I started second (only four athletes tonight) with one minute intervals. Eli was starting last and my goal was just to stay clear of Eli for the whole 20km. I started probably one gear to hard but quickly got going down the hill and dropped into the aero position. I focused on staying on top of the gear that I was in and constantly evaluating whether I was pushing hard enough. I tucked and turtled my head trying to be as small as possible. I came through the stop sign feeling good but still hadn't caught sight of my one minute guy (and a quick glance behind showed nobody right on my tail); I stood up the hill and then worked to get back on top of my gear (now into the wind - slowest leg by far). Even with the hill it took a long time to get back up to speed and I figured I had dropped way back in the field. Once back up to speed, I again focused on good position and pushing the gear. Through the hills and then towards the turnaround; I had caught sight of my one minute man and was pushing to catch him. By the turn I was about fifteen seconds back but he caught sight of me and started pushing harder. From the turnaround, my efforts went into staying clear of Eli (about one minute back) and catching the guy in front; I pushed through and finally got the tailwind but wasn't gaining any ground. Finally, with the turn up the final hill I was putting some time into the guy in front and Eli still didn't pass me so I tucked and pushed for the last few km's. With about 1km to go, I finally got the guy in front and then just kept pushing through the line. With about 500m to go I hit a wall but just pushed up the hill and with the world spinning, crossed the line.

Not sure; this went pretty well.

Rode home easy.


Wind


Of the four athletes, two of us were on TT bikes (I had my aero helmet, he had Zipps so I figure we were about equal) while two were on road bikes. I knew Eli would probably be the quickest so I focused on being number two. I was able to hold off the other guy on the TT bike by about ten seconds and catch the guy in front so a very successful TT.