Masters Omnium TT - That's what I'm talking about

Usually, when I go to omniums, I put in good time trials. I'm usually in the points and generally somewhere between 7th and 10th place. I've been waiting for the day when I put it all together and jump a little further up the results table. Today was that day.

Today's TT was eight miles in length and started at the Padilla Bay Interpretive center and headed north. The profile in the tech guide made the course look like it had a good size hill to climb over in the middle of it, once each way. The reality was that it started on a plateau overlooking Padilla Bay for a couple miles and then dropped down onto the flats for a couple miles until the turnaround. The only real hill was on the return leg climbing back up onto the plateau and it wasn't all that bad.

I started well and settled into a pretty good pace right away. Typically, the first challenge in a TT is to avoid going out too strong and blowing up. With tired legs from yesterday's road race, I don't think anyone had that problem. I overheard numerous comments in the parking lot after the race regarding rider's inability to elevate their heartrates to their usual levels. Today was less about finding that perfect max aerobic pace and more about just pushing through the pain and fatigue caused by yesterday. It was akin to the last rep or two in a weightlifting set in the gym. The whole race was just trying to keep pushing a little more.

I dropped off the plateau and down onto the flats. This stretch of the course to the turnaround was dead flat and straight for two miles. It was a little like being on a treadmill, there wasn't much sensation of movement. I made a decent turn, maybe a little wider than necessary, and got back on the gas for the return leg. The flats passed quickly and I was faced with getting back up onto the plateau. Again, blowing up wasn't much of a risk, so I just stood and kept the wheels turning as quick as I could.

Back up top, I could see the rider who started thirty seconds ahead of me, and although I wasn't going to catch him, by marking his time as he passed the 1k to go mark I could tell I was a couple seconds ahead of him. I dug in and really tried to lift my pace as all I could think of is that it would be a drag to lose a place to him when I was up with a kilometer to go.

I crossed the line and saw on my watch that my time was in the neighborhood of 18:30 for the 8 miles. Not too bad. I was sure I'd be in the points and probably well in the top-10. When the results were posted, I'd managed 2nd place, only about 5 seconds behind first. And my thirty second man? He was in third, two seconds behind me.