May 2nd was my first official race of 2010. The Paper Discovery Duathlon up in Neenah. It's a 2 mile run followed by a 19.5 mile bike followed by the same 2 mile run. Mostly flat, overpasses being the only 'hills.'This was my second year doing this race.
Feeling stronger than ever on the bike, and sporting some new 'go-fast parts' on the bike, I was confident and really wanted to hammer it. My goal was to have a good fast, first run, waste myself on the bike, then just see what I had left in the tank for the final run.
As for those new go-fast parts, I upgraded to a really nice 3T base bar/ aero bar setup, resulting in a much more aggressive/ aero position, and a 54 tooth SRAM aero chainring setup. So I'd at least be more aerodynamic and pushing a harder gear. At the very least, the bike looked fricken awesome! haha
Into the race, though I signed up for the Elite wave in every race this year, there I was, starting in the 3rd wave. Whatever. I had two guys running with me to get a good, fast pace going at least. Annoyingly, a fresh crop of 'lake flies' had just hatched apparently and were making their presence known all over the course. There were clouds and swarms of them all over the place. Had to close my eyes, and make sure my mouth was closed a few times...
Into transition, getting to my rack, with the rest of my wave minutes behind, it was still full. Helmet on, glasses on, shoe change, and I'm off. Initially, absolutely flying by all the wave 2 and even wave 1 stragglers, I actually was able to find clear road and not have to broken record repeat, "On your left, on your left, on your left" too many times. Finding my rhythm and settling into my new aero position (which I was only able to test once, one day prior...) I could tell the aggressiveness of it, how narrow my body was over the bike, and how I had to be conscious of my balance. But what really surprised me, was the fact that even as the race wore on, I got no soreness, no lower back pain, or even neck pain. Something that usually happens when tucked like that for an extended period of time. As the old saying is "You can be aero or you can be comfortable, you can't have both..." Now I can't say I was necessarily "comfortable," but I wasn't too worse for the wear. So not having put me on a power meter to test power output before and after, or a wind tunnel to test just how much more aero I indeed was, I'm pretty happy with the new setup. Anyway, race continued on, felt like I was moving pretty good. Got passed occasionally by 2 or 3 riders pace-lining each other, effing triathletes. (By the way drafting is not permitted in triathlons or duathlons. It's supposed to be an individual race against the clock. Drafting gives you an advantage) But beyond those knobs cheating their way through the bike, I was very rarely passed, and again, thought I was moving pretty well. I had an encounter with what was essentially a curb in the road (actually just new pavement transitioning to old pavement), but hit it so hard, I thought I blew my front tire... Scared the bejesus out of me, being in the aerobars, and then to boot, it started the tell-tail hissing of a tire going down. Riding shaken, I inspected to see if the tire was going down, but later found that the impact actually knocked my brake caliper off center and into the wheel. Nice. So I opened up the brake as I rode, and pushed on to the end...
Back to transition, bike back onto an empty rack. Glasses off, helmet off, shoe change again, number belt on, and I'm off out the 'run out.' Oddly, my legs still felt pretty solid, so I said "ok?" and continued at a pretty quick pace that I thought I could hold. Through a few more clouds of bugs, I made it into the finish, even through a little kick in the last 400 yards or so.
I stretched out a little, and oddly felt like I had not just raced...? Seeing the results later I found out why. I didn't push hard enough. My runs were fairly good, I split 6:15's in the first 2mile, and 6:30's in the second. But then the split that I really cared about, I only averaged 21.7 on the fricken bike. Shoulda went harder. Really disappointed me actually.
SO I finished 47th overall and 8th in my agegroup...
My excuses: Having done this one last year, I noticed some big talent shows up to this race, and this year was no exception. I never got to see the really fast guys as they were 2 waves in front of me, but I still at least ended up being in that top 50 (waves are 50 people each). And it's just my first race of the season. I didn't do amazingly well at this one last year either. It takes me a while to find my good form, and therefore it's not going to be on display in the first race.
Having said that garbage: I'm still pissed with the work I've done thus far, and how comparatively well I feel this year to years past, and how I still only finished at what would be the back of the elite pack.
And so, as soon as this track season is OVER, efforts must be increased. I cannot be content with this.
See yah on the road.
