Matt Botting, 2nd place, Category 40-49

This year the State TT seemed to sneak up on me. Two weeks prior to the event I did my best to shatter Strava sections within a 5 mile radius of the home. Turns out this 40K state course which was run in reverse trumps all Strava segments. The course had a very tough first 8 miles with 3 small ring hills. Being a bubba sized rider this proved to be a tough section. After the initial hill/s there was a 10 mile section which was reasonably flat.  I felt good here and seemed to recover from the Bubba climbs.  On the final 5 mile stretch we had a few bumps to climb.  On these my calf muscle was starting to cramp. I eased up slightly and tried to stand on these hills.  My finishing time ended up at 55:36 which was good for second place in the 40-49 category and around 8 seconds off the gold.  I am already planning my Bubba sized effort for next year!

Mark Jellous, 4th place (N.C.)/6th overall, Pro/1/2

Race was 40k. Same course as used in recent years for the Piedmont Triad Omnium time trial. The catch was it was run in reverse direction this year. Result was a challenging course with a very difficult opening 4-5 miles.  Was a warm, humid day even in the early morning when we raced. I was impressed with field size this year.  Much larger than normal for the State TT in recent years.
Had good warmup, then shortly after getting underway noticed the speed sensor from my SRM had detached and was swinging between the crankarm and wheel. No choice but to stop and try to fix this. Cost me a good 30-45 sec and more importantly really messed with my concentration and rhythm.  As a result I pushed too hard in the opening uphill sections and struggled to regain any semblance of fluidity for the rest of the race.  It’s critical in longer TTs to avoid going into the red and having to yo-yo between vo2 and low end threshold intensity and that’s the place I found myself. Missed a state medal by 16 sec. Tough pill to swallow given my mechanical but that’s how races go.  Kudos to Jim Martin and all the volunteers/officials who made this a fun, safe event for us.
Tommy Jones, 5th place, Category 40-49

The length of the TT  was a tad under a 40 kilometers (24.2 miles).  By the time I started at 9:38am, it was 83 degrees and very humid.  The course was NOT flat (1200 ft).  My time trial legs did not show up for this one and my goal of 57 minutes were quickly dashed!  I finished with a time of 58:21. The winning time was 55:27.