Now that I'm done complaining about how humid it was, let's take another look at that race and my preparation.
In early June, I didn't care about racing. I was riding enough to have fun, but no serious training, no hard efforts, and no structure to what I was doing. At the end of June, the switch in my head flipped to "on" and I started training for real.
I did 9 weeks of solid, structured training, with volume increased, the intensity increased, and an experimental 10-day taper so that I showed up for the race both well trained and well rested.
I did a "dry run" two days in advance to make sure that all of my equipment was ready to go.
I had my traditional Indian for dinner the night before the race and got a good night's sleep.
I got to the race an hour early and got in a good warmup. I spent 45 minutes on the trainer with a dedicated warmup, then spent 15 minutes on the road. I brought a spare jersey to wear on the trainer so I could race in a dry outfit and be more comfortable.
To counter against the humidity, I drank a lot of fluids before the race. I drank 2 bottles in the hour before the race.
I started the race well, getting a strong start for the first minute and then gradually settled into the power that I wanted. I just forgot to account for the humidity.
Even though the weather did not cooperate, I feel that the factors that I could control all went perfectly.
