Sunday, June 24, 2007

State Time Trial-missed it by a hair!!


How can one even begin to deal with losing by 1-second?!?!? 1 minute is reasonable, thats someone else with a bigger motor and abetter day, but 1-second? I do know what happened and it was sure to add up to more than a second. More to come on that later. The day started wet, but I needed to see the last 5 miles of the course and its darn good I did too. Warm-up went fine and i rolled ot the line and when I was released I looked down at my computer and it had turned off. I turned it on and set an interval so I would have current runtime and distance should I want to look at it. This was annoying, but I got it all done, hit the turn for Lithopolis and set into my plan for the day, which was to ride conservative up front and see how I felt. So I backed down the wattage and tried my best to keep any surges over the rollers reasonable. I was going upwards of 27mph so I figured I was safe for now. The first 12 miles of the course went by uneventfully. I was tired and legs were screaming for relief, but otherwise normal!! My heart rate was good (maybe too good)and I was relaxing my upper body and controlling my breathing when I would start to breathe too big and fast. But I dont know what happened after one of the turns, but I slowed down a bit and it showed in my power profile. I went from an average of 277 watts down to 260 watts. IT only worked out to a loss of 0.1 mph, but thats where I think I lost the race. I was trying like mad that whole section to keep my watts up as well, but it was getting harder and harder and every push was met with a slow down. But I knew when I hit the 5 miles to go mark from my warm-up and I got my watts up to 280 for the last 5 and rolled in hard and fast at over 320 watts and 29 to 31 mph. I dont know what happened, cumulative tiredness or maybe a little lack of mental toughness, but I am happy I got myself back up. I ended up top 10 overall and 2nd in my age group. Its funny, but the guy who beat me shaved his arms and if thats not enough he said to his buddy, watch me lose by 1-second after I shaved my arms or something to that effect. Well he didnt lose and I lost by a hair!! Maybe next year I shave my arms!! I cannot thank enough my wife and daughter, my coach Brent Evans and Mike Vanucci and to all my new cycling friends who have encouraged me and challenged me these last 11 months getting back into cycling!! Sorry I missed it, but hey-I gave it my all and not just at this event!!

2 comments:

Rick said...

congrats....I know 2nd is a disappointment, but you've done so well this year! Next season you'll have your SBR skinsuit and that will get you your second that you need to win! Nice Job!

Ray Huang said...

Thanks Rick. I hear Richard Lewis who beat me has a big motor, so its good. Hell be faster next year and so hopefully will I!!