Today we raced the first event of the Treasure Valley “stage” race. It was actually a cross between a stage race and an omnium. The overall standings will be based on time, like a stage race, but riders are allowed to enter individual events, like an omnium. Maybe they should call it a Stagium!

Anyway, today’s event was a time trial over by Micron in east Boise. The course was shortened from the planned 10 miles to 6 miles due to traffic on Hwy 21. Although I was bummed I wouldn’t be able to spin out the 56×11 I’ve got on my TT bike on the downhill on Hwy 21, the shorter course was still a good one. The weather was nice and there wasn’t too much wind. I got a good warm-up and went over to the start area a bit early so I just ended up standing around for a while. I was the first rider off in my category so I didn’t have a “rabbit” to chase. That was OK, as I kind of like just paying attention to how I feel when doing TT’s. I haven’t used a heart rate monitor in a TT for years, and the speed sensor broke on the computer I use on that bike. So the only feedback I have is cadence and my perceived exertion, and I kind of like doing TT’s that way!

I started out easy like I did at Walla Walla. I eased into a modest pace and then slowly increased it over the first couple of miles. I couldn’t tell if I had a headwind on the way out but it felt fast. I kept a steady effort hit the corners pretty well. After the turn-around, I went a bit too hard accelerating out of it and the two corners we had to negotiate, so I eased a little bit once I hit the straight section of road. Then I pushed it up the one roller halfway back and really pushed it through to the finish. I recorded my time at about 14:20 but I wasn’t sure if that was good or not.

I definitely went as hard as I could but my legs fatigued easily, probably due to inadequate recovery. I usually like to have four days between my last long ride and a race, but this week I wasn’t feeling good on Tuesday, so I did it on Wednesday. I also spent a lot of time on my feet doing bike work and other household chores, so that didn’t probably help. But since today was a short stage, I figured I should be OK for tomorrow’s 80-mile road race.

Heather was able to borrow a TT bike since there was no way we could both use ours. She had an OK TT, but we both didn’t know official times because they didn’t have them when we left. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s stage to find out exactly how we did.