Bike Time Trial

The local tri club has organized a free bike TT so I figured what the heck, I am going to try it. I have never done any bike races or anything similar.

Someone at the club asked me whether I have done any. I responded that no, I only pretend to be a cyclist. But then I looked at myself and at my bike and realized that I am not even pretending to be a cyclist!

It was very low key event, only few participants. It was 12.5 miles, two loops in Stoney Creek park.

It was a lot of fun. I have read somewhere that you are not supposed to start too hard and that it's better to divide a race into third - first one relatively moderate, then pick it up for the second third and hammer the last third and negative split.
And that was my plan. But then I do not know why my legs started to hurt after only 200m....
I mean really, they hurt. I was trying to think "embrace the pain, embrace the pain" and it seems that it worked.
I followed the plan, moderate, hard, harder. The harder part is just a blur, I do not remember my legs hurting. But I pushed it, although I did not concentrate on a pain, I concentrated on keeping average speed over 35kph (21.73mph).

I got calf cramps in last mile or so. Weird. I wonder whether it means something. Maybe I am not using right muscles.

I did those 12.5miles in 34:18, which is around 21.88mph. And I also negatively splited by around 20sec. So my plan seemed to work.
My highest HR was only 187. I do not know average because my HRM sometimes does not work properly. Maybe I need to change batteries or something.

So, the result is not that great. Holding only 21.8mph for only 12.5 miles is less than spectacular. But I am satisfied anyway.

It was my first race like this and I did not know what to expect. Now I know for future that I can push harder because you are supposed to be spent, right?
Plus I am sure I could be faster on a better bike, using clip-in pedals and shoes and maybe not wearing underwear and running spandex (sorry, I still do that). And maybe biking 17miles to get to the park did not help me either.

So it was good, it was fun. I would love to do it again and of course improve on my time.

I did run afterwards, 7 or 8 x 1min run with 1min walk. Zero discomfort. Sweet!

Something happened to my knee on Tuesday. It hurts above my knee cap on a bike when I put all my weight on bent knee. It did not hurt when riding the trial, but it hurt when I was biking home because it is constant stop and accelerate. It is ok when I do smooth pedal strokes.
So I am going to walk to work tomorrow. I think that I need to take a day off from bike and let the knee rest.