Blackburn ITT - Kew Boulevard 21/09/2008

I had no plans on entering this ITT up until about 5pm the night before as I was collapsing over my bike after an indoor session. Why was I putting all my watts into a spinning flywheel when the next morning I could be ripping my legs off on the Kew boulevard within two blocks from home? I finished the trainer session, and went off to clean my bike from Friday nights rainy ride.

Sunday was a superb day. Around 13-14 degrees, sunny, with the only letdown being the wind. At least the wind was consistent which helped with pacing. No 'masters' class today so I was in A grade. Off at 4mins I found myself chasing a car down the hill. He didn't see me and was limited to 50km/h so after some screaming I overtook him and resumed my position in the middle of the road. There were signs everywhere and corner marshals at every intersection so the entire lane was mine for the next 20kms! Two laps of an out and back course and riders off at 30 second intervals meant I could peg myself against anyone up the road at the turning points. At 6kms I'd passed two and could see more up the road. Lap 1 was 40 seconds faster than my last single lap ITT on this course a few months ago - I put this down to better pacing, efficiency on hills, and the northerly wind. Lap 2 was a little busier as C and D grades were under way. Remembering the passing points of other riders from lap 1, I could tell I was ticking along nicely. The final 2kms were the best, I had enough left in the tank to push past another two or three more riders to the line. Blackburn somehow didn't record my time, my PowerTap said 31:50, but when the results went up on Sunday night they'd sorted it out for an official time of 31:52. Enough for 3rd place on the day. I'd also managed a PB for 30min power output, hopefully I can carry these good numbers through to next weekend's ITT up the 1:20 (6.8kms @4.2%).


Official Results

A Grade (2 Laps)  Time
1     3 BOWMAN, Vaughan 31:09.20 Carnegie Caulfield CC
2    22 KIRSCH, Stefan 31:40.14 Blackburn Cycling Club
3    20 MILLER, Shane 31:52.39 Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club
4     7 LEAPER, Tom 32:10.82 Blackburn Cycling Club
5    18 CIPRIANO, John 33:04.15 Carnegie Caulfield CC
6     1 LAMA, Martin 33:08.04 Blackburn Cycling Club
7    21 FORREST, Hugh 33:10.42 Carnegie Caulfield CC
8    35 DAVIS, Matthew 33:27.36 Blackburn Cycling Club
9    15 SAWFORD, Malcolm34:01.70 Carnegie Caulfield CC
10    6 WALKER, Kane 34:04.42 Blackburn Cycling Club

Happy Snaps by Von