Another busy weekend.
Friday, we headed up to see the Abbotsford Airshow at the invitation of one of my good friends Shane, who's an F-18 pilot and had his plane parked up as one of the static exhibits (e.g. he didn't fly around, he just walked around in his flight suit in Canada and generally got treated like royalty). Good time - we got to check out all the planes, then sit in the Lockheed Martin section to watch the actual air part of the airshow. We got back Saturday night.
Today was the State Team Time Trial. A team time trial (TTT) is a special format rate where teams of 4 riders go off at regular intervals against the clock. Since riding behind another rider (drafting) is a major advantage, a TTT squad continually rotates who's at the front so the other guys can rest. So, if you're doing 30 second "pulls", you work hard for 30 seconds, then get about 90 seconds to recover at an easier effort while you're not at the front. Zoka had several squads, and I was part of one-of-two Category 4 squads. Last year, 3 miles in I had a flat, and after my flat at Lake Stevens (I never flat on training rides...sigh...), I was mighty paranoid, especially given all the discussion about part of the course being torn up. They talked about changing the course (31 miles or so, ~15 out/back) but at the last minute decided to stick with the original course, which included 3 sections of gravel/dirt. See, Time Trial bikes aren't known for their manuverability, or their good tires.
My squad got into a good rhythm from the start, holding 25-27 mph. The first gravel section was deep, loose gravel and around a corner, which added to the challenge. The next two sections were short and mostly packed dirt and rocks, so they weren't a problem. A bit after navigating that I came off the front, and was kind of focused on the front wheel ahead of me while I recovered. Well, the road went left a little bit, and the shoulder ended. Since I wasn't looking down the road, I went right off the end of the shoulder off the road. I was competely sure I was going to crash but in a flash of pure fear and luck, I managed to get back up to the road. My team mates were up the road watching the whole thing unfold but I yelled to them I was fine and caught back on and we were underway again. Still, no flats. The rest of the race was good and was very tight - after 31 miles, 2-7th place was separated by 49 seconds. Good times.
But I think that's about it for me. With IMAZ on the horizon - 8 months isn't that long - and 10 months of solid training and racing behind me - I'm about ready for a break. I've got the Beaver Lake Triathlon this coming weekend, plus a couple of thursday night training races (fun), and that's about it. I'm kind of sad that I won't be doing the Kirkland Tri this year, but it's fully a month away and that's just too long.