Firstly, thanks to everyone that e-mailed me, left a website comment, or talked to me at today's TT. The consensus is that I need to be living on the mainland and racing here a couple times a week, vs. being isolated on a rock in the pacific and racing twice a month. Very true... You can train all you want, but racing is what sharpens the sword. Racing is a unique effort that can't always be simulated in training.

Not sure what the future will hold, but I've got a few ideas in my head about what the battle plan beyond the 2008 season will be.

So, today's race... I woke up at 8am and drove over to the start of the TT, just outside of The Dalles (where we're staying). Being second last place on GC meant that I was the second rider to start. I was hoping that the early start time would hopefully have less wind and give me a bit of advantage over riders starting later. I guess my SRM sensor cable on the P3 is toast, so I only had speed as an indicator of how hard I was going, plus relying on the supercomputer (brain). I caught my 30sec rider a couple miles into the course (slight downhill) but got caught by the rider that started 30sec behind me half way up the climb. I was riding 54 x 11 and was spun out on the fast sections, only to find out later that many riders were rolling 56t big rings. I could have done with one of those pie plates. The first climb about 4 miles into the race had my speed dropped to about 15-16mph, on the flats I could hold 29-31mph, and 45+ on the faster seconds of gradual descent. About 12 miles into the course while going through the small town of Mosier, I flatted my rear disc. I rode about 1/2 mile at 9mph with the flat until I got to the next Shimano neutral wheel pit (where I had a frustratingly slow wheel change)... Hard to say how much time I lost between flatting and getting going after the change, but it probably hurt what might have been a half descent result considering how the past few days of racing went. I rode through the tunnels after Mosier, up another draggy climb, then a quick descent to the finish line. I think I crossed in about 45min 13sec for the 18.7 mile course. I think I could have done closer to 42 without the mechanical, but my time is what it is.

After the TT and a lot of sitting around, I got a ride back to the start area by Steve Hegg (1984 Olympic gold medal winner for the pursuit, and manager of the Successful Living pro team). Super nice guy. Managed to repay that favor by taking their team tent back to their hotel in our minivan.

After my race I took David back to our host housing to get his bike, then drove him over to the TT course for his race. He did his thing and rolled a time in the low 50's, maybe finishing just ahead of another cat 3 / junior rider that we know. Not a bad rider considering he was on his road bike.

David and I got invited to a BBQ with my old team (LaGrange) tonight so we'll be sure to load up the carbs to be ready for tomorrow's 100 mile / 11,000ft deathmarch. I hope I can bloody survive it! I want to finish out this whole race.