Sonoita-Patagonia Time Trial

I came down to Tucson this weekend to go do this race (and to do other stuff). Even though the race has this special stuff for people that can average 30mph, I knew that wasn't a realistic goal for me. I decided that I would shoot for 24mph (finishing in 30 minutes or less, like a pizza). The race is downhill pretty much the whole way, and I thought I could maybe do that for 12 miles.

I started off probably a little quick. I think my instinct of not wanting to look slow in front of people probably kicks in on the start here (just like running in a big group at the start of a pure running race seems to make me go faster). I wanted to see if I could get up to 30mph and then see how much work it would be to keep that up... but that didn't really happen. I only got up to 30 a couple of times, on the bigger sloped downhills... when I was doing most of the work, seemed like I topped out around 24.

I did work about as hard as I could, and I was able to maintain it for the most part for the whole race. I finished in around 31 minutes (haven't gotten the official time yet). 31 minutes puts me at 22.6 mph, which is not too bad (well slow for everyone else, but pretty good for me). I did wear my HR monitor during the race to better judge my effort... and I did average 171 bpm, and I was pushing the biggest gears I could the whole way. I'm really still not sure how everyone else just whizzes by me, but oh well. I did a pretty good job of completely emptying my tank, which is all I can do really.

Now, to the problem... I did a pretty good job of completely emptying my tank. This is a one-way time trial, meaning that after I finished I then had to ride back UP the hill for the same 12 miles to get back to my car, while running on fumes. This was evil and sad. Took me over an hour to make my way back up... just more good exercise really, but it was frustrating. I was jealous of every truck I saw heading back up with bikes in the back (some people plan ahead and come in a group). Overall was pretty fun, and I might have to do it again to see if I can get faster. only 8 mph more to get the nifty 30mph shirt...heh.