The neutral section was pretty uneventful. Stayed in the first 25 positions or so to avoid the accordion effect. As we approached Kunia, everyone was getting ready for the hammerfest to split the group. It's a 1000 foot climb on about a 4% grade. As with any bike race, it's completely unpredictable. Sometimes the elite guys put the hammer down full gas with surges, and sometimes they just tempo it. Last time I did the race 2 years ago, I was dropped here, and the year before that I made it with the front group...barely.

This year, Eric Lau attacked right off the bat solo. Crazy. But this allowed the group to ride a hard tempo as they wanted to let him go this early. The hardest part was 340 watts for 4 minutes...well within my capabilities. Overall, it was 280 watts for 14 minutes for the main part of the climb before things settled down. But because of this, the front group was around 50 guys.

After descending back down to Haleiwa, surges and attacks were made. Without the trade winds (normally a cross headwind) it made it easier to accelerate off the front. Guys were constantly going solo, groups of 3-5, and sometimes groups of 8. Due to the lead group being so big, hanging in the back was a gamble as you didn't know if the pack would split on an acceleration. So I made the decision to ride in the top 20 positions...which meant I sometimes worked my way to the front, or was responsible to bridge a few surges or attacks. I used up a lot of energy here.

Somewhere past Laie, there was a crash behind me. Probably around 2-3 bikes back. The lead group was now down to 30 in an instant. So staying up front paid off. The speeds were getting crazy when the gas was on...up over 30 mph at times...then back down to 18 mph when guys would look at each other...but then right back up again. It was far from a steady effort.

Somewhere around Punaluu, I found myself in a 8 man break. We had some big hitters and 50 meters, so if we could get organized, we had a chance to get away. I knew this move would kill me, but at the same time it would have been a fun experience. After 3 turns up front, I figured we didn't have enough organization so I dropped off and the whole group was caught a few minutes later. I went all the way to the back to recover as I burned a few matches. It was at this point I knew the rest of the race, with the hills coming up...would suck.

We came through Temple Valley without any attacks, but Mokapu would be the real first test. I took about 20 deep breaths as we approached this short but steep hill and put down 400 watts for just under 2 minutes which wasn't so bad, but now at mile 92...the cumulative effects were kicking in. We dropped 5 or so riders here Another 450 watt effort for 30 seconds to get up the short wall on dump road and both my quads started to cringe a bit. Another handful of riders dropped on this pitch and the group was down to 15. Olomana coming up next and I knew it was going to be over soon as this is where the elite guys will make the real move.

We made the right turn into Olomana and I got up the first shallow pitch with the group, but then pulled the plug. The group split into two with myself and Arnel off the back. I was hoping to work with Arnel, but I was completely wasted.

Just limped it home as riders who were previously dropped on Mokapu and Dump Road caught me up.

This year was FAST. And HOT. Winner was 5:02. Previous years that I did it, winning times were closer to 5:10. A lot of it depends on how fast we go through the neutral section, but reports were that this year's neutral was really slow...but the racing portion was extremely fast.

Conserve more energy. But I avoided the crash...which was most important. I didn't come into this race anywhere near peak form or fitness. My goal was to make it to Olomana and I did. I didn't expect to crumble like I did, but I also didn't expect to put in so many hard efforts earlier in the race. If I sat back more, I probably could have hung on to a top 15 finish...but that's bike racing.