Hawaii State Team Time Trial

The HI State Team 40K Time Trial Championships were held yesterday at the Kualoa Regional Park. It was a beautiful day, with blistering NEasterly cross winds. All the HACC teams were Co-Ed, and we all raced well. My team was called BS3, because we had three riders with the first names beginning in an S, and one with a B. Bryant, Steve, Stephen, and Shannon. We practiced one day and we were happy with our riding chemistry.

I spent most of the week recovering from the previous weekend's long run in Maui.

We came up with some code words for when one of us was getting dropped off the pace. It was to yell, HACC. When we started off, I was very nervous, and I tried not to overlap wheels with the first riding, who was Steve C. But, in order to stay protected it's necessary to echelon across the road to get a good draft. As soon as, a big gust of wind would blow into me, and if I was not protected, I could not hold Steve's pace, and I'd yell HACC. He immediately would have to sit up out of his aero bars to give me a draft with his body. One the way out I rotated to the front one to two times. After the turnaround point, Bryant suggested I sit out of the rotation. This seemed to work much better, and I was able to stay on the back without much difficulty. So we rode this way most of the way back. I felt like I went as hard as I could, and especially for the finishing sprint, when I push so hard I really felt it in my butt muscles after the race was over.

We won the entire Mixed team division with a time of 58:47. I was pretty happy with that time, as it's the first time I've ever broken an hour for a 40K. I doubt I can ever accomplish that on a solo ride. It was great run, and I look forward to the Tantalus TT in two weeks. Ride on!