Racing Bikes & Cooking Good Food: Capital Stage Race 2012: Stage 2 Recap

STAGE 2 Time Trial
Saturday 6/16/2012
Sunny, 70*F, 11:25am
4mi, Cat 3, 12th place of 47 starters (7m:46s.89 - 30sec back)
Avg Speed- 28.7mph, Max Speed- Probably just under a blur.

Like last year, I didn't get much of a warm up in before my start. I had just enough time to park, find Doug, grab his sweet TT bike, kit up and roll up and down the block for 15 minutes. I don't know what it is about CSR, but I can't seem to show up on time to save my life. Luckily my training has been successful enough that when I did exit the start gate of Stage 2, I felt like Dave Zabriskie probably does as he begins to crush a TT. I sprinted up to speed and tucked into position. My only two target references for this course were watts and the whistle of my helmet. Let me elaborate:

-After doing a lactate test at HSP with Todd Herriott, himself, I discovered that I could hold 360 watts for a significant amount of time (that's all I'm sharing about that test, results will have to prove furthermore)
-My Louis Garneau TT helmet has the smallest crack in the very point of it that gives off the faintest whistle if I dip my head out of ideal position. It's like having a TT coach in my head!

I was able to hang around 360watts for the way out, although it was tough to keep checking the Garmin computer, maintain consistent pedal strokes, focus on the traintracks coming up, juggle with my strategy for the cone at the end of the road I'm going to have to zip around, etc. SO MUCH GOING ON AT THRESHOLD! UGH.
Before I knew it, I made it around the cone without touching the brakes too much and thus began the second half of the TT. I knew that I could maintain 360 watts for this portion, but could I maintain 380w? I risked it many times by dipping into that blackhole - the Pain Cave - to see how much more I could push myself. I saw my 30second man up ahead and I was gaining on him quickly. 1k to go, I dumped it and held 400w. I had to catch this guy before the finish. 300m left and I'm out of gears but could churn a little faster, so I gave it everything I had and hit 515 watts as I snatched that 30 second guy just as we crossed the finish line. Woof, that was hard.

However, had I executed a proper hour-long warm-up, I would have probably felt strong - not fresh, and ridden the course maybe 20 seconds faster. There's no way in hell I could match Todd's 7:16.80 TT time with my current fitness on a bike I've ridden twice before. No fucking way. That man is a beast. I could have gotten closer though. I should just be happy my sad excuse for a warm up and fitness landed me a time 30 seconds faster than last year and only 30 seconds behind the Pink Jersey. I was happy actually. I knew I could do damage in the crit, and atleast drop him in the hills during the Queen Stage, pulling atleast a minute on him.
We all know how boring text is without pictures to compliment it, so I leave you with more excellent photography from ReedKJ.SmugMug.com of our grueling (haha) 4 mile time trial. Tomorrow, I will try to conjure the anaerobic thoughts that carry the truth of our 40 minute, Stage 3, Capital Criterium.