i had to get to the start of a stretch of road that had 7.2 miles of un-stop-signed bliss, so i rode south to kansas highway 44. it took me 32'47" to make it out to the 8.5-mile mark.
it was 102 degrees out. the wind was from the south-southwest. the relative humidity was nothing to speak of at 28%. i had a little less than half my gatorade left at this point. 12 ounces for 7.2 miles of sheer suffering. have i mentioned how evil bernard is?
i once again had a bit of trouble on my start. my left cleat just didn't want to find it's home in the left pedal. i slipped once or twice before finally getting the two to make up. then i had to grind it out to get up to speed.
once i was rolling, the miles flew by. i was able to get up to 24mph quickly and hold it for a while. i dropped down to 23mph and then to 22mph as the incline steepened a bit. i picked up speed again on the flats and lost again on the next climb.
then came tracy hill. hardly a hill by kentucky standards, but this is kansas. i got up over 30mph on the second half of the descent. i stayed there for close to a mile.
when i hit the flat section between melvin tracy's and randy tracy's i started feeling the effects of the heat. i'd been trying to hydrate well, but there's not a lot you can do with 12 ounces of gatorade when it's 102 out. i pressed on over the river and up into town.
i hit the city limits at or a little past my limits. i was redlining, but i put the hammer down and finished. i looked at my time, did the math and shook my fist at evil bernard. i was in the lead! (my average for the TT was 23mph!)
after the time trial i drug myself home. it took me 3'00" to cover the 0.74 miles to my garage. i was beat. (16.44 miles @ 18.1mph)
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