At long last the final really important race of the season was here - the Illinois state time trial championship. I was defending champ and was feeling the pressure of having to compete against Leigh Thompson - the very worthy current masters national TT champion. MetLifeGuy and I both had early start times so we rolled at stupid-early-o'clock to Harvard under sunny, cloudless skies. Wind was minor but definitely present and thankfully the corn is up - it offered some shelter at certain points on the now familiar 33.3K mostly flat course.
Warm up went well though not great - my legs were not super so I hoped they'd come around at some point once I got started. I have to admit that my motivation has been lacking of late - I'm mentally ready to be done racing for a little while. Since doing the state TT last season I've gotten my position dialed in and learned a ton about pacing myself - two things that lend themselves to doing a faster time trial. I kept my effort under control for the first half to keep from smoking myself early then kicked up the pace slightly for the way back. I had Pink Floyd and Janis Joplin running though my head along the way and was really focused on passing people and staying steady (that's right - I'm old).
Coming up on the finish was a little confusing - there were two different tape lines on the pavement, one apparently identified a 300m 'sprint' line and the second was the actual finish line. I sat up as I crossed the first line, assuming it was the finish only to be told that the actual finish was the second line - I easily lost 15-20sec if not more because of the screw up but thankfully in the end I still had the fastest time on the day and repeated as state TT champ with a time that was about 2min faster than last season. Leigh was kind enough to inform me of the result as we left before results were posted. We still don't know where MetLifeGuy finished but his time was 1.5min faster than last season - I'd say he probably got on the podium in the very tough 45-49 masters category.
Warm up went well though not great - my legs were not super so I hoped they'd come around at some point once I got started. I have to admit that my motivation has been lacking of late - I'm mentally ready to be done racing for a little while. Since doing the state TT last season I've gotten my position dialed in and learned a ton about pacing myself - two things that lend themselves to doing a faster time trial. I kept my effort under control for the first half to keep from smoking myself early then kicked up the pace slightly for the way back. I had Pink Floyd and Janis Joplin running though my head along the way and was really focused on passing people and staying steady (that's right - I'm old).
Coming up on the finish was a little confusing - there were two different tape lines on the pavement, one apparently identified a 300m 'sprint' line and the second was the actual finish line. I sat up as I crossed the first line, assuming it was the finish only to be told that the actual finish was the second line - I easily lost 15-20sec if not more because of the screw up but thankfully in the end I still had the fastest time on the day and repeated as state TT champ with a time that was about 2min faster than last season. Leigh was kind enough to inform me of the result as we left before results were posted. We still don't know where MetLifeGuy finished but his time was 1.5min faster than last season - I'd say he probably got on the podium in the very tough 45-49 masters category.
Winning the title again was cool as was the occasion to celebrate the birthdays of my two nieces, Lindsey (who turned one) and Elise - my god daughter - who turned four. My brother and sister-in-law hosted a huge party on their behalf on yet another perfect summer day.
I always brag about my brother's classic Mustang so below are a couple pictures of Richie's 1970 Mach 1. He got the car when he was 14 - it was in rough condition. He and my dad partially restored it so Richie could drive it when he turned 16. About 10 years or so later Richie dropped a new engine in it, hung new sheet metal on the entire thing, restored it to it's original color and started to enter it in car shows - he's won twice this year!
I always brag about my brother's classic Mustang so below are a couple pictures of Richie's 1970 Mach 1. He got the car when he was 14 - it was in rough condition. He and my dad partially restored it so Richie could drive it when he turned 16. About 10 years or so later Richie dropped a new engine in it, hung new sheet metal on the entire thing, restored it to it's original color and started to enter it in car shows - he's won twice this year!
Richie's 1970 'Stang - restored to mint
A sweet, sweet ride - 351 Windsor under the hood....That's all for now - just kicking back, enjoying what's left of Labor Day weekend. Thanks for checking in - there are a couple of things on the calendar for September so I'll definitely be posting even though the season is tailing off.
