Well it looks like the Mayans didn't get the Apocalypse right.... we are still here.
My favorite picture that explained it....
This last weekend was the 2nd in the series of the Dayton Indoor Time Trials on Sunday. This would be Carisa's first time at this and a chance for me to better my time. After church when everyone was in Sunday school, I ran home loaded the bikes up and packed lunch. I went back and picked everyone up and we headed down to Club 51 to get it on! We got there in time to see Alix Payton in action, of course setting the bar for women that day (and of course no one beat her). I got Carisa set up on a trainer for warm up and tried to explain as much as I could to her without over-whelming her. She was in the next race, with George, McCarty and Dan P (and two others). For her first time she did great. Her goal was 20 minutes and she missed it only by 11 seconds (and when she finished she said she could have gone harder, but she didn't know what to expect). Still ended up 1st in her age group, Great Job! Next I was up. My previous indoor time trial I had knocked 30 seconds off my previous best.. I was hoping for more but I knew it would be tough. Before the start I was told about the guy on the end of the row racing against me. We had a run in....
It was at Criterium Practice race in Spring. We were racing around the Kilkare track and he was in front of me following a really quick (and very nice) kid in a LionHeart jersey. As we came through the pits (which is 8 lanes wide and exits in 2 lanes) the LionHeart kid swung out wide to fall to the back of the pack and this guy was wheel sucking and followed him. As the LionHeart slowed to fall to the back the main group which I was in kept up the pace and started going around and straight out the 2 lanes we were in... as this guy on the end realized what was happening he jerked the bike to the right and banged into me and nearly took the pack out as we were rolling above 20mph. Everyone in the group yelled at him and he turned around and looked at me and yelled back to me to "Hold my line"..... really? If I did hold my line I would have mashed this guy flatter than a pancake. He ran his mouth to everyone for the next 2 laps and then dropped out of the race before the end and left while we were still racing.
So anyway, there he was in my heat. Where the bikes are on the trainer, and there are no variables that would sway an advantage to either person. Just Mano a Mano. The race started and this guy blew out of the start like a rocket... he put 400 feet into me in the first 1/4 mile - he was pushing over 400 watts and it only just begun. Joshua Bozue was in my heat also and I was ahead of him. If you know him I should NOT be ahead of him, he is fast! So I was starting to panic if this guy was so much faster than me and Joshua there was no chance.... but in a 10K race there was plenty of time left. I just focused on Joshua and figured use him as a pace and just try to keep the gap down between us. Joshua caught me about 2 miles in and then his gap kept growing (which I totally expected). I just tried to limit the amount of gap. I would look over and see him with the pain face and I knew I wasn't the only one suffering. And guess what... the gap to first was closing to Joshua and me.. there was the crack. It's on. As we worked over the course I was breathing like a vacuum cleaner - sucking in all the air I could. Heart rate in the 180's almost all the time. We both caught the guy on the end and passed him and it must have hurt as he slowed more... the gap jumped on him. Someone was next to him was coaching him, cheering him on and he was back at it... his loss has started to level off and he was keeping up just not gaining or losing anymore.
I was able to find a new pain place that day.. when I was suffering and was spinning the pedals over hanging on, when I saw Joshua suffering.. it almost lighted my suffering. I was able to push harder... I would click down one more gear and spin it back up the same. Going faster than before and deeper into the suffering than before. I only realized this at the end of the race... If I could have figured this out earlier I hope that I would have been faster still. Joshua finished just over 15 minutes (15:14) and I was only feet behind him. Holy cow I think I am going to get a new Personal Record. I kicked it down and pushed. I finished at 16:22 - exactly 30 seconds better than the race before! I did it. Another improvement. So far I have knocked a full minute off last years best time and I feel like I have more. I hope to improve next time too.
That is all I have to say about that...
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