Malaekahana State 40k TT - Cycle

After a poor performance where everything seemed to go wrong at Makaha TT 3 weeks ago, I knew I had to get myself mentally right for this race and properly set my targets/goals in order for me to execute. The 40k is really the race of truth as you not only have nowhere to hide in the draft, but you also really have to dial in your pacing and effort to maximize your speed. On Friday I got the race plan from Shane and he told me to shoot for 280-285, then go from there if I felt good. I had a feeling that would be the overall target if I was feeling good, but told him that I would decide to go more off of feel than to really target a specific goal and chase it. We both agreed that I had done enough 40ks, and this course for me to know how I should feel, and just use power to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid. The night before and during the morning drive I kept telling myself to just do my best...whatever that is and don't force it. Winds were ripping at around 15-20 mph steady, with gusts to 25+. There is always wind at this race, but this was a bit stronger than usual.

Unlike last year, the race wasn't seeded by anticipated finish time. It was by category, alphabetically...so I started 18th with lots of people to pick off in front of me. I knew this would work out better for me as I can benefit from the slingshot...unless of course a car gets stuck behind a slower rider and I can't get around. Luckily it was not the case.

Off the start I make sure not to spike my power and settle in. I think it's the first time I've kept my max power below 500 watts in a TT. Within 35 seconds or so, I'm settled in at around 280-285 watts. I make sure to keep it comfortable and easy and am willing to let my power drop into the 270 range, but it stays at 280-285 so I just roll with it. The outbound leg is mostly into the crosswind so even if I am going slightly too hard, it's better to use a little more effort into the wind anyway.

Within a few minutes I'm already starting to pick off riders. I notice as I come out of the sling shot my power spikes up to 350+, so I to keep control of it going forward. 10 minutes in my AP is already holding at 285 and I keep making sure to myself that this is something I can keep holding. The rest of the way to the turn around was pretty uneventful and I get there smoothly in about 30:40...which is a bit slow, but the winds were ripping pretty good. I still felt solid, but not exactly in the mood to bump the effort up.

Now that we had the tailwind, I did take some opportunity to ease up a little here and there. When we got the direct tailwind and hit 30-31 mph, I'd let power drop down to the 250 range for short periods to make sure everything was still in check. Overall average speed was picking up past the 24.8 mph mark, so I knew I would be under an hour, but I was thinking closer to 58:30.

With about 15' to go, I started to reapply more power as AP had now dropped to 283. I didn't want to go overboard though, but in hindsight this is probably where I should have gambled a bit. I wasn't totally in the pain cave, but given that I blew up after the first 13' of Makaha TT, I knew 15' wasn't exactly "in the bag" either. In any case, I started to push closer to 290 and AP crawled back up to 285. Last 2 miles and I tried to empty the tank averaging 320w, including 350w the last 95 seconds.

Crossed the line at 57:49 which was 2 seconds slower than last year on 5 more watts. Given the wind, I was pretty happy with that result. 12 seconds off the division win, and Bill crushed it for the overall at 55:51. I knew I wasn't going to touch him, and honestly he'd be faster if he actually got a skinsuit and a real aero helmet. Scary what 350ish watts will do for you.

Maybe push a little harder the last 20'. I knew I wasn't going to win this race with Bill finally on a TT bike, and with Mike now riding a super bike and using a skinsuit this year, I knew the chances of beating him as well wasn't likely...as he got me by about a minute this year. The real goal was to simply execute and put in a good effort. The sick feeling after a poor showing at Makaha TT had me in a bad mood for a while and I didn't want to go through that again.

Once I stopped to chat all my hip flexors and supporting muscles around my hips felt like they got hit with baseball bats. I barely could take my shoes off or sit down for the better part of an hour. Never felt anything like it, but it subsided after a few beers. :)


Better fit, better fitting skinsuit.


Well put on race.