Ahhhhh, back to the scene of the crime! Here I was, just 6 days after totally getting my azz kicked in the bike leg of the Eagleman at the exact same place in the same type of conditions - windy, getting hot, and on the bike on the same roads I just finished on the weekend before. The demons were just chomping at the bit and planting that seed of self doubt before even starting.

I got in line for my 9:14 start and saw that my :30 guy was there (the one who would start right ahead of me), but his guy was not there, so there would be a minute gap in the start before he went, and there was no guy right behind me, so there would be another minute until the next guy started. My :30 guy was serious looking with a disc rear and deep section front and a skin suit (just about everyone had one while I used my normal shorts and jersey).

5, 4, 3, 2, go ....... because of the 30 second gap you could see the guy ahead of you easily and it was tempting to go all out and just pass him. But with 25 miles to go, that would have been stupid as it would be easy for him to pass you right back after blowing your load. It was also a strong diagonal head/cross wind that we started into.

I'm up to speed pretty quickly and tuck into for the ride telling myself to not start too hard, keep it even and strong. I'm rolling along between 24 - 25 and slighlty gaining on Mr. Disc. At about 4 miles we make the first turn (3 turns total) ...... right into the wind. Ugh, wasn't I just battling this same gawd damn situation last week??? Mr. Disc was only about 200 yards ahead at this time and I could see he wasn't have any fun into the wind either. I try and keep it even and I'm totally on the rivet (sitting on the far end of the nose of the saddle). At 5 miles I pass him and keep it even. Alright, caught him, knew I was now at least not going to be in last place in the Cat. 5 field. ;-P

At about 11 or so we make the second turn and have a cross wind, so it should neither hurt nor help us much (well, it does slow you down, but not like a headwind). There is another mark ahead of us and I wasn't sure if we were catching the guy who started a minute ahead of Mr. Disc or someone else.

Around 13 or so, Mr. Disc passes me back ...... uh oh. Serious doubts set in. But the one thing going is at the same time we are passing the next rider. By his number he started 2:00 ahead of me. So I can't be doing THAT bad. At this point I focus on just keeping Mr. Disc within striking distance, putting the head down and suffering through the sections where the road twisted back into the wind and out of it (twisty roads).

At around 17 miles we make the last turn back onto Rt. 16. And there it was ..... a frickin' tailwind!!! Oh hell yeah!! Took a good drink and vowed to pick off Mr. Disc again. I'm ramping up to speed again and hit between 26 - 27 comfortably. I checked the pace on my cyclometer at the turn and was sitting at 22.7 mph, which was through the windy section. I wanted to average over 23 at least, so I had some work to do.

The next couple of miles cruised by and I was staying in the 25 range feeling pretty good, but tired. Before you knew it I heard the distinctive sound of a disc coming up on me (I got well aquainted with that sound from the HIM). I look left and see a kid on a Guru with disc wheel, skin suit and aero helmet motoring along. He passed me relatively slowly, and then caught and passed Mr. Disc (who was now dangling teasingly about 300 yards ahead of me). So I had now caught one, and been passed by one. The sad part?? That guy started 3 minutes behind me .... ugh!! (He got second in the Cat. 5's and almost broke an hour).

I didn't let that pass demoralize me as I was so close to catching Mr. Disc again with only about 3 miles to go. At 24 miles I geared up and gritted my teeth. I caught and passed Mr. Disc with about a half mile to go, told him keep it up we were almost there and upped another gear to make sure he didn't pass me back. ;)

I crossed the line doing 30 mph and sat up hitting the cyclometer button. According to it, 25.1 miles in 1:04:50. 23.2 average. Number in the race results was the official time.

I did it. I survived without quiting mentally, and pushed as hard as my tired old bones would allow me.

Try not to push so hard in the beginning to catch my :30 mark. Other than that I didn't give into the demons to back off the pace and throw in the towel after he re-passed me. I plugged on to get him back and did at the line.

Rode back to the high school at a leisurely pace. The wind was really kickin' by then, probably on par with the Eagleman race day weather. But today was hotter. Got back to the car and through on the shoes and ran for an easy 10 minutes.


Mentally hard to keep it going knowing I had just gotten my azz kicked on these same roads less than a week ago.

I don't know, having done a HIM 6 days earlier?? ;)

I'm satisfied with my result. Missed the hardware by two places, but there was no way I had two minute in me to get to 5th place today.


Took them FOREVER to get results back to the registration area. I had to stick around for 4 hours after I finished, and then I was the one who drove back to the finish line and picked up the 5/4/3/2 results. No aid stations because USCF events don't have them, and it was a TT so you shouldn't be slowing down in the first place!