Stage 1 was a short 5.7mile time trial. It was uphill for the first few kilometres. then it flattened out and was slightly downhill for a while to let you get some speed back. It finished with a nice down-up and a slight uphill finish. I left the start gate, I was going slow and my legs felt like crap! I looked down and to my relief it was because the hill was hitting 12% gradient. I pounded up the hill and had my 30-second man in sight. I had a little mental lapse and eased up slightly at the top. I didn't gain anymore time on the guy ahead of me until the end. I picked up the hammer and started to drill it again. Passed him on the down-up and gave it my all until the end. In comparison to my normal Indian Trail time trials, I averaged 6bpm more for heart rate. Wish I had power data to share but I don't. I finished 14th/71, which was good. 36 seconds off of the lead. When I checked the race website that night, they had my pic posted right at the top! Here it is:
Stage 2 was the circuit race. Komar warned us that there was always crashes on this day, so my goal was to be safe and not lose time. This day was a complete mess. The race went well for the first half. I kept it easy near the back. I made sure to stay on top of food and water (which was hard because it was so hot!). A break was up the road when the Junior field caught us. We were neutralized, but I don't know if the break was. After one more lap, just before the turn onto route 100B there was a bad crash in the junior field. We came up to a blocked road, one SUV sideways blocking the left lane, and cars and ambulance on the right side. We were able to come to a stop and get around. I was near the back and chased to get into a group. We slowed because I was told it was neutralized to let everyone come back together, which was fair because you shouldn't lose a race because of something outside of your race. Little did I know 20-something guys had attacked up the road. We ended up stopping at the finish line (1 lap short) because they weren't neutralized and we wanted to know why. They told us to stand at the side of the road and wait for a decision. Eventually we were moved across the road to the parking lot. We were then told after about 10mins that we would be given a finishing time but they don't know what kind of gap they will put in. They could have said "tough luck, just keep going". Or they should have neutralized the group up the road and brought us all back together.
As of right now they just posted results. Seems like everyone but the first break was given a 3min gap. Tomorrow will be fun trying to make this up on the climbs...
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