Corrected most of the mistakes that I made last time starting with my warm-up, which I timed better and finished closer to my start time. I was also in the right gear at the start, and most importantly, I didn't drop my chain (had a new one put on that day) anywhere on the course. No mechanical problems. Basically, I was hurting from the beginning. Not that that's not normal, but the real hurt usually doesn't start for a couple miles into it. This time, I'm not sure I was even a full mile into the course and I could feel it in my legs. I figured if I could get into a rhythm, it would be alright and I'd pull through. About 3 miles in is the only real hill and it's just a matter of getting there and over it. I think for me, once I feel the extra pain on the hill, it puts the rest of the pain into context and I deal with it better for the rest of the race. Anyway, I went up the hill well - shifted better and stayed aero the whole time. I was also moving in on the first guy that I'd pass and closed in from about 20" to about 5". He moved ahead of me on the downhill, but on the rolling uphill I pushed by. After the turn around I got into a good rhythm where my breathing was decent despite my HR being at 180 (or so) and it was just a matter of finding the right gear for my legs, which also went fairly well. Looked down at my watch and figured I had a shot at hitting my goal time of 26 minutes, but it might be close. Kept doing what I had been since I didn't want to blow up early and ended up passing two more guys. I also got passed by a guy with a disc wheel that scared the living shit out of me. I seriously almost fell off my bike when I jumped since he came out of nowhere. Coming into the final stretch, I went with everything I had and despite not knowing my time right away, was pretty satisfied with how the race went.

I'd be curious to see what would happen if I actually had fresh legs for one of these races. I'm happy with the day's result since it's a PR, but I wonder how much of a difference it would make. I did my first century on Saturday so I'm guessing I still had some fatigue hangover from that. I also ended up getting sick on Monday and have had a sore throat and cough ever since. That said, I don't think it really hurt me that bad considering I didn't pay any attention to it while I was riding and didn't break down in any coughing fits, which was what I was most afraid of. So all things considered, everything went well. The one thing I think I need to work on is getting more into it mentally before the race starts. Once I get on the trainer for my warm-up, I need to take it seriously and start zoning everything else out - quit looking at bikes and knock down the amount of socializing I do. But on the other hand, seeing and talking to people keeps me loose too so I guess it's a give and take.

At the end of the day, I don't think there's anything I could have done differently to help me go faster today.

Drank Cytomax and put my bike away while talking with Adam and Yvonne.


I could use some stronger legs.