I went after the first hill too hard and felt heavy legged at the top of it. I shouldn't have attacked so hard and made up the speed at the top and on the descent. Otherwise, I couldn't have rode this better technically. At the top of the second hill I shifted into my big ring and threw the chain over. I started to slow to get off and fix it, but I realized that if I did that, I would never finish well. Instead, I reached down, put as much chain on the ring as I could and started to slowly pedal. The chain caught and climbed back onto the ring and I took off. I was 45 seconds behind the guy that won the gold and I think I might have caught him if I hadn't thrown the chain, but it is what it is.
As I was coming to the finish line, I was flying. I had just rounded the last corner and was headed towards the line in aero with my eyes focused just ahead. I see and older gentleman on a bike going quite slow and it is obvious that I am going to pass him before the finish. I look up and there is a race official there and he is pointng towards the right side of the road - looking right at me. I could barely make the veer and almost hit a temp fence. I could hear the crowd so "Whoa". After I get back in control, I see that I am not going to cross the finish line or the timing mat. I get past and turn around when I can and I come back to the line and find the race director. He says that my time won't count because the timing mat is the official stopping mechanism and I did not cross it. The volunteer says that he was not telling me to go right, but the old guy on the bike. Since you could not see the finish line, how would you know!!! I started to get pissed and a bunch of the people that saw it started to jump the race directors a$$, so then my Team Manager got there and made me go away and wwhen he came back he said that the volunteer had realized what he had done and looked at the time when I crossed the line.

My bike has an issue with the front derailler that I can't get right. There is a less than a quarter of a turn window to have the chain work correctly and it is causing problems. Taking it to the LBS and getting it fixed as I am not getting where I need to be by adjusting myself.
Not go at the hill in such an aggressive gear at the front of the race. I should have been spinning a higher cadence so that I had some leg as I crested the hill. Probably cost me 4 to 5 seconds, maybe a little more.

Roe for about another K with a couple of the guys from my age group and talked about stuff. Came back and got some powerade and a chocolate milk.


I've gotta get that chain fixed and I have to realize the benefit of spinning vs. mashing.