No Ducks No Glory

It was a windy, cool, overcast evening for the Leroy TT, and the flag at the firestation was pointing directly down the course. I went out for my warm up with Al who had already done one hard effort around the course. With the tailwind, it was easy to roll along at 20 mph and have a conversation.

Since the Leroy TT is a weekly event, everyone that rides there is familiar with every bump and ripple in the pavement, and picks out weird landmarks that drift by in the timeless fever dream of a time trial. I noticed the ducks that swim around in the ditch just before the turn onto Kniffen weren't there like they often are, but the friendly old lab that lives near the turn was out walking around on the road.

The crosswind on the climb was really noticable. That was going to hurt! I rode part way up the hill then swung around to head to the start. I was hoping there would be a little shelter on the finish from the trees, but it was like riding into a wind tunnel!

A big group turned up for the TT. I picked the #8 popsicle and waited my turn. The guys on the TT bikes went first, including Matt Weeks and Bill Marut. They looked pretty fast out of the gate. I was second or third of the Mercxx style riders, and the rider in front of me had his tail light going, so it was a target to chase through the gloomy evening.

I stuck with my normal routine of holding back a little at the start, and gradually accelerating across the field, and then making another gradual acceleration to the corner. With the tailwind, I was really cruising. I took a breather going through the corner and was at 27 mph before I leaned into the turn.

I tried a different routine on the hill. I wanted to hold back a little on the first half of the climb, and drill it on the second half all the way to the turn around. On the first half, I tried to recover a little bit, and on the second half I got out of the saddle and accelerated over the flat, then sprinted up the climb. Overall, it was actually a little slower.

I made a good turn and sprinted down the hill. I could see the light blinking in the distance, but wasn't making up any time on the rider in front of me, though the distance between us opened and closed as we made our way onto the different parts of the course.

I saw the 2 miles to go mark and started hammering. I wanted to keep the pressure on with a big effort over the last mile. I got into my pedal stroke counting routine and was half hypnotized when Larry Pandy drove up next to me on his BMW motorcycle to say hi.

I kept the pressure on to the line, but didn't manage to break 30 mph due to the wind.

I finished with a 20:24 versus 19:58 last week, only 317 Watts average power. I didn't feel sharp, but finally got over the fatigue I've been suffering with the last two weeks. I think I'll tweak my aero position a little bit over the weekend to see if I can gain a little more time.