Lake Nockamixon Time Trial 2014

Having not raced since mid-April, I was itching to go fast and hard with a number somewhere on my bike or body, so I signed up for the PA TT Championships at Lake Nockamixon in Quakertown. It was actually an hour closer than the TT in NJ, and the course was longer with some climbing, so it sounded great.

Since one TT isn't enough pain for the day, I decided to sign up for two categories, Masters 40-44 and Cat 3. The promoter was cool and offered a discount to the 10-12 knuckleheads who were doing two, and let us go basically first and then last so we had ample time to warm-up, cool-down, switch numbers, warm-up again, and cool-down one last time.

My first run was early and I don't think my engine was fully charged up yet, but I had a pretty good time. I was 28:08 for the 12 miles with 600 feet of gain, which put me in 5th in Masters 40-44. It would have been 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, in every other Masters category, including the younger folks. Actually, I would have won every older category, except 50-59...that guy CRUSHED it!  I love seeing the "old" guys and gals showing up the youngins.

An hour later, I was back on the line for Cat 3. This time I had some rabbits and chased down 6-7 guys, which I think really helped keep my time close to my first run. I ended up 28:30, 1 second off of 4th, in 5th place again. I was definitely pleased with this considering my lack of racing, lack of sleep, and only getting on my TT bike a few times before the race. I certainly see areas where I can improve and am looking forward to the next event! I definitely recommend this one to anyone that does TT's or wants to try one for next year. Being the State Championships, it brings out all the best PA guys. On a side note, I was the fastest NJ guy there, which was pretty cool.

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