Cascade Classic - Stage Three

Individual Time Trial

Today was thee 16 mile time trial out and back Skyliner road.  Skyliner road is basically just slightly greater than a false flat uphill into the mountains.  So the the TT was an 8 mile out uphill, and then superfast 8 mile downhill back to the finish.  After getting a good warm up in I lined up at the start and had my bike checked for being UCI legal.  I was a little nervous since I was talking with one of the shimano mechanics before the start and he commented about the disc cover I was using on my rear wheel, saying that they weren't technically legal.  I had it on at Nature Valley as well so I didn't think they would say anything, which they didn't.  At 10:39am I was off chasing down my 30sec man.  I got into a good rhythm on the way out and was keeping my power dialed in at 335avg.  I maintained that all the way to the turn around at just under 23 minutes and got back up to speed to crank out the decent.  It was so hard to stay aero and push out high enough power to keep my power up without frying myself.  I just felt like I was fighting the wind so much.  I ended up getting passed by 2 riders on the way home (Who ended up getting placed pretty high overall so wasn't too mad.)  My average power dropped to 325 average for the whole TT so I thought my time would be pretty competitive.  Turns on it wasn't as fast as it felt and I was 89th on the day.  I really need to work on my position with a dedicated bike that I use and train on for TT's because even comparing my average power to Colt's, it was much higher, with a much slower time.  So I am somehow not being efficient in the TT's and it is costing me.  But it's something to work on for next season!