Worlds Individual Time Trial day - or wake up Brad day!

So today was the individual time trial. Although not the event I had set myself for, it's always hard not to hold a bit of optimistic hope for a reasonable result, even when your head says it's not going to happen.

Well, the head was right! While my division ran deeper then the two older and younger ones either side of it, the standard generally was super high and my result reflected that. I was 14th in my age group (out of only 15) and about 2 mins off a top 10. So, on the face of it, absolutely smashed!

Some mitigating factors are that I was the only rider in my division not on a specialist TT bike with deep dish or disc wheels, which on the flat into the strong head wind (conditions for the first 9 km of the 25 km loop), was making a huge difference. On the  uphills and particularly on the descents, I was comparable with guys in the top 5 but on the first 9 km section they were doing 4 or 5 km/h faster than I was. I passed 3 guys who started in front of me, all from the division above (older), two of whom were on TT bikes but was passed by 4 guys in my division who started behind me - a bit demoralising!

Looking at my rides since my crash 10 days ago, it is apparent that I am working harder to put out the same power than I was before it. My HR average for the last 10 days is higher for a lower average speed - not the equation you want to see! Part of it is still likely to be jet lag, part of it the effects of the crash, part of it the kilo I put on last week when I really didn't train much at all and part of it probably the 1000m of altitude at the start line today. However, I'm still hopeful of getting my form back to where it was 10 days ago for the road race on Saturday and I will be working towards that in the intervening 48 hours. I will go out this afternoon and roll over the legs for 10 km or so and then do the same for 20 km or so tomorrow morning.

Over the course of my preparing for this trip, people had reminded me that it was the World Championships - even if the location would tend to exclude some people - and this was certainly evident today. A real wake up call! In the end, I will look back on this with a perspective about the journey and the experience being the thing that matters but it's always a bit harder to see that at the time - right now I just want to be 10% healthier, 3 kgs lighter and on form. If I'm lucky, I might need to settle for the last one!