Time Trials in July, Maybe Not a Good Thing
Surely if my serotonin and dopamine were working correctly I wouldn't have left the house with a temperature of 102° and a heat index of 108°. I saw the numbers on the television weather report and if I had nicotine in my system, then I would have thought, "Holy crap! It's insane to go outside and push myself to the limit in this heat". My brain didn't register the insanity of busting ass for 30 minutes in the heat because the brain is going through nicotine withdrawal and doesn't give a bleep if the body tortures itself in the heat.
I adjusted the new cranks, filled up the tires and pedaled towards the veloway. It was hot but not unbearable. Not unbearable until the heart rate climbed to the max. Not unbearable until the Cytomax and water bottles were too warm to drink. OK, this was the closest I've come to throwing up after exercise in a long, long time.
The bike felt faster with the larger chain ring, but the posted times indicated ten seconds slower than May's time trial. The slower time could be attributed to the heat, the lack of energy from the earlier swim and run, or from the eight mile-per-hour wind I hit face on for the second half of the course. Surely, going from a 28/38/48 to a 39/53 helped the speed. I know it felt much better. Looking at the other rider's times for last night, compared to those in May, everyone dropped between .2 and 1.5 average m.p.h. The average drop was .85 m.p.h. so given the conditions I did go a little faster as my drop was only .5 m.p.h.
The top speed yesterday was 28.5 m.p.h. and I know that I spazzed on the one descent that should have been more like 33 or 34 m.p.h. I think I was in the 39 chain ring for the climb and downshifted to the 11t cog and by the time I shifted to the 53 chain ring, I'd lost most of the descent. Argh! I'll just have to go out this weekend when it's cooler and I'm fresher to really get an idea.
There's still more I can change on the bike to improve its performance. I think the next piece to replace is the front fork. It's not aerodynamic at all and a carbon fork would lighten the bike considerably. If anyone has a 1", aerodynamic carbon fiber fork they're wanting to get rid of for say $50 or less, give me a shout.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home