Started out perfect just as planned. 400 watts the first 30 seconds, then down to 350 after 1 minute. With Jeff starting 30 seconds in front of me, I knew I had a little more motivation to start hard and keep him in sight. The visual carrot makes a huge difference. So I settle in at right around 320 watts...which I know is slightly above goal, but I feel okay. I get to the fire hydrant and the museum just under 3 minutes, then to the stop sign just under 5 minutes. Everything is right on track and the first test if you're going too hard is if when you crest the kicker at the stop sign...can you keep applying power or did you just burn a match? Got through that section okay.

On the next long straight I see Jeff up ahead making the right corner past the last set of houses. I mark the time, then notice I'm net 10 seconds down to him. Not totally surprised as he's got the advantage on the steeper sections but I didn't want to bleed too much more with the long steep still ahead. Power is still holding nicely at 320, and HR is starting to climb up to 180, which is about right. I get through the steep section and as we hit the false flat I still see 300 watts or so. I could have backed off a little knowing I spent a few more watts, but Jeff wasn't in sight, and this is the area where I can make up time on him. It was a gamble, but I knew I at least needed to see him again for motivation.

Starting to really suffer, but everyone is at this point if you're doing it right. Pictures have me looking like a total wreck. As we got back to the switchbacks I mark Jeff again and the gap is only 20 seconds, meaning I'm net 10 seconds ahead. There's still a little more steep stuff so I made the decision to try and give it as much as I could the next few switchbacks and sacrifice a stronger finish on the flatter ending. Plan worked as I kept my 10 second lead to the bridge, but I was also going over the edge.

I put it in the big ring, but only could sustain it for about 20 seconds and dumped it back down. On this section I knew Jeff wasn't going to pull back 10 seconds, but at the same time I'm also racing against other people so I just give as much as I could as I start to get sloppy. I only averaged 311 the last 2 minutes, where normally I can do closer to 360. Nothing out of the saddle coming to the line either. The gap between Jeff and I stayed at 10 seconds.

PR'd by 16 seconds, although my Garmin had me at 21:39. Whatever though, the next place up was almost 30 seconds faster, so I didn't have any regrets.

Pacing was pretty solid.

Fatness. If I ever get down to around 142-145 that should bring me down to around 20:30-20:45 range on my wattage. That at least puts me in range to sniff the overall win if I can add another 20-30 watts.