TT, 300m sprint and crit and final TT at the Boulie

The TT

With the first race post TT bike set up ahead of me I was more than  abit disappointed to find there was a problem with gear changing that I'd not noticed before.  Weirdly it was only when using the granny gears in the small chain ring so I just had to avoid those.  And I did, actually I never got out of the big chain ring so the dramas were only while doing warm up passes up and down the approach road.  There was a tail wind out ....so low flying downhill on the way out and less than flying on the way back

there were about 16 women racing of all age grades and I beat most of them.. I think I was 6th or 7th fastest and while I need to check, I think it was also a PB...felt like it anyway.....one of the guys who I normally either just beat or just lose to was   ~30secs down on my time.

The Sprint

The 300 m straight line sprint had taken place in the morning and what can one say except that 300m is a VERY long way  when you're sprinting into the wind and slightly uphill.  I got some compliments about being very smooth off the ramp...but after all that gate start practice at the track  and the wealth of experience I have TTing, so it should have been!

There were a few issues with the electronic timing but it was all good by the time we started.  One guy's chain exploded when he was about 30 m down the track...it had broken into 3 or 4 bits.  I was told he's a bike mechanic so I did a quick check to find out where he works so as to avoid that shop!

The Crit

The long line going north is warm up time...not part of the race!

Easter Day was finally upon us and the weather was holding up. at one point i wasn't going to race it but I had  decided to stay as I should still be able to get home by the early afternoon and rest up for the TT at the Boulie. Originally we were to be  a group of 3, but sense prevailed and with a bigger mix of age groups there were 8 of us.

 It was a bit of a procession to begin with and I had it in mind to stir things up  a bit at about the half way mark, however I have a low threshold for boredom and so took off when there was a bit of a lull at about 6 minutes into the race. I lead for a couple of laps before thinking to myself...you dipstick you......and let the younger age groups take over again.  I was with the bunch at the finale but as we'd dropped my competition , I knew I had to keep out of the way of those who did need to race right to the end and so let the group go a metre or so before starting my sprint.

The TT at the Boulie

Home and this morning it was time to do the final of five races in 4 days.....a 20km TT at the Boulie...with it's poor road surface and undulations and  3 u turns to lose time over.

The weather was crap...windy, raining on and off, greasy road .  So I was ready to go,I'd paid the entry fee of $25 (!!!!) but the weather was less than encouraging...should I race or not.......hmmmm then the issue I had with gear changing ( which we thought we'd fixed at home) reared it's ugly head again and on this course I really needed my small chain ring.  Bugger!

So the plan was to do 1 lap (10km) and assess....and that's what I did.  Actually  I had  a few bad moments and had to sit up where normally I would not. Plus I scare easily when: 
1. being swept over the road with the wind,
2.  slipping  on the greasey surface,
3. nearly going off the road on a downhill curve I over cooked

guess I'm just poor at racing a TT bike on greasy wet roads.

Add to that no granny gears and a dropped chain  at the turn around and I called it quits.  Pity 'cos surprisingly I felt pretty strong.

The mechanical  issues  were, of course, my fault....for the first race on  Satturday the culprit turned out to be a loose small chain ring......when  I got the crankset changed from a Durace53/39 to a compact Lightning one with extralight chain rings, I gave it to the shop in a made up condition but the added message that I'd only tightened the chain ring bolts to finger tight mustn't have got through to the mechanic.... of course I never checked and they gave no trouble  during the bike fit and the test rides.....(?). but they were very loose when we inspected them at home on Sunday arvo.........memo to self either do things up properly or give them in unattached.

For the second race, the chain ring was fine but we think that  the  jockey wheels are at fault...they are quite old and are the fancy  lightweight weight weenie type and seem very loose in the cage.... back it goes to the mechanic and we shall see.

Next TT race: 28/4 at Wangaratta and in the mean time I need to add some road races to help increase my pace.