Notes
Appleman Duathlon - Bike
First bike race! Went really well. I was able to push hard pretty consistently, average a pretty good pace, and had no bike handling or traction issues. Oh, and I was able to maintain a TT(-ish) riding position for the entire time, minus climbs.
Went out hard and tried to press for as long as possible. On Shaker and Great Road I was able to stay between 22 and 26mph. I braked a good bit for the very tight ~120 degree turn onto Nashoba but regained my speed quickly. Continued at 20mph before the hill, where I was still able to stay at 13-15mph and in my big chainring. This section is where Mark caught up to me and passed me; he made up about a minute to do so.
Turning onto Nagog Hill and the biggest descent, my two practice sessions paid off. I did not need to brake at all, only needing a pause in pedaling for a short time to get through the fast twisty downhill. Tried to maintain my momentum for as long as possible, but that next uphill was a real challenge. I decided at the bottom to change into my lower chainring, rather than power through it and realize halfway I wouldn't make it on the big ring. That turned out to be a good decision because this hill was really tough and really slow. Only 9-10mph for it. But, I got another big downhill after, and relatively flat for a bit on the next road. Able to stay at 20-22 for this section.
Onto Newtown road, there was less extremes but there were consistent, tough rollers the rest of the way in. I did what Mark said and tried to really push on the uphills and flats, and get aero on the downs. This was prime grind time all the way in. Time to out-pain the competition.
That competition did eventually catch up to me towards the end. One guy passed me with maybe 2 miles to go. Soon after another tried to pass me on the climb, but I put in a surge and pulled away on the climb. He passed again right before the transition zone, going full aero as I was stretching out on the bike. I got out of the transition zone before him and never saw him again. Not 10 seconds after starting the run I passed the first guy who passed me, and never saw him again either. Read on for more in the second run entry...