Oy I’ve been stymied of late weatherwise. I’ve been needing to get some mock TT efforts in at around 5800 ft. I need a flat course, relatively close to home. Last weekend we were supposed to go camp at Frazier Park so I could ride in the Lockwood Valley. But: rain.
Our friends with the cabin in Big Bear graciously lent us their place, where it snowed one day and rained another. I got out onto a nice stretch of flat by Baldwin Lake in between the snow and rain. I was higher than I wanted to be, at 6700 ft.
Wow that sucked. I was fine at normal efforts but short suprathreshold TT efforts, I just couldn’t breathe. Not wheezing- gasping. Actually had to come out of aero and sit up for stretches of time. Power was 15-20% below my home training elevation of 1200 ft.
My 10 K Effort was better than my 5K though. And no aero anything- no disc, 30 mm deep front wheel, no ski suit, no TT helmet, no shoe overs. Power 18% down over my sea level qualifier time from last year. And sitting up maybe 20% of the time. All that and my time was still a full minute faster than last year’s qualifying time (a race which I won).
So that’s good and I’ve just got to get my **** together learning what it feels like to do these short hard TTs in aero at altitude. Figure out how to cope with how terrible it feels, stay in position, stay focused.
Hoping to make it to Lockwood but the forecast is calling for thunderstorms. Annoying. Might have to settle for a lesser altitude of a hilly course. In a pinch, I could always race Piru.
Ive decided to head to NSG early, to get some work in on the course (with my luck it will rain there too). Physiologically going up a week early has some negatives. But for me, with little experience racing distant venues, the extra prep time will really help.