The stage race is set up as an omnium based on points instead of time so I had to race on the rivets for the TT to get as many points as possible because I have cracked the last three years in the crit, never finishing in the money or GC. The 8 miles of point to point had 3 miles of flat to rolling twists, turns and headwinds with a right turn up into Pain Mountain's valley of rollers to the last mile and a half of engines shutting down suffering efforts.
I thought I went so slow after that right turn into the wind and rollers to the final climb that I had to be bottom third of the field. Can I turn off the brain? Can I flip the switches because the brain and nerves waves were not sending very nice messages. With 2 km to go, I thought for sure I was going to fall off my bike in my 39/25. I have trained on this hill in the past. Ridden up it many times. Wow. This experience was painfully unforgettable. I shocked my body into realization that I am out of shape. Oh yeah, I haven't done any interval training yet, let alone hill repeats. I forgot to mention that I was first off for the women; had that going for me (not!) I hear my 30 second rider with 1 km to go. Thankfully, I didn't get past but not my much. Luckily I was not bottom 3rd and I grabbed a few points with my 17th place finish of mind numbing racing and this picture says it all. Loose some of the pudginess and I will race up pain mountain a little faster. It will still be just as painful but hopefully I will be faster. Like the retro 1980s helmet? It really makes doing TTs much more fun.
