Black Diamond Time Trial

I had a rewarding experience at the  third and final edition of the Black Diamond Time Trial, near Iowa City on Sunday.  My results haven't been particularlly noteworthy in events that require the cooperation of the other competitors, so I decided to get back to some familiar ground, by racing against one of the most cooperative people I know... my self.

I was able to have a very solid ride that met my expectations.  I looked up my past performances on this course as well as those of some of the guys I usually race with or against.  I didn't get my course record of 42:59 on the 20 mile route, but did win the event with a 43:29, which is much improved from my results in 2011.  That is also the high mark for the series with team mate Paul Deninger's 43:33 back in May serving as the 2nd fastest time this year.  He is in great shape and a very accomplished Time Trialists, so I use his times to evaluate my own performances.

Hopefully I can use this result to motivate me throughout subsequent workouts and races.  I feel that I am headed in the right direction to finish off the season with a nice result or two. 

I absolutely love group training rides, however I don't always get a chance to participate. Some of the rides in Muscatine don't end up simulating race scenarios due to the small size of our group, so I have to do traveling if I want to gaurantee a high-quality training experience. I would be very interested in participating in weekly criterium training races, but they don't exist in my world, so I try and take advantage of what opportunities I have.  My interest in time trialing is almost inadvertant... it is just the way things work out.

This sort of sums up my racing situation and motivations.

In the meantime, don't forget about the Quad Cities Road Race... this is a first-year event and we need all the support we can get.