TopSport Stage Race - P/1/2 Time Trial

This was the same TT course as 2012. The hilly Rock Creek road with the turnaround at the intersection with the Copperopolis Road Race Course.

I'd driven home after the road race and had to get up again at 4:00 AM to get back to Copperopolis for the 8:00 AM time trial start. Luckily I'd placed well in the road race and had a later start time as it was reverse order from the RR finish. Unfortunately this meant that I had some very fast guys behind me and would likely get caught. My Heart Rate sensor had quit the day before and changing the battery didn't fix it, so I'd be racing without HR for this TT. I had the power meter but that didn't help much on this very rolling course with the terrain continually changing.

I warmed up with Kurt Wolfgang on the course, probably going about a third of the way out before turning around. When I got back to the car I started the serious warm up on the trainer but couldn't do my usual HR warmup as it was broke.

I got to the start a few minutes early and chatted with the guys while waiting for my start time. 08:18:30. We would be going at 30 second intervals.

I tried to start out a little easier than usual hoping to save something extra for the way home. I'd fitted a 55 tooth chainring to the bike and had an 11 on the back for the downhill sections. I'd also fitted a 27 so as I could stay in the big ring on the climbs. Hopefully this would help but who knew at this point.

The road was very rough in places and I was bouncing around a lot in the first few miles.

I was caught about a mile out from the turnaround by my 30 second man and my minute man caught me just after the turnaround. I was clearly losing time on the fastest guys but with the big gearing I could actually maintain the gap on the downhills. I was never spun out like the year before. The gearing was worth something.

I came across the finish line having put in a solid effort and finished with a 27:09 which was good enough for 18th Cat 2, one place behind my teammate Adam. That was probably one of my more respectable TT results as I'm normally close to the bottom of the results instead of mid pack. My time was 1:30 faster than the year before which I was very pleased with.

I went for a 30 minute spin after the TT effort to relax the legs before the lunchtime circuit race.

Breakfast: Egg White omelet in tortilla. Tortilla and almond butter.

Race Warmup: 2 Gels, one bottle of Cytomax

Location:Copperopolis CA