Esparto TT Race Report

Rand's appetite for racing is insatiable. After doing the San Rafael race into the late evening the previous day, he was out in Esparto bright and early getting ready for his ~8AM start. A lack of sleep didn't hold him back, as he scored a great 2nd place. Local pro, hardman, and multi-time Canadian TT champ Eric Wohlberg bested Rand but only by 8 seconds. Below is Rand's report.

Official Results

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Esparto ITT
Esparto, CA
8/10/08
Weather: cool, light wind, clear
Teammates: None
Placing: 2nd of ~15

After racing the twilight Carrera de San Rafael on Saturday night, and sleeping a total of 4 hours, I left SF at 5am for some sweet central valley ITT action.

Esparto is an 18 mile ITT, with flat to rolling terrain and some bad pavement here and there. In warmup I felt pretty good, but not great.

The most significant headwind was right at the start of the race, so I had to keep myself from pushing too hard too early. I set a good pace, and felt pretty solid.

I caught my minute man a couple of miles past the turnaround, and was feeling pretty strong still. However, I hit a section of very rough pavement, like beat-up chipseal...only a mile long or so, but I could NOT keep my speed up very well. I picked the pace up again once I hit smoother pavement, but not before my minute man came back by me.

In the end, I had a decent ride of 40:37. Not great, but it was good enough for 2nd place, 8 seconds behind Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). Chris Turner (Above Category Racing) was third about 30 seconds further back.

I have been napping at work ever since.

Thanks for reading,
Rand