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Comments: I start out strong. My adrenaline is pumping and I'm holding 23 mph for the first minute INTO THE WIND. Oh...THE WIND. It was about 20-25mph steady with gusts to 30+. It sucked...but everyone had the same wind...so I digress. The roads are wet from some passing rain, but at about mile 8 it opens up. It's raining cats and dogs. Vision was a problem at times and my socks got soaked when it really started pouring. Soon, I find myself riding on the road to avoid puddles of water. The rain passes...with a few more drizzles, but then dries out for parts of the second half of the race. After the turnaround I come back towards the one of the small hills we needed to climb. It was with a major tailwind, so I hammered right before the hill and amazingly climbed it at a 25 mph pace. It's like the wind cancelled the whole hill out. I'm starting to fade, but still hanging on to my pace. When the winds are right, I'm getting up to 24-25 mph, but holding at 21-22 for the most part. As I reach about mile 18 I'm struggling. I press on, but I reach "slobberknocking" effort at about mile 21 as I "try" to turn my head to spit, but my head doesn't turn and the spit goes right over my front wheel. Luckily with a tail wind, the spit didn't come back into my face. I'm starting to curse at myself the last 3 miles, breathing with my mouth wide open. I push hard to the finish with whatever I had left. What would you do differently?: Warm up better. Bring the trainer. Tire pressure was spot on. I inflated to 100 psi instead of my normal 110 because of the road conditions. I was able to stay in a good tuck for most of the race...really trying to pull my head and neck into my shoulders.  Post race
Warm down: Didn't have time to hang around. I tried to make it to town for a 9:30 softball game, but didn't make it...should have just stayed at the race site and hung around. What limited your ability to perform faster: More training...given my riding experience, I expect to come back next year much faster. Event comments: A cheap race. I like the bottle and gel they gave instead of a race shirt that I would likely not wear. Checkin was organized and fast. Didn't need a lot of on course volunteers...just at the turn around which was very well handled. I think they had gatorade at the finish, but I had my own cytomax. Overall, I'm happy where I finished. Lots of the top riders were there, so I was pleased to finish somewhere in the middle. The top rider finished just over 55 minutes at a 27 mph pace. I belive most of the local elites were here...so a good way to see how you stack against the best. Last updated: 2010-05-02 12:00 AM
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United States
Quick Release\Bike Factory
75F / 24C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 43/71
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Got about 5 hours of sleep. At a P&B sandwich and started to hydrate. It was raining and windy as I was driving to the race site. I drove past the out and back course to look for any debris I needed to watch out for. I saw a dead cat on the side of the road, but someone must have removed it before the race started because I didn't see it during the race.
Picked up my packet, used the restroom, hydrated some more and got my stuff together.
Rode down the road, away from the TT course for about a couple miles and back. Threw in some hard efforts to mix it up. I could have stretched out more, but it was wet and just didn't feel like it. Normally I like to plop on the grass and fully strech out...but I wasn't about to do that in the mud. A lot of people brought their trainers...but I was reluctant to do so because I wasn't sure how far away I would have to park. I'll do that next time as parking was available quite close.