Castle-Hanauma TT

Today was the Castle-to-Hanauma time trial. Did this race last year in 31:09.

Here's my list of excuses for today:

1) Was in Alaska most of last week
2) Rode Saturday...normally not a big deal, but yesterday was a tough day. Woke up to rain and wind. Looked at the radar picture and saw a dry patch near Schofield. Loaded up the car, and realized it was damn cold. It started raining again as I drove off...thought about bailing on multiple occasions. Finally arrived at Schofield...temp was 57F. It rained. It was windy. Did 39 rainy/cold/windy miles.
3) Ate at Dixie Grill...normally not a big deal. Food rarely effects my ability to ride. I could eat a good pasta meal, and not perform any better if I had a bacon explosion. Last night was an exception. There was a battle in my intestines that was not settled until Kashi saved the day at 0430.
4) I don't have a time trial bike, nor do I have the fancy race wheels. All the cycling races here are broken into several different categories. If there was a road-bike with clip-on aero bars category, I think I would've fared well.
5) I'm not a pro-triathlete. Apparently pro-triathletes are equivalent to Category 5 road racers (Cat 5 is entry level for all my non-cyclist blog readers). There was 1 x pro out there racing in the same category as me, as well as several other elite triathletes. Considering riding alone in an aero-position is part of a pro-triathlete's core competencies, a guy with my job description (sit at a desk, attend meetings in a building without windows) doesn't stand a chance at winning.
6) It was windy...very windy. At times on the ride back, I was blown back to a near stop.

No issues starting out, after a couple of miles I felt sluggish. At the pre-race briefing, we were told there was a slut in the road in Waimanalo, this caused me to look around for the slut and get a little distracted...that's when I was passed by the pro-triathlete who started 30 seconds behind me. That got my attention, so after he opened a gap, I forgot about the slut and tried to keep him in sight. My legs started to feel strong about 8 miles into the race, just in time for the climbs. Finished in 31:33, passed a couple of riders and no others passed me.

All excuses considered, it was a good ride for me. If I had the right equipment, didn't eat spicy BBQ, trained for this kind of racing, we had no wind, or I was a pro triathlete, I probably would've been faster. Oh well, still had fun, and did it all without puking on my aero-bars.