by:Mark King

Merco Cycling Classic ITT, 3/4/2011

Category: Masters 35+, 27
Course: 12.2 miles, 370ft of climbing -70 degrees and sunny with moderate wind  
Team Mates: Mark King 

Finished: 15th  

First short distance TT of the year and it felt like a really special event. I was warming up next to pro riders and there was an impressive start and finish area just like in a pro race.  The course was completely closed to traffic too which was nice.  Even though the profile doesn’t look too hilly it certainly felt like a pretty tough course. It was also bumpy and for the whole race I was searching for a nice smooth strip of asphalt. There wasn’t much wind but it was strong enough to be noticed in both directions (cross wind) and make the event just that bit harder.
 
Never having ridden the course I just tried to set a good pace and hope for a good time.  I only got caught by one person and that was one of the superfast Yahoo!