CCTT #1 Report

The first race of the series went well all things considered. Marni and I arrived plenty early but the line to get our numbers and t-shirts was very slow moving. We went straight there when we arrived, hit the bathroom afterwords and got changed as quickly as possible.
Despite our early arrival and hurry to get our numbers we still ended up short on time. I ran out of time to do even my full short version of the warm up plus the chilly temperatures and windy conditions made clothing choice a little harder. Nevertheless at least we got some warm up time in unlike a few of our unlucky friends! I tried to stay calm and remain focused on getting Marni ready for her race. I knew what to expect already and didn't really care what happened in my race so I wanted to make sure she had a good first time trial.
We took a few pictures while we adjusted layers, ate some Clif Blocks and drank a little water. Marni had some cramping issues in the race so I think hydration during her everyday routine needs some work. Other than that the pre-race prep went okay and I think next time already having our numbers we will have more than enough time for getting ready and proper full warmups.
With 5 minutes to the start we hopped off the trainers, I ditched my jacket and we tossed everything we didn't need into the Element. We got to the start line in the perfect amount of time and soon after I was off on my ride. Marni followed me 20 seconds later and thanks to our "start house" practice last night, she had a clean getaway and didn't worry about the person holding her up before the start.

My race went well with a decent tailwind on the front part of the course. After the first couple miles things alternated between crosswinds and headwinds and I did my best to stay in position and on the power. I definitely need to tweek my TT position a little more and get a significant amount more training on it this year. My breathing sucked and I'd have to rate my stillness and head position as quite sloppy with my cornering coming in as poor. Luckily the power seemed to be there anyway despite a so-so ride and I was quite happy to stop the clock just a couple ticks past 25 minutes. That's only 22 seconds slower than last year's fastest time despite plenty of areas for improvement. It felt good to do some real hard riding though after all my endurance training and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. I've been easing my way into the speedwork this year since it's such a long season. Plus I even managed to score 5th place in my catagory. Go figure!

Marni's race seemed to go well. She was the first of our girls to start and had someone to chase when Michelle passed her and motivation to stay ahead of the other girls starting behind her. Without aerobars and with some leg cramps in the final 3 miles she still managed an 18.1 mph average to finish under 35 minutes. Way to go babe! You're going to do great with some more practice and your aerobars in the future. Pretty much every free and purchased speed trick in the book is still available to you.

After the race we got to say "Hi" to Marni's parents who arrived in time to see both of us finish. That was a nice treat and Marni was really excited. Then the group got warm clothes on and headed to Old C's for some dinner. One time trial down, six more to go. Let's see who will be most improved! (Here's a hint, not the writer of this blog.)

Full Crew Results Race #1 (Final)
Scott De Leeuw - 31:04.8 - 20.3 mph - 66th of 70 - Sr 4 Men 35+
Dinh Le - 29:00.7 - 21.7 mph - 56th of 70 - Sr 4 Men 35+
Bill Henderson - 27:44.5 - 22.7 mph - 18th of 22 - Sr Men 35+
Mike Brevoort - 29:18.8 - 21.5 mph - 45th of 57 - Sr 4 Men
Erik Arentzen - 28:40.0 - 22.0 mph - 49th of 57 - Sr 4 Men
Chris Plesko - 25:02.4 - 25.2 mph - 5th of 57 - Sr 4 Men
Marni Plesko - 34:52.6 - 18.1 mph - 21st of 28 - Sr 4 Women
Melissa Clark - 36:38.9 - 17.2 mph - 26th of 28 - Sr 4 Women
Jeanie Brevoort - 35:25.2 - 17.8 mph - 24th of 28 - Sr 4 Women
Michelle Arentzen - 31:07.8 - 20.2 mph - 13th of 28 - Sr 4 Women

If you guys or girls really had a faster time due to a missed start, email it to me and I'll update it for our personal series record keeping.