i would like to personally thank all of the people responsible for putting on the ghisallo time trial today. i witnessed firsthand all of the work that went into making this thing happen. wow, it's a wonder any race ever gets off the ground!
a lot of people showed up today! 120+ riders came to take on the 20k course along the route that so many st. louisans ride. the centaur/wildhorse/ossenfort ride is on everyone's ride chart. it's a fun, slightly rolling, always turning road with great scenery (not that anyone today was able to see any of THAT).
schvonzie and i rolled out of the store at 8:30 this morning to get in a good warmup, since neither one of us are anything close to time trialers. the beautiful mrs k had left the house this morning at the butt crack of dawn since she was helping the race teams put this thing on. after hooking up with dan and stefano, we pedaled around for a while. i was talked into installing aero bars at the last minute. why? i'd go faster, i was told. ok. faster is better. after seeing how many tt bikes were out there, the least i could do is use aero bars.
i was dan's minute man, but i pretty much knew i wasn't going to catch him. i was worried about being caught by the other thf guys, like austin, stefano, and even schvonzie. so i rolled out a little too hard, but caught myself and used the power tap as my guide. it seemed to be working pretty well, as the halfway point came and i was only caught by super old timer ethan. drat. but he motivated me to keep going, so i pumped up the volume and started flirting with 180bpm. i passed austin and stefano going the other way and told myself that i was going to stay ahead. ouch, ouch, double ouch. i saw the beautiful mrs k pedaling away on her tt going the other way too, and all i could say was GO! through the last turns and over the tracks, all i had left was the final straight on centaur. i wanted to quit so bad, as the finish tent wasn't getting any closer. i kept pushing, if for no other reason than to not get caught. done. and stefano passed me after the finish line!
i put up a 28:19, good enough for 25th place overall and an average of 25.2mph. that may sound bad to you, but i have done 3 road time trials in 15 years....1993 state tt, 2001 tour of st. louis tt, and today. i'm telling you, it's not my bag, baby! i was actually pretty proud of it. really, if you toss out the people who did it twice, only 22 people were faster out of the 120+. i know, i know, i'm just trying to make it sound better. but, i'm quite happy with it. and mrs k turned in a 35:12, 21mph average. after all of her work and running around, it was a great effort, i think. she got cheers from everyone as she finished the race, an acknowledgement of her contributions and enthusiasm.
what a fun day. it was a family affair, too. keith was helping in the start house, and tyson was the official on site biker kid. i'm tired. my shoulders are sore. and it was only 12 miles....
2 comments:
Congrats on a solid effort TK. It doesn't sound like fun at all.
time trials are fun when you finish. they are pretty painful from the word GO and it doesn't stop until you cross the line.
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