Done and Done

Mission accomplished . . . My goal for today's time trial was to crack the top ten. When Mike told me I was sitting 5th with my time of 25:18, I was very pleased. I was even more pleased when I went to go look at the results board myself, after changing out of my skinsuit to see that Mike read it wrong and I was sitting in 2nd with about 15 riders still on course.

The day's prep went as expected. I didn't eat anything solid this morning, just my coffee and some juice. Mike and I went out for the morning warmup ride with Paul Humiston, also from Colorado and another Mike Carter trainee. We headed towards Hochfilsen which is about 15k from St. Johann, following the river, climbing ever so slightly until you reach a 1k climb. Mike kept it pegged, cruising in the 53x11 out of the saddle, as he is known to do. Once we hit the steeper part of the climb, I drilled it, staying on Mike's wheel and forcing blood into the deeper parts of the old muscles. We cruised home, spinning very easily, with a whole day of sitting around and waiting ahead of us. My start time wasn't until 3:45.30 which left a lot of dead time.

As expected, the afternoon wind picked up and by the time we got out to the race venue, it was clear that I would have a nice headwind to ride into at the start. I think it is easier that way because you don't have to hold back and dose your effort for a more difficult return trip. I did the rest of my warmup and spun around until it was time to go to the start area.

On a side note, I went to the start early to have my bike measured, knowing full well that they would tell me my aero extensions were too long. The conversation went a little something like this:

UCI Official: Your bars are too long.
Me: I have long arms, what can I tell you?
UCI Official: Sit on your bike.
Me: ok... (Sitting on bike, arms in bars)
UCI Official: Wow, you do have long arms!

He checked me off on the list, only real possibility for non-crash related disaster out of the way.

I won't bore you with the details of the ride. I went out hard, maintained a steady effort, passed a bunch of guys who started in front of me and that was that. There was a hill where it was supposed to be and the finish line came after 20k of riding. Now we are off to dinner and then awards. I hope my trophy is big . . . Next year (and yes preparations will start soon) my goal will be to put myself in the top three. Now to make sure the time trial bike doesn't get stolen . . .