Wednesday, May 05, 2010

River Falls TT


The cancellation of the Black Dog TT series, has left a big hole in our schedule. No Charity TT and Synergy TT in May doesn't help. Jordan and I had planned on doing the Ride and Glide TT last night, but it filled, and we missed out.

No worries, I created a course to attempt to duplicate the one for Jr Nationals in Bend this year. It's just south of River Falls, WI. 12.77mi, out and back. 2 long gradual climbs, and 2 long gradual descents. The course at Nationals is 1 long climb to the turnaround, and then back down. Carla even joined us to help sweep the corner!

Last night was our first try at the course. I started 1 minute ahead of Jordan, and we both rode our full TT setups, complete with rear disc, and deep dish front. At the top of the first climb, I looked back to see Jordan had already made up around 45 seconds of his deficit. However, the winds picked up during our race to as strong as I've ever ridden in a TT. Miles 3-7 were all exposed crosswind. I stayed in my TT position, and struggled to keep my bike straight. Jordan got blown all over the place, and lost big time because of it. His front tire even skipped out from under him a couple times, forcing him to clip out! In hind sight, the deep dish front was a bad choice.

By the turnaround, Jordan had lost most of his gain on me. The climbing started again right after the turn around, but the tailwind made it much easier. The last half of the TT flew by. In the end, Jordan got me by 15 seconds. The results:

Jordan: 31:40
Jimmer: 31:55

Can't wait to do it again in 2 weeks!

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