Catching Up

A lot has happened since I last posted about 3 months ago so I'll try to give a quick summary.

State TT in August:

The individual TT was on Saturday and it was definitely my "target" race of the year. It was also my first big TT since using a power meter. I had done a couple of practice runs on the course leading up to the race and felt good about my chances.

It started out well and by the time I got to the turn around I felt strong and was under my target time. I hit the brakes and suddenly my rear wheel slid in the drop outs and locked up. I managed to keep the bike upright as I skidded to a stop but the rear wheel was stuck with the tension of the chain. After fighting with it for a couple of minutes, I managed to get it loose and tried to tighten it. I then headed off on the way back but was effectively out of contention. Suddenly on a downhill section, my rear wheel blew out and the wheel locked again at about 30 mph. Miraculously, I managed to bring the bike to a stop without wiping out but my race was over. It was frustrating to say the least.

The Team TT was the following day and I was determined to have a good effort to make up for the disappointment of the previous day. I was without a disc wheel due to the blowout so I used my 88 on the rear. Mike Reed, Jonathan Skelley, Conner and I rode well together but I never found the great rhythm that I had the day before and fought the bike the entire time. We managed 5th place which didn't make up for the previous day.

Tour of Austin in September was my next race.

It was a TT followed by 3 crits over Labor Day weekend. The TT on Friday evening was a short, hard, and technical TT with one short steep hill. I had never been on the course before riding it and it showed when I raced. I over-shot a corner heading into a S-bend and went through the grass. I ended up 7th but missed top 3 by 5 seconds. The crit on Saturday was hard and I managed a field finish which is an improvement for a non-crit guy like myself. By Sunday the heat and my lack of form showed up and I was shelled half way through the crit. At that point I packed it up and skipped the Monday race. I continue to feel more comfortable and confident in crits but I'm still a long way away from being competitive.

October we bought a house and moved to Austin. I'm no longer commuting to work and trying to find riding time has been difficult but I love owning a house and we are doing a lot of rewarding work to make it ours.

That's a quick synopsis to get me close to caught up and I'll finish the rest in another post.