14 August 2012
Sunday was the Oregon time trial championships. This was my sixth time competing on the same 40K course, and my record has been pretty good:
- 2007: 2nd in 53:26 (won in 52:42)
- 2008: 2nd in 51:50 (won in 51:34)
- 2009: 1st in 51:13
- 2010: 1st in 52:16
- 2011: 1st in 51:08
Actually, looking back at these times, it is nice to note that I started riding my own TT bike in 2008 – the bike/position definitely made me faster! The course is flat and smooth, with just the wind providing the variance – last year it was a light headwind out/tailwind back and I had a great day to set the current course record.
This year my racing season has not gone to plan – training went really well over the winter, and I picked up a couple of 2nd place finishes in road races in the spring. But since then I have been struggling with some health issues, leading to my training being very inconsistent. I had to miss the state road champs altogether, but wanted to at least show up for the time trial, even if I wasn’t too optimistic about being able to defend my title.
The wind was blowing a bit more than last year, and it was a tailwind on the outward leg – I knew I needed to get to the turn in less than 24 minutes to have a shot at a good time – 24:30 was close but not good enough, which was confirmed by my split on Colby (a very fast young rider from Bend) – I was 18 seconds down at this point. The return leg into the wind was really not fun, I was hurting and wanted to get off! But I toughed it out, and finished with a time of 52:39 – which I was pretty pleased with considering my form and the wind. That ended up being good enough for third, behind Colby Wait-Molyneux (51:56) and a storming ride by Joshua Liberles (51:19).
- 2012: 3rd in 52:39 (won in 51:19)
So I guess I’ll have to try to do better next year…. Incidentally, this was my first time out with the new Enve 85mm front wheel. It did feel a little bit more stable than the Hed Stinger 9 I was using previously.
Amazing Rob, congrats on getting a podium finish in less then perfect conditions. Now time for a break, come for a vacation in Hawaii!
nice job Rob! bike looks good with the HED stinger disc.
Your kit looks good too. gonna have to get one.