Southeastway TT

This boiled down to a short, very hard training ride. My time losses occurred because I wasn't familiar with the course (a loop with multiple turns and a turnaround about 2/3 of the way into the course) and because of some very stiff head and cross-winds. I did do better with the TT start than last weekend, but I wasn't sure about the road markings and even turned around briefly in an attempt to verify whether I was headed in the right direction. Then I lost more time when I slowed down at several intersections for cars or looked to see whether the position of the patrol vehicles could give me a clue as to the direction of the turns. However, my biggest loss of time occurred during the 6-mile long continous stretch of headwind that was blowing at 10-15 mph out of the SSW. I don't know how slow I was going into the wind, but it must have been pretty strong because I was doing 25-27 mph after the turnaround in the opposite direction. Still, I handily beat the competitors because there weren't any that day. I definitely need to ride more miles. Thanks to the Dan and Joanne Daly and to ABR for putting on the event!

This was my first long ITT of the season and I was curious to see the results of a different training strategy this year. I usually write off the first ITT to a shakedown ride without concern to achieving a personal best.

I ended up winning the TT with a time under 54 minutes for 22 miles. I didn't expect to win and I only credit that to my main competition messing up on the course. The course was not an out and back type. We left the park and rode around the area before heading toward the turn around. I had a strange feeling that I was off course during 70% of the race. I ignored it and kept up the pace wondering if I was heading out of the area on an unexpected adventure with just one water bottle! That feeling was further reinforced as I watched my expected halfway time go by without reaching the turnaround. The turnaround turned out to be past the half way point.
I finally reached the turnround and I was rewarded with a good tailwind on the way back. The wind was strong enough that I was using my biggest gear. As I plodded along, I was wondering if I made a mistake by putting a 50 tooth chainring on JoMay's bike, but that wasn't the case. (lucky for me!)
I am glad to get the first one of these out of the way. Judging by how I felt on the ride and the large gear I was using into the wind, I expect to have a PR soon on a 40K.