Tete a Chrono - FNF

Head to time…race against the clock….the race of truth….the pain cave

I’ve been time trialing a lot lately. The Good Folks at Speed Merchant Aerodynamics Research and Testing (SMART) set me up on a cheap knock-off of a carbon Pinarello TT bike. I used it ‘in anger’ for the first time at the Rye-By-The-Sea duathlon this past june. It was pathetic. Partially due to my inherent lack of TT skills, and partially due to the weather - a cold windy rain coming off the ocean for almost ½ the course made my legs tight. My toes actually got cold, and I found myself going into the small chainring for the rather inconsequential hill at the end of the bike leg.

I then participated in a TT that was part of the Maine TT series. A 13ish mile very flat course. I maintained a 24.4 mph average speed, which I didn’t consider to be too terrible considering I didn’t even predrive the course.

But then I did the old standard – the Concord-Carlise TT – aka the Charlie Baker Time Trial. This TT has been around in several iterations for about 40 years. It’s the same basic course, but the start and finish points have changed over time. I set my previous PR about 20 years ago. Back then the start and finish were at the same point for a loop distance of 10.8 miles. It wasn’t a particularly fast time, but it was good for me. I finished in 24:55, at an average speed of a hair over 26 mph.

Last week, 20 years later, they have the finish about a mile sooner than the start. I ripped it up in 23:09, for an average of 25.4 mph.

True, that isn’t going to win me any medals, but there are two points:

A) It’s the fastest I’ve ridden the course since they changed the start finish point (maybe 5 years ago?)
2) I rode it .6 mph slower than I did 20 years ago.

I’ll take it.

And you can take this, your F.N.F….