1. Slipknot - Surfacing
2. Slipknot - My Plauge
3. Slipknot - Duality
4. Slipknot - Everything Ends
5. Slipknot - Diluted
Archive for August, 2007 Page 3 of 24
What a day, yesterday ! Got up around 06.30 to get breakfast ready and start assembling my gear for the race as well as straightening out a few minor problem with the bike. My preparation for the race had been good and i felt on top of the world. Around 08.30 my Dad picked me up to drive me to the race in Linköping. We arrived with around 20min before the deadline, for picking up the starting number. No real time to warm up the body and especially the legs, but i managed a small bike run before the race was about the start.
At 10.00 i started with the rest of the field, which due to the conditions, was around 20-25 riders in various ages and sizes. Well, the conditions was very, very windy and i calculated that the first 25km out of the 43km would be very fast and easy and they were, i rode the first 25km in just under 45min, which is pretty good. Then we all turned straight into the wind for the last leg of the stage and here it all went pear shaped.
I knew that if i rode at a steady pace (around 25km/h) i would still be able to make a good time, somehow it wasn’t to be. Around the 35km mark, with just around 10km left i had a head-on wind and i started to get cold. I estimate that the wind was around 14-15m/s, if not even more at times and it was very hard to keep a steady pace and i lost very much time.
In the last kilometer i got a very nice tailwind and i was cruising along at a pace of 40-42km/h and i made up some time, even though i already was way behind my goal for the race. I finished the 43km course (it was actually 48,3km according to my newly bought cycling computer) with a time of 1hour 54min 12seconds and i had taken a 8th place finish amongst the riders in my group.
I am sort of disappointed by the overall time, but it also leaves a lot of room for improvement, but the windy conditions were the biggest factor to the bad finishing time. I spoke with a rider that past me on the first 25km of the race, but he stopped at the water-station with was halfway, so i eventually past him, and he said that he didn’t have any power at all on the last 25km. He added that when he he saw me pass the water-station i looked very strong and he ran to his bike to start chasing me, but he came in around 15min later then i did. A small victory for me then.
Now i’m looking forward to the race on the 2nd of September and the 37km short course of Glan Runt. My aim is 1 hour 05min, maybe faster, if my legs feel good and there ain’t a hurricane looming.
