Completed my first team triathlon yesterday; a 30km cycling leg that involved mostly flat / short and small climbs and descents, with lots of turns (the course was in a small community’s downtown). Being that it was my first Tri, and that it was a relay, my goals were simply to: 1) finish the course in under one hour; and 2) avoid DNF and letting down my team!
While I barely avoided DNF-ing (more on this later), I finished with with a total time (I’m guessing including transitions) of 1:02 ish. In my mind, I actually pictured the TR workout screen and large blue blocks of power target near FTP during the race (and, yes, even some Coach @chad words of wisdom like: "keep smiling, make sure your shoulders aren’t bunched around your ears, prioritize your post-ride nutrition, buy my #chillow…). It seems to have worked, as I was able to squeak out NP of 228 (FTP 219, 86 kg)… but there was one problem:
I was out of the gate early (we had a fast swimmer) and one of the first on the cycling course, so my pace was completely unsustainable (which I expected would be the case because of adrenalin and excitement). Coming into a 90 degree corner at the bottom of a hill (only 3 km into the course), I carried WAY too much speed in and had to put everything into my brakes to avoid hitting the opposite curb and going over my handlebars… left some rubber on the road in the process. When I got moving again a second later, it felt as though my rear tire was, well, “noodly”. I assumed that I had lost pressure or had unseated the bead (I run Hutchinson Intense 25mm tires tubeless), but could not find any indication of distress. I managed to finish the ride, but for the remaining 27 km there were times when it felt like I didn’t have great traction in the rear tire, so I eased up on any major descents and eased up on flats where my speedometer crept up towards 40 km/hr. When I transitioned out the runner, I checked the rear tire - it was solid… didn’t seem like any loss of pressure or bald patches. I ran the front tire at about 80 psi and the rear around 85 psi, however this would have been first thing in the morning (around 12 degrees C), and it’s likely that this would have changed by the time I hopped on the course.
Is this a common thing?? Is it all in my head?? I have a much greater appreciation now for @Nate_Pearson 's crit videos with the tight cornering, especially with other riders nearby!
TL:DR version - rode into a tight corner at high speed, braked hard (running tubeless) - recovered, but rear tire felt like a noodle for the rest of the race, and I didn’t feel confident with its traction. Couldn’t find any loss of pressure or tire damage afterward. Anyone else experience this??