State TTT - The Sequel

Sorry for the lack of pictures but Sunday was an early start and my beautiful wife was still fast asleep when I left for another day of pain.

After the State TT on Saturday, I was back at the scene of the crime for a 7:42 start for the Team TT on Sunday. I rode in the Cat 3 TTT with the following roster; Mr. CycloX, SuperLegs, and The Pilot. The Pilot, like myself, had done the individual TT Saturday so both of us had serious questions about how much we had left in our legs but thankfully Mr. CycloX and SuperLegs had skipped the individual TT and were fresh.

After a discombobulated team warm-up,Mr. CycloX and I were the only members there when our team was called to the start line. SuperLegs showed up with about 30 seconds till our start and The Pilot came in about 10 seconds before the start after a last second nature call. We were given the go and SuperLegs immediately drilled it and the rest of us scrambled desperately to get to his wheel. SuperLegs let off and glanced back to make sure we were all there and then decided to drill it again. Finally, SuperLegs decided he was done and we began to settle into a nice rotation. About half way through the "out" leg, it was becoming apparent that The Pilot was feeling the prior day's effort and his pulls became shorter and he even skipped a pull or two. SuperLegs also backed it off and even allowed the speed to drop slightly during his pulls which was okay as long as he lived up to his moniker and pulled hard coming back. My legs felt better than expected and I finished our "out" leg with pull at the halfway point getting us through the turn around and back up to speed.

The leg back started with the eventual winners catching and passing us soon after the turn around. My turn to pull came right after they passed us and I ramped it up to match their pace. Soon afterwards I hear Mr. CycloX announce that SuperLegs had come off the back. I backed off the pace and waited for SuperLegs to rejoin us. We went through another rotation and when SuperLegs came to the front he pulled hard again. He announced the end of his pull with a loud bang accompanied by a giant mushroom cloud and came detached for the second and final time. Unfortunately, SuperLegs didn't have his legs on that day.

The time is taken on the third rider from our team so it was imperative not to lose anyone else. Mr. CycloX, The Pilot and I continued our rotations and my legs continued their good sensations so I continued to share the majority of the work with Mr. CycloX. The headwinds picked up on the way back so the pulls became increasingly painful. With about 4 miles to go Mr. CycloX began to feel the effort of the day but The Pilot miraculously found his legs. Mr. Pilot made two very strong pulls before I led out the sprint at the end for a 57:05 which was 9th; 3:10 off the winning time. It was a great ride and fantastic group of guys to fly the colors with. Time to give the TT bike a two week rest before I get back on it and work on becoming more slippery and powerful. Let the tweaking begin......