Today's session

6h15 – Start of the time trial. I’ll lead (for a while), Eric 30 sec later and Paul another 30 sec back. As usual, I start off with rpm, spinning like a maniac to get going. Soon enough I find myself flying – well figuratively speaking that is… It’s somewhat normal, we took all the aero gear out: aero wheels, aero lid, aero bottle, aero bike, aero position... I look at the watch, already 30 mn went by – cool – and I’m off to a long straight line. I speed up, always in the high RPM. And then, Eric catches me up (ALREADY) and drops me off right there on the spot. And then, ALREADY, Eric passes me – he already made up the 30 sec: I’m sure it’s the new bike. It must be! He whooshes by with a sweet aero noise (difficult to explain if you never heard aero carbon wheels going…). I take it pretty hard. So I decide to swift down to speed up. At this rate, Paul should be coming right up.
Eric just takes, but after some turns, I notice that I don’t loose as much ground. I turn faster than Eric (he actually was checking me out to keep his own pace)... which barely allows me to compensate for the straight portions. Note: I still can see him, but from a (far) distance. On the bridge, I shift to the small ring, turn-around, and again I keep the distance with Eric. On the return, I see Paul – he starting off at a more reasonable pace than Eric. I start thinking that I might be able to catch Eric up towards the end… But again, straight line, and I find myself helpless! I press on the pedals as much as I can, it doesn’t hurt so much – I manage the cadence & gear to avoid overload : I keep in mind the SECOND 20mn…
After a lap (~9 km), I check the clock : around 14'45. Alone I consider it a great split. But Eric pulled it about 14mn : his bike is making his legs even more efficient. Paul hasn’t caught up with me, I’m surprised. There are only a few minutes left for the first part: I give all I have! Now, I have 2 mn for easy spin. It’s the shortest 2mn ever! Eric eases up more than I did the during the « rest » so I close in to about 50m. And since I resume the second part 30 sec before Eric, so I’m only 20m away when he turns on the afterburners…
He takes off, making a gap again, but at a slower rate than before. I have to try to close on him. After 5mn, the gap stays constant. The bridge is done, a turn (good for me) and a good straight line. And I start gaining on him: I give everything I have. The thighs and butt cheeks start to complain. But I’m not listening. Double turns and straight ahead. A long one, too long… I empty the bag, but there is still 10 mn to go… Turn around under the bridge and ahead out again. But Eric pulls away – I can’t keep up. It’s hard on the motivation. I start to move around on the bike and on the road. Fortunately I notice it: I reset myself on the bike, relax but still upper body; and strong on the legs… Now it hurts everywhere, I breath very hard now. The turns are less accurate now. We come back towards the bridge. Eric leaves me, but just a little. I go over it but more « in force » than usual because there is only 2 mn left. Last turn, last straight line: I shift down again, the cadence drops, each stroke hurts…
Top finish, my heart rate shows 157 bpm, good job for my range...
Results (average): 37.9 km/h, 149 bpm and cadence 112 rpm.
Someone is gonna have to explain to me why the watch tells me 40km/h average for the 1st 20 minutes, and it gives “only” 38.2 km/h once downloaded on the computer...Doesn’t matter, I’m still light-years away the crazys who average over 40 km/h for the 180 km of the Ironman. But I’ve done the job with Paul & Eric.