2009 State Time Trial Recap

I just got back from competing in the State TT Champs in Nichols, IA. The turnout was pretty good, considering that their was a 100% chance of precipitation forecasted during our race. Sure enough it started raining right about 8am and continued throughout the race. Thankfully, it never broke into a full on downpour. I imagine my water logged skinsuit and shoes might have weighed me down a bit, otherwise the rain really wasn't much of a factor, maybe even cooled things down a bit.

I really didn't know what to expect for my results, as my times have been all over the place. I was determined, however, to at least have a focused ride that represented a solid effort. As the cycling update website descibes us... there were plenty of the usual 'magnificant time trialing bastards' warming up. This is good, in that there is more glory to be gained if I faired well comparatively, but, of course makes getting a high overall placing just that much more difficult.

Results - Top 10 Overall
1 0:52:33.99 Paul Denninger (cat 1/2 – Gold)
2 0:52:38.33 Jeff Barnes
3 0:53:35.37 Chad Bishop (cat 3 – Gold)
4 0:55:21.82 Greg Duethman (masters – Gold)
5 0:55:32.62 Dan Shaffer
6 0:56:05.85 Joe Hetrick
7 0:56:23.95 Mark Sorenson
8 0:57:07.13 Dan Reasoner
9 0:57:37.92 Sean Walker
10 0:57:55.50 Adam Price

The race played out a lot like last year's, except Paul was here, so that ended up bumping me to third overall. There weren't any other Cat 3's, so I did get the Gold medal.

I am thankful to have pulled off third overall, as I really didn't train on my TT bike this year until after the reality check at the DICE 40k in Mid July where my fitness proved to be much lower than the month before. I made a lot of adjustments in my training which helped me get back into solid form. I think if I would have started LT training just a couple of weeks earlier, I might have been able to break my self-imposed 53 minute barrier. Then all I would need is to have Paul and Jeff not show up, and bingo, state tt champ. I wouldn't mind putting that feather in my cap one of these years, we'll see if I can keep my head in the game long enough to realize that ambition.

I have one more peice of aero gear that I may purchase next year that will improve both my body position and bike aerodynamics. Combining that with a slightly adjusted summer training regimine should make me a TT contender again in 2010.

The season shifts...Well, I believe I am going to Des Moines to race around the Capitol at the end of August, as a wrap up to the 2009 road/crit season. However, I am still planning on shfiting my training focus starting this week. I will be riding some on gravel roads and mountain bike trails. This will get me ready for the cyclocross season, but mostly just provide a new training routine. I also need to run a bit, as I have one more event that I get to use my TT bike for, but it is a duathlon, so I will have to get some sort of running base over the next month.

Congrats to all of the medal winners at this years State TT Champs.