Unexpected Tempo Ride

This was the week I planned to turn it up a few notches with some serious riding, but glitches in the plan hit early. With Friday off from work extending the holiday weekend and my Tues/Thur kid-carting obligations absent for a week, I figured I'd ride every day except Wednesday...including joining the PHAT ride on Tuesday night and the Bikeworks TT on Thursday. Of course Tuesday was a terrific night for riding given the horrible weather we've been experiencing, but as luck would have it, I couldn't leave work early (just on time!)...so no PHAT ride. Plus when I got home, although there was time for a short ride, I just felt tired and hungry and non motivated...so no ride at all. And the night before I found out there would be no TT in Rehoboth this week. It's an 8 miler.

Then the rain came and came and came and....well you all know about the lousy weather that never seems to end.

So tonight's ride was unexpected for two reasons:

1. First, it pretty much rained here all day and hard...and it was raining when I left Boston...and my wife reported very wet roads and huge puddles. So I figured another ride missed due to the crappy weather system that has parked itself in various locations in the Northeast for just about the entire month of June. But after I got home and had a good meal, the roads were clearly drying and I just needed to get out on the bike for a short ride. Damp conditions were not going to stop me.
2. Secondly, I hate wet rides of any type so I simply resigned myself to a "going through the motions" type of ride. But after the first 5 miles of spinning I unexpectedly picked up the tempo without really trying. That's when I realized how strong my legs were feeling so I picked it up some more to a level I thought I MIGHT be able to sustain for the rest of the ride (by now an 18 mile ride had been decided!).

Lo and behold...I ended up doing 18.25 mostly dry miles in 58 minutes...an 18.9 mph pace! And that's with one decent size hill and a somewhat slow first 5 miles. Now I don't feel bad about there not being a TT on Thursday. Sometimes the best rides are totally unexpected.

Next up: a one-way approx. 50 mile ride to the family cottage in Fairhaven on the 4th...well, that is after Friday's ride.

My First Time Trial

And a disaster it was!

I think time trials (TT) are great. In addition to being my favorite type of cycling competition, I think they are great to participate in as a way to measure your fitness and help attain riding goals like speed. Turns out, there are several TT races held in the local area by clubs and bike shops...and they're open to anyone. I'd been thinking of trying one but my schedule makes it difficult. But there is one that fits my schedule perfectly and also happens to be reasonably close by as well, so earlier in the week I committed to participate in the once per month Saturday morning 12-mile TT held by the Sharon Road Club.

Okay, so now about the disaster. I'll start by giving some advice. Know the TT course before you ride it for the first time. I know the roads in the area reasonably well and had both a map I had downloaded and studied plus written directions handed to me at the race. Despite all that, I missed a turn that resulted in an estimated extra 1.6 miles being added to the 12 mile TT loop. But that's just the BIG mistake I made. Here is a complete list of all the things, that IMO, went wrong...rookie mistakes if you will :

• Not knowing the course well enough and missing a turn
• Riding 28 miles the night before
• Starting out way too fast for the 12 mile distance and at too high a cadence
• Forgetting to reset my cyclometer
• Not being able to ride on the drops for long enough distances
• Forgetting to wear my skin suit and teardrop shape aero helmet (ok...just kidding on those two!)

My official time was 44:19, which for a 13.6 mile distance equates to an average speed of 18.5 mph. My goal for this TT was an average speed with a 19 handle...so to me I didn't come close. My goal for this season is to break into the 20s. Despite the disaster, I still had fun and plan on doing this TT routinely as a measure of progress.

The Sharon Road Club TT is held once a month during the riding season at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. More information can be found at the link.

There are a few other regularly held TT events in the area of varying distances. Here are the ones a know about with links for more information.

• Dover TT - Dover, MA - Wed nights - 7.7 miles
• Bikeworks TT - Rehoboth, MA - Thur nights - 8 miles
• Tri-Town Cycling TT - Rochester, MA - Tues nights - 14 miles (the Small Town Cyclist wrote about it here)

I'd like to try the Bikeworks TT next if I can manage to free-up a Thursday night.

Anyone know of any other TTs in the area?

Edited to add another local TT:

• Pat Bell TT - Southboro, MA - Tues nights at 6:30 - 11.7 miles