a whole 'nother level?

I had to scramble a little bit this afternoon to get ready for the TT. I relearned a cycling truism--"if it creaks it breaks". My seat has been making creaking and popping noises for the past couple of months. I've taken it apart about 10 times, cleaned the seat rails, flipped the binder around, etc... but finally, I found a crack in the aluminum of the seatpost binder. I thought I'd be calling around to find a new seatpost, but I actually had a spare Thompson Elite seatpost in my parts bin. I felt like I found a lost bar of gold.

On the drive up to the TT, I was feeling pretty confident. It seems like I jumped up to a new level of fitness (or just peaked) the past couple of weeks. I rocked a good average power last week at the Mitchell's Mill TT, then I went and cranked out a 366 Watt average up Kirtland Chardon on Tuesday. I was also pretty sure I'd be suffering a lot, both of those efforts really hurt and they were less than half the duration of the Leroy TT. And the common denominator for both those efforts, the proof that I'm on the limit is that I start hyperventilating every once in a while, and I can't say I enjoy that much.

I had no real plan for the TT tonight. Just go all out from the start. I sprinted for the first 15 seconds, then settled into an all out effort. I put all thoughts of trying to be aerodynamic, or maintaining any particular cadence out of my mind and just tried to wring as much power out as I could.

I carried a lot of speed to the corner, so I had a chance to sit up a little and take a breather. I felt some TT guilt, though, as a couple seconds dripped away. I went full gas up the hill. I was really concentrating on making a good transition to the false flat, but didn't do a great job there. That's my nemesis. My power output dropped from 350s down to 200 Watts for 45 seconds.

I was also a little gassed going down the first section of the downhill. I didn't get back on top of the gear until about a quarter of a mile down the hill, but from there I kept the pedal to the floor all the way to the finish. The heat started to get to me by the last mile or so, but I didn't crack.

I ended up with my best time so far this year: 20:07--but still 9 seconds slower than my personal best. I averaged 336 Watts. I think there's still some room for improvement. If I don't slow on the false flat section, for example, I could theoretically gain 20 seconds.