POLAPen 6 Mile Uphill TT
August 20, 2011 – Rolling Hills Estates, CA
Masters 35+ – 4th – 24:49:00
277 watts – 14.5 MPH
POLAPen 10 Mile Flat TT
August 21, 2011 – San Pedro, CA
Masters 35+ – 1st – 25:11:00
284 watts – 25.2 MPH
POLAPen Omnium
August 20-21, 2011
Masters 35+ – 2nd – 50:00:00
A few weeks ago, I saw that there was going to be a preseason TT omnium. Huh!!?? Of course, I’m most shocked at having the TT “preseason” in August, but an omnium was very intriguing. To make things more interesting, it included both an uphill TT and a flat TT. I’m used to having two TTs in one weekend, but never in an omnium format.
The first day was an uphill TT in Ranchos Palos Verdes. It was a 6 miles course up to the signal towers on San Pedro Hill. I had never done an uphill TT, so I didn’t know what to expect. The weather was “perfect” for a TT–not much wind, cloudy, and in the mid-60s. I got lost on the way to the race, which started at a nature center in Rolling Hills Estates. During my warm-up on Palos Verdes Drive, I realized how different biking is around LA vs the OC. I’m used to wide bike lanes and lots of off road bike paths. Here the roads were narrow, as were any bike lanes. At least there were tons of cyclists, plus this area of the LA is much older than the OC (aka, before “planned” communities like Irvine)
The route wasn’t too hard. After climbing Mt. Eden up in the San Jose area, this wasn’t too bad. Most of the grades were 5-6% and there were a few downhill portions and false flats. The hardest part was me not being used to racing uphill, especially with all of the turns. Overall, I was happy with my placing, since I didn’t go 100%. It felt more like practice. Plus, I had another TT the following day.
The flat TT on Sunday was the same course in the Port of Los Angeles that I had done back in March. Of course, it was 60 and drizzly back then, and now it was sunny and in the 70s. We also had a mild wind for the homestretch. My legs were a little sore from the race yesterday, but I knew I would be using different leg muscles in an aero TT bike position vs standard road bike position. I really like this course, since it’s two 5 mile loops. It’s 10 miles, but it doesn’t feel like 10 miles. There is one 50 meter bridge thatbreaks your momentum, but you can still climb it in the aero position. After racing for years through cornfields, having a course that goes inbetween cranes and contain ships is pretty cool. I’m happy we did it on Sunday when it was dead. It’s hard to believe they have multilane highways here just for loading and unloading ships (you can get a better idea if you view the course in satellite or Google Earth mode0.. Pretty cool. OK, back to my race.
I was tired at the end of my race and happy with my effort. I wish my speed would have been faster (it felt faster), but I average 1+ MPH faster than my race in March. I also ended up winning my age group and placing second in the omnium. Not bad for my second omnium in just a couple of weeks. I’m slowly easing into the LA racing scene and can’t believe the TT season starts in September!!??
The photos below are from Rose…:) Also, thanks to Back On Track Productions and Riders One for putting on a great race!