Saturday, August 30, 2008

Green Mountain Stage Race Prologue : Individual Time Trial

Well the day was finally here. There's not much you can say about a TT so I'll make it quick. Spent the morning on the lawn watching everyone hustle to their starts ( the race started at 8:30 am and I had a 1:01:00 PM start time) cleaning up the bike, and generally stressing in general. After confusing both the SRAM mechanics with the team's new Easton EC90 wheelset I realized that my SRAM cassette wouldn't fit it and I had to rely on my worn out Shimano cassettes for the duration of the weekend. Nothing I couldn't handle - went with the 12-23 for the mostly uphill TT.

Started hard, too hard. The TT climbs immediately for about 3 miles. I quickly put myself in position to catch the guy in front of me but he held on strong for most of the race. All of my points that I had scouted in the recon ride were a total blur. When I reached the top of the hill I was almost confused as to how I'd gotten there. I grinded down the descent, slower than I had hoped in spots, holding between 28-32 mph. Finally on the last dip I caught my 30 second man but boy did I pay for that. My lungs protested hard as I pushed the last 500 meters into the finish, rolled through the lines, and quickly emptied what little was in my stomach.

7th place, 15:35 - Right around my goal time, but just not fast enough (winner came in at 15:08) Still totally in the running for the GC, and ready to play it smart in the circuit and lay down the hurt in the RR.

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