Started on a raised platform about 4 feet high, 8 feet wide. They had a guy who held you up so you could clip in and await the start. Kind of scary hoping the guy could hold me up. We went off at 1 minute intervals.

Went out really hard and with the climb early in the race I probably took my HR up too fast. The climb on the bridge with the crosswind was hard and the downhill was tough. I stayed aero but got moved by the wind more than I would have like (Marcy said, she came out of the bars because she got lifted a couple times). The wind over the water out was a cross tail. Based on my perception of the wind, I went out really hard. I passed the guy who started 2 minutes ahead of me at mile 4. Caught 2 more people by mile 10 and felt really good. Surprised my second split wasn't faster as I was around 25 alot of the time. My turn around was weak. I haven't practiced turning this year and it was a sharp 180 with very little extra space. I quickly sucked down half a goo and pushed back. Saw my buddy Worm on the other side with a flat (bummer). About mile 15 the wind really became tough and I struggled dropping down to 17mph on several occasions. Passed someone at mile 16 which picked my spirits up, but I am suffering bigtime as we approach the main hiway again. I had a twinge in my hip that was weird but seems to be fine. After I make the turn at mile 18, I get passed for the first time. That was such a let down. 18 to 20 were the hardest miles. Really suffering and fighting to keep power up. I seemed to get a second wind on the bridge. The cross head was tough but I smelled the finish line. I caught 1 person climbing the bridge and almost caught the last person who passed me at the finish.

Couple things come to mind as I am still so new to bike racing.

Taper week - Probably too hard of a taper. Should have had some lite speed in there.
Warm up - What I did was not effective.
Pacing - Did I go out to hard, especially over the first bridge?
Turnaround - just need to practice, no biggy
Thinking to much - a favorite local elite triathlon friend of mine says of time trials "if your thinking about anything other than how fast your going, your not working hard enough"

spun for about 5 minutes around the area.


1. Really tough winds and rough road.
2. Pacing strategy
3. Need to drop some more weight.

I was originally disappointed in my results. After comparing my results versus other races I feel pretty decent about where I came in. I was in the top 50% overall and in my category. My average wattage was 240 which is only 5 watts below what I averaged in a 9 mile race a couple weeks ago and 12 watts higher than my best time trial of a similiar distance.


Bike races are so different from Triathlons. I hope this group puts on more races as I really like the actual bike racing alot. Its the before and after that doesn't compete with triathlon. The organization was okay but not great. It took forever to do results. I don't understand this as there were only 90 of us. Took well over an hour to get results done and there was really no organized activity in the interim. They did have a raffle after about 1:15 minutes of sitting around. There was pizza and soft drinks but you didn't really know if it was for everyone or just the local club members. A friend of mine said, "good thing they didn't have beer or I would have been passed out drunk before the awards ceremony. All that said, this seems to be the norm for bike races. I have done 6 of them now in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and the atmosphere has been pretty consistent.

I would do this race again as the course was challenging and I think this is a benchmark distance that is really cool to race. I may whine about the activities but if thats the bike racing scene, I need to accept it. My wife and friends don't like the activities and want to leave when the race is done, I may have to drive separate next time.