My morning started at a very early 3:45AM so I could make my 8:45AM Cat4/5 start time. I arrived at the Jittery Joe's Roaster with no incident and got my stuff in line, slammed a shot of Jittery's espresso, and headed to the course. My coach had told me that staging is vital in this race and I got a spot in the second row, not the best, but I could have done worse for sure. They sent us out and mister Keo pedals in front of me missed his clip in, so my good position just went down the drain. With an eager field of 75+ the opportunity to move up early on was dicey. About 400m from the Start/Finish on lap 3 there was a crash that went from curb to curb. I managed to stop, but then had to walk by bike through the mess. My race was over, and then I saw Ron Williams on the side of the road. Ron is the captain of the US Paracycling team and is definitely a guy I look up to. He told me to catch back up and that provided a lot of motivation. I put my head down and went into TT mode. I was riding through the groups of dropped riders and rode part of the way with another guy who looked strong. As the laps ticked down I realized I was catching the field. Coming around the last turn the catch was made, but it was too late. No night race for me. NP for the 26minuterace was 270W, and I spent 18 of those in chase mode. Not a bad effort in that I can chase down a group from behind.
Athens is a fun race, I enjoyed the handcycle race since I know half the field. Alejandro Albor got his big gear (58T chainring) would up and powered away from the group to take the sprint.
The pro races were pretty cool, and fast! I hung out with Ron, Alejandro, and Oz Sanches (another paracyclist). I'm looking forward to seeing these guys later in the summer.
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