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Comments: I thought I was hanging on pretty well throught the first 40 miles (just at a 20mph pace). I was riding in groups and doing my share of work from time to time. After the 2nd wash though I eneded up by myself a lot. Most of the way up Oracle, I was riding alone and couldn't seem to find a group that would fit with my pace...I guess I just suck at climbing. Finally I got to Tangerine and thought I would make up for some lost time. Unfortunately, I was still by myself and the wind was holding me back from really flying down that hill at 30+. At the end of Tangerine, I got stopped by a train just before going under the I-10. Once the train had passed, we got back going and at this point I jumped in a group and stayed with them for a long time. It was a big help to battle Silverbell with other riders. Finally after I turned off Silverbell, I knew it was going to be close to get gold after stopping at 2 aid stations, stopped for auto traffic and the train stop. I pushed myself the entire length of the frontage road heading south. I had serious hamstring cramps in my left leg and my quads were just screaming, but not cramping. I finally made the final turn and saw the clock was just minutes away from 1:00 PM. I pushed through to the end and my offical time was 5:59:23...gold by the skin of my teeth. What would you do differently?: Water bottle decision was questionable on this one. I installed my turbo wing and had two bottles on there along with two on my frame. I dropped one full bottle early on in the race and just left it. When I dropped a 2nd, I had to go get it...that cost me time. Finally on Silverbell, I lost another. I was going to get it, but I told myself that I could buy a new waterbottle, but not a gold medal...let it go. The aid stations can quickly refill your bottles, so I won't carry more than two with me again (unless one is in my jersey). I also stopped to give a friend my multitool so he could adjust his seatpost which had been slowly slipping down the entire ride. I guess I'd still do that, but I lost a minute there too.  Post race
Warm down: Rode around another half mile to cool the legs down then met up with some friends and fellow Intel team members. We ate free sandwiches, popsicles and water. Got a massage for the first time after a race. What limited your ability to perform faster: My training...duh. 2500 miles a year isn't going to make me a 5:30 El Tour rider. I'd love to be platinum some day but that's going to take a hell of a lot of work. I was barely better than last year. Event comments: Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244270619 Last updated: 2012-11-19 12:00 AM
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United States
Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, Inc.
60F / 16C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 929/2870
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Finally went to bed at 10:00. I ended up staying about 10 miles away from the start line since I didn't make my reservations early enough for the motel I had last year. I thought 6 hours of sleep would be great. However, I didn't fall asleep until just before 11. Then at 2:30, some woman down the hall was speaking Vietnamese (or some other Southeast Asian language) at the top of her voice along with a guy speaking English very loudly. Finally, they threw in some banging doors and some wailing kids just for good measure. I couldn't fall back asleep as this went on for ~45 minutes. Even after they stopped, I couldn't sleep, so I laid in bed until 4:00. Got up, got ready, checked out of my hotel room and went to go pick up by friend at his room. (Got flashed by a red light camera on the way, but hopefully the bike and rack will have obstructed my license plate). Got to the start line at around 5:20...not great. We ended up lining up right on top of what would be the finish line. Stayed warm until it was time to go.
Nada.