It was a ramp start, on one minute intervals. I won the seeding race for the sprint division, so I was first off, following the 40k racers. Luckily, I had JHagerman out in front as my rabbit. I never really made time on him with the out length, but I held my distance for a while. The hills and wind were just killing me.

This was my third race in two days and I was not able to climb like normal. On top of that, I was running two trispokes and considering the course and conditions, that was not the wisest decision. I should have ran a lightweight alloy in front to reduce of the wind exposure, and any weight savings would have been nice. ANY, self included. ;)

The descent and cross-wind combo was scary. I've never descended at those speeds with such wind. I was hanging on for dear life and I could really feel the upper body fatigue set in. Perhaps I was over gripping. I don't know. I'm a fairly inexperienced rider.

With about a mile to go, I was in death march mode. Just turning for what I could. I think I was only doing about 16-17mph in the last mile, right before the last climb. Oh, I haven't mentioned that yet? Huh. It was crazy!

I'll get some elevation data later, but it was the slope that was the killer. Being inexperienced, and not seeing anyone else do it, I didn't think to zig zag up the hill. I basically dropped the gears, and tried to crank. Once I got stood up, I dismounted and marched up the hill. It was a death march.

zig zag up the hill, consider a compact crank, or even a triple chainring for this race. It would have made a huge difference. I was embarrassed, sort of, that I couldn't climb the hill on the bike.

Run different wheels.

Lay in the grass, drink hot chocolate, cheer on the rest of the crew.