This morning was the Hawaii State TT (Individual) on the 40km Malaekahana course. I got there with plenty time to get the bike setup, inhale some red bull, and get in a spin on trainer to wake up my legs. For once, I wasn't the first rider off... In hindsight, that was maybe to my advantage - having some bunnies to chase!

I rode 54/44 and 11-21, and started off in the 44 for some damage control over the first few minutes of the course. 40km is pretty long so there's no reason to spray a whole magazine of bullets in the first mile. I did leap off the line with a hard acceleration, mainly to get up to speed lickity split, before settling into the aerobars. As a few people noticed, I was tucked down pretty damn low... Trying to save a few watts, without losing a shit ton of time!

Heading out to the turnaround. Photo: Darin Miyamura.

After the legs warmed up and the initial adrenaline had subsided, I got down to business, picking off riders that started at 30sec intervals ahead of me. It took a little time to catch the first rider, but after that I started to catch riders with more frequency.

In 2005, (I think...) I set the current state record time of 54:09. Today, my goal was to clock a 52min ride. I had a schedule taped to my base bar with various wind scenarios... Headwind time and speed, and the required tailwind time and speed. It quickly became apparent that reading those numbers would be like reading the smallest line of letters on an eye exam, thanks to road vibrations.

Going out to the turnaround, was into a reasonable headwind. The first part of the course has some shelter from the wind, with more exposure in the second half. I tried my best to keep my speed at 27mph or higher, but that was easier said that done. I knew that any time that I lost going out was going to be tough to make up on the way back.

After the turnaround I rode most of the way back in the 54 x 11, 12 and 13, while staying as low in the aerobars as I could go, looking down the road through my eyebrows... I started my SRM interval a little after the start, so I didn't know my exact time, but I knew that 52mins wasn't going to happen, so the next target was a 53min ride. From the half way through Laie I stuck it in the 54 x 11 and emptied the tanks, passing Eduardo Sa, and a female rider before the finish. My final time ended up being 53min 37sec - 28.0mph average. A new state record, and fast enough to secure the overall win and state champion jersey for another year. Second place was taken by Alex Eiler from Tradewinds, who put in a very respectable ride, with the always-fast Tong Lang slotting into 3rd.

SRM File.

Overall Top 10 Results
1 - Mike Zagorski - Pacific Velo - 53:37 **State Record**
2 - Tony Lang - Cambio/Core - 54:53
3 - Eduardo Sa - Boca - 55:10
4 - Alex Eiler - Tradewinds Cycling Team - 55:21
5 - Penn Henderson - 55:37
6 - Ray Brust - Boca - 56:07
7 - Ricky Armstrong - Cambio/Core - 57:02
8 - Michael Okura - 58:45
8 - Tai Blechta - 58:54
10 - Steve Serikaku - Tradewinds - 59:11

Complete results here.