It could have been worse

On Tuesday of this week, I was coughing so much and felt so miserable that I barely got off the couch. Wednesday was not much better. After that, I was not expecting much from today's race, but I couldn't just skip the race because I need the points in the series.

I felt a little better yesterday and a little better than that today. I was still coughing and sneezing a little, but I was able to warm up without too many problems.

The course was 10 miles going only one way and it was mostly flat with just a couple of minor rises. The entire race can be done on the shoulder of the road, which is almost big enough to be another lane. The day was nice, with temperatures in the low 60's and a slight tailwind.

The first 7 miles went pretty well. I couldn't hit the power that I could if I wasn't sick, but I was not off by much, running maybe about 15 watts low. Then it happened.

I was just about to catch another rider, so I glanced over my shoulder to make sure a car was not coming up behind me before I moved into the traffic lane to pass. BAM!!! I nailed a pothole at almost 30 mph.

The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't steer. One aero bar had pulled almost straight vertical and I couldn't even really hold it without hitting my knee into my elbow as I pedaled. The other aero bar pad rotated downward, effectively moving one elbow down an inch and the other 3 inches.This was going to be difficult

My bigger worry was that I had a flat tire. I kept pedaling, trying to tell if either tire was flat. Once I was sure they weren't, I focused on finishing. After trying a bunch of options, I settled into one arm on the aero bar that was still in the same position but had the pad lower and put my other hand on the basebar. While I'm sure it was the best of my options, with my upper body slightly twisted and a bit lower than I was used to (which was already about as aggressive as I could handle), I was really struggling to keep my power up. Looking at the download afterwards, I averaged about 20 watts lower after I hit the hole (dropping from 277 watts to 258 watts)

I dug deep and pushed as hard as I could manage. I knew that I only had about 7 minutes or so to finish.

I hit the finish line without any other problems but I was completely wiped out and just aching all over in a time of 21:54. Not bad since I was aiming for 22:10.

Even though I was ahead of my goal, I only finished 5th place, about 20 seconds behind the winner.

I'm guessing that I lost 5 to 10 seconds to my little aero bar incident. At absolute best, it would have moved me into 3rd (I was 8 second behind Anthony, who finished 3rd). There was some serious new competition today.

After today, I'm solidly in second place in the series. In order to lose second place, I'd have to finish out of the points (or not show up) for two races of the remaining four races. In order to win the series, I need to win all four of those races... I'm not giving up but that's a lot to ask.

The next race is a 40K (25 miles) in 5 weeks. I've got some training time! :-)

What I did right:
Rested all week while sick
Didn't panic after I hit the pothole
Kept my pace up afterward

What could have been better:
Not hit the damned pothole!

The Numbers:
Distance: 9.95 miles
Time: 21:54
Speed: 27.4 mph (first time I've ever been over 27 mph in a race)
Avg Power: 273 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 168 bpm