After a 40k, a 10 miler, and a 14 miler (in recent races), it was a relief to finally have a short time trial. The course was just under 4 miles and made a loop around the reservoir on top of Raccoon Mountain. There was one pretty good sized hill on course (near the start), but otherwise, it was flat/downhill.

I felt good from the start. Once I hit the hill, I decided I’d shift into my small front chainring. It helped me get up to the top without blowing my legs up, but, unfortunately, at the top, I had trouble getting it to shift back into the large ring (my fault- time to make some adjustments to the high limit screw). I quickly got it sorted out and went bombing down the other side of the hill. I was tempted to touch the brakes, but instead, forced myself to get back into the aero bars and slam the right shifter down as far as it would go (this resulted in speed in excess of 46mph- somewhere between scary and really fun). I got into a good rhythm along the next section of flat road, then made the final right turn for the mile-long stretch into Laurel Point park. It began with a short, steep downhill, which I ripped through as fast as my nerves would allow. The remainder of the course was a blur. I have to say, this course marks some of the highest speed turns I’ve ever made while remaining in my aero position. The results were great- I broke 9 minutes (8:57), and I won the TT by a little more than 15 seconds.

This moved me up from 6th in the Omnium standings to 3rd. Time for some criterium racing…