descent, I was able to make my way past Shannon again but that didn't last long and he was in front of me again by the time we reached the turnaround point.
Shannon had a good turnaround and gapped me immediately. I could still see him ahead after I turned around, but there was definitely a lot of road between us. The climb on the way back is reminiscent of the backside of Live Oak (the side that comes from RSM), and I was trying a little harder to not blow up a second time and have Shannon continue to pull away. As we were reaching the top, I had actually closed the gap a little and thought to myself how I think once I hit the crest, I should still be able to see Shannon. However, upon doing so, I was amazed that Shannon was just gone. I thought I'd peer around a corner and be able to catch a glimpse of him, but no luck. I'm surprised I didn't hear a sonic boom when he took off.
I did manage to reel in one more guy (making for almost 4 passes during the race), but I just came in behind him in the finish line. Shannon was already turned around and heading opposite of me on the way out, so I knew he killed it. In the end, Shannon had beat me by a good minute and 18 seconds. Believe me, folks. I had no visions of glory in believing that I even had a chance to come close to Shannon here. Too much power and too much climbing. He ended up taking 2nd in his class with a 23:45 time and although I took 2nd in mine too, there were only two people in my class. :) I still got a ribbon though.
I'd definitely like to try this race again, and hopefully with some idea of how I'm doing from Garmin perspective. I'd still prefer a flatter TT course, but if I get to race with Shannon or any of the others, I'll take what I can get. Congrats, Shannon!
When Shannon brought up this race earlier this week and how he was planning to do it, I just couldn't resist. 1) It's been forever since I've been out on any event with Shannon and 2) it was a time trial and we get to use our time trial bikes. Despite not knowing anything about this race, these two reasons were enough for me. I guess this took the place of Tom's Farms TT due to some construction on the road where these used to take place. That doesn't really say much given I've never raced Tom's Farms TTs either. HAHA
Driving out to this race, one of the first things that came to mind was why would anyone want to race way the hell out here? I was certain we'd be able to gamble legally after the race if we wanted. The town we drove through seemed pretty desolate, so it's even a wonder how the location for the time trial was chosen. You're also misled to believe that the race may be on smooth roads as there were a lot of resurfaced roads as we were driving in. However, once we got to Arrowhead Lake Road that leads to the start point, the roads started to show their wear. Oh great.
Arriving at the start point, it was basically just some cars and trucks pulled over to the side of the road with a couple tables setup for registration and also a porta-potty. Shannon got a nice spot under some shade, but the temperature was a little cool upon our arrival. Registration was quick as it took just completing race form, paying, getting our number and being assigned to a class. Shannon had signed up for CAT 4/5 but I ended up signing up for Masters 45+. I didn't really think about what class to sign up for as the lady just said to me "45+" to which I responded yes. In a way, I was glad because I thought signing up in the same class as Shannon would just mean one more person ahead of me.
Since we arrived early enough, Shannon and I got to get out and do a dry sighting lap through the course. This came in handy just to know how some of the turns were going to be since they did caution us about one spot where entering it too hot may be dangerous. After all, it was NOT a closed course and vehicles were sharing the road even while we were racing. Wha? We found the road to be a little rough but manageable for the most part, and the course seemed like there were two climbs with one at the start of the way out and the other toward the early part of the return. After each of these climbs, however, were some pretty fast descents...especially on the way back. The tricky part of it all was trying to figure out how to ride the course in terms of when to power up and when to recover. In the end, we decided we would just do what we can and try somehow to manage our power accordingly.
Now for the race....
Shannon had signed up just after me, so he was scheduled to leave 30 seconds after me. I knew based on this that it was just a matter of time before he caught me, so I told him to let me know when he was coming so I can make sure to give him space. They didn't have a starter to set you on your bike to take off while clipped in, so we everyone had to start with one foot down. This, along with trying to make sure I was in the right gear, totally had my mind consumed with just trying to make sure I was ready to go once I rolled up to the start. Sure enough, starting off had my gears changing unexpectedly as I wasn't able to get it in the right gear from the start and I missed the first couple crank rotations before finally being able to get my right foot clipped in. Sigh.
Once I got going, I was already in chase mode as the guy who started in front of me was on a road bike. There is a short climb right away that I decided to stay seated for where I watched the power number spike right away, but once I got over it I started making my way quickly to pass the guy in front of me. When I did, I took another look down and saw that my Garmin had actually turned off by this time. I was so focused on the gear and pedal at the start that I totally forgot to start the damn thing. Craaaaapppp!!! From this point on, I felt like I was navigating blindly.
As best as I could, I pushed on but at some point during the climb, I started feeling like I was in the red and getting deeper fast. I ended up dropping to the small ring at some point and may have even gotten down to the shortest gear just to try and recover. One guy had already passed me who seemed pretty legit, and as expected, Shannon came by offering words of encouragement as he made his way passed me too.
I was able to pick it up a little, especially as we were getting close to the descent where I wasn't too far behind Shannon. I didn't want it to be believed that we were riding together so I rode more toward the middle of the road just to ensure that I was not in his draft. Knowing that the road wasn't closed, this had me looking back a time or two to make sure I didn't get taken out. On the straight section of the descent, I was able to make my way past Shannon again but that didn't last long and he was in front of me again by the time we reached the turnaround point.
Shannon had a good turnaround and gapped me immediately. I could still see him ahead after I turned around, but there was definitely a lot of road between us. The climb on the way back is reminiscent of the backside of Live Oak (the side that comes from RSM), and I was trying a little harder to not blow up a second time and have Shannon continue to pull away. As we were reaching the top, I had actually closed the gap a little and thought to myself how I think once I hit the crest, I should still be able to see Shannon. However, upon doing so, I was amazed that Shannon was just gone. I thought I'd peer around a corner and be able to catch a glimpse of him, but no luck. I'm surprised I didn't hear a sonic boom when he took off.
I did manage to reel in one more guy (making for almost 4 passes during the race), but I just came in behind him in the finish line. Shannon was already turned around and heading opposite of me on the way out, so I knew he killed it. In the end, Shannon had beat me by a good minute and 18 seconds. Believe me, folks. I had no visions of glory in believing that I even had a chance to come close to Shannon here. Too much power and too much climbing. He ended up taking 2nd in his class with a 23:45 time and although I took 2nd in mine too, there were only two people in my class. :) I still got a ribbon though.
I'd definitely like to try this race again, and hopefully with some idea of how I'm doing from Garmin perspective. I'd still prefer a flatter TT course, but if I get to race with Shannon or any of the others, I'll take what I can get. Congrats, Shannon!
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