Sattley District Time Trial Championships

Below is Rand's report from the District Championship TT, which is held up near Truckee at altitude. Rand and Jeff both scored top 10's in the Open class, on what was a record settingly fast day. In the Masters categories, Matt Beebe scored 2nd place in the 30-39 open class and Peter Cazalet scored 7th place in the 35-39 open class.

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District Championship ITT
Sattley, CA 6/8/08
Conditions: Cool, very slight headwind on outbound leg
Category: Elite Men Open
Teammates: Jeff Williams
Finish: 7th

After last weekend's Dunlap ITT (31k), I felt pretty good all week andfelt prepared for the 40k District Championship. Showed up at thecourse at 7:00am, and it was beautiful. Very little wind, not too cold, and very clear. Started my warmup, and to my dismay my legs felt pretty dead at the high end. Not really sure why. Headed to the start line for 25 miles of pain, hoping for a time in the 52 minute mark or so.

For those who have never done the Sattley ITT course, it is one of the most featureless time-trial courses I have ever seen--somehow they managed to find a completely straight piece of road way out in the mountains near Tahoe. It is somewhat surreal, because the only memorable part of the course is a gentle left-right bend before the turnaround. There is nothing to distract the mind, no corners to take at speed...just straight road.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to distract me from the fact that my legs were pretty dead. I was able to push a big gear and keep my speed up, but I couldnt get my HR to adequate levels and I felt no quickness in my legs whatsoever. That was a bit sad for me, as I really wanted
to run a good time.

The outbound leg is slightly uphill, and I think my average speed over that half of the race was about 27mph. Coming back from the turnaround, I spent most of my time at 31 or 32 mph. A while after the turnaround, Roman (the race winner) came by me at probably 34mph. He started something like 2.5 minutes behind me.

I managed to struggle to the line with a 52:53. By comparison, Roman set the new course record at 49:29. I came in 7th, as a few other guys also had some really fast times. Jeff rode solidly in his first 40k, and ran a 54:12 for 10th place.

After the TT, I spun down for about 10 minutes, switched pedals, brake pads and wheels over to my road bike, and drove like a maniac to Santa Rosa for the 3:45pm start of the 2-Wheel Crit that afternoon. Overall, it was a fun day, and I had a couple decent races. No more time trials
for a while...

Rand