…trial bike.  I did the Summer Solstice stage race this past weekend and used a borrowed Cervelo TT rig for the 7 mile time trial stage.  Joanne, a triathlete friend of mine, was nice enough to loan it to me.  It is new, carbon, and has 650 wheels on it.  I called it my little Shetland Pony.  I slapped on a spare seat, longer stem, and some Time pedals and off I went.  Rode the course once for warm-up and seat adjustment then arrived for at my start time.  I have not done a tt in 2 years.  Borrowed bike, borrowed aero helmet… I just didn’t want to embarrass myself.  I ended up going ok - 15:50 - and was 8th on the stage.  Maybe I should practice more or buy a tt bike of my own.  The other-other John, who had crashed in the day’s earlier stage, was 25 secs. faster and got 5th for the stage.

The race was in middle Ohio not more than 1.5 hours from home, so it was nice to be able to come home each night, wash the bike, sleep in my own bed, and drink decent coffee.  The racing was good, with the exception of one team from PA who acted like complete tools (more on the next podcast), and the other-other John and I ended up 9th and 7th on the GC.