MATTS Harvard 30K Time Trial
April 28, 2007 – Harvard, IL
Cat 4 – 3rd – 54:24.44
260 watts – 24.5 MPH
As a Wisconsin native, I’m amused when a town right on our border boasts the “Milk Capitol of Illinois.” Despite turning into another exburb for the masses fleeing Chicago’s suburbia, the dairy and farming heritage is omnipresent. Not only does Harvard have a giant cow statue downtown, a lady came from a local dairy store was at the registration table handing out ice cream coupons.
I love coming to this town for bike races. I think it’s because it’s easy to get to from the Chicago area, the course is a “lollipop” and not your typical “out-and-back”, plus it has the right combination of hills and turn, and it has a nice staging area. Despite a week of shaky legs and feeling like an infected cow udder, I knew that I would likely have a good race.
I have noticed that the TTs in the spring tend to run a little behind, but I think all of the riders know this and it does give you extra time to warm-up. I appreciated the extra time and my legs were nice and loose. Starting out of the gate, I knew the first several miles would be into a slight headwind.
I might have pushed it too much, but I think my fast start actually helped me in the end. I ended up passing several riders in the first few miles before settling into a more realistic pace. Due to the direction of the wind, some of the course was in a headwind, some a crosswind, and not much of a tailwind. Considering that the wind wasn’t that strong, this might have given me a psychological advantage over the other riders. I just kept plowing on mentally targeting the next rider in front of me and occasionally checking my power.
When I crossed the line, I knew I had a good race based on the number of riders I had passed. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my average speed—24.5 MPH. A new personal record for this distance, which ended up being 32K. I knew that speed afforded me a good placing, but I had to wait until midweek to find how I had done. Third place…my first podium!!!
The most surprising aspect of the race for me was the average power I cranked out in relation to my average speed. CyclingPeaks calculated a normalized power of 260 watts (3.80 watts/kg) with an average HR of 179 bpm and average cadence of 84 rpm. Compared to my first TT of the season, which was only 16K, I can’t figure why I went faster with less power. At the JFMTT, I averaged 22.2 MPH with 264 watts normalized and a cadence of 92 rpm. Apart from having my new spanky XXX skinsuit, the only thing I can attribute my performance to was the wind and better pedaling efficiency.
Overall, the Harvard TT made me feel that I was ready for my first real target race of the year. Now, I was really starting to MOOOOooovvvveeee…:)