After not getting much sleep the last few nights I was not feeling the best when I woke up this morning. I was also hacking a bit from the hard breathing in the TT last night. So I wasn’t sure how I’d do today. Heather and I drove out to Kuna for the start of the road race. I decided to wear a CamelBak since Heather was racing at the same time so I couldn’t get a feed. It was going to be a long, hot race today and I drink like a fish regardless of the temperature.

We were able to check the results and I got third yesterday! To be honest, I was kind of surprised since my legs weren’t feeling that good during the TT. It just goes to show that you can’t always go by the way you’re feeling. Today’s road race started out easy for the first few miles and I was happy about that since I didn’t warm-up before the start. But things changed quickly! Once we made the right on Kuna Cave Road it was an attack-fest and things were single-file. There was a stiff wind coming from the northwest so everyone was pegged on the yellow line. Things got chaotic and it was hard to keep track of who was where. Our team was outnumbered but we did have five riders and for the first part we were doing OK.

Then a good-sized group went up the road, and I was caught at the back. I was already at my limit but I worked up to the front and after a futile attempt at chasing with a teammate, I backed-off into a TT pace. But then we hit the hill and I was just going backwards! It felt like everyone and their grandmother passed me! I definitely don’t have my top-end power yet and it showed!

I managed to latch onto a wheel and then we started to pick up (or got picked up from behind) and had a group of 6 guys. We basically just team-time-trialed the rest of the race. A few people dropped off the break up front and joined our group but there were at least 5-6 riders up the road. But since I wasn’t sure exactly how many were up front or even, how much time they had, I still tried to do well at the finish. I came in second in our group, and Heather thought that there were maybe six ahead of us, so I think I got 7th or 8th.

Not such a great race considering I was third in GC coming into the stage, but I just don’t have my top-end power yet. Any effort over four minutes and I’m OK but shorter than that and I just can’t generate the power I need for this level of racing. It should start to develop now that I’m in full race/rest mode. So with a few doses of shorter VO2 intervals, I think I should be good.