Last Sunday was the Hawaii State TTT, held over a 40km out and back course from Kualoa Ranch to Laie, and back.

This year I had a solid team for the Cat 1/2/3 72+ category, but upon arrival it looked like we were already the winner - No one else in our category... All we had to do was finish with 3 riders. Easy, right? Not exactly...

I did a couple miles of riding with team mate Aaron Wallen on the course to get warmed up and check out the wind conditions. Got back to the start area, changed to the race wheels... Carefully checking them for glass fragments (Heineken). No glass to be found.

The four of us rolled over to the start line. With 30 seconds to go before our start, I noticed a piece of glass wedged into my front tubular tire. I picked it out... Phew! Not really, the latex inner tube started to pop through the pinhole in the tire casing... (insert expletive)... I reallocated a piece of electrical tape from elsewhere on my bike, stuck that over the hole, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

5..4..3..2..1.. GO! Within the first 1/4 mile I was questioning why the hell I chose to ride with the Zipp 1080 up front. We had some very strong crosswinds coming off the ocean, making for fun times trying to control the bike. Our 4-man team consisting of Aaron Wallen, Tai Blechta, Mark Doane, and myself, were working together nicely ... All of us rotating in the same direction, no rubbing of wheels etc. Cruising in the high 20's / low 30's (mph) with a few stints north of 35. At Crouching Lion one of our riders was starting to suffer and on the verge of bowing out... Then I heard the inevitable PSSSSSSSSssssss sound of my tire deflating... As predicted, my electrical tape fix only lasted for 8km (Kahana Valley). I sat on the guardrail at the side of the road while my team rode off into the distance. For the next 30 mins I did all that I could do - Wish my team to a fast time, while freezing my ass off. Yeah, it's Hawaii, and I'm from Scotland (I should be able to brave the elements: 75F temps), but going from 30+ mph and a HR in the 190's to 0 mph and 45bpm while sitting in a valley = Gets cold real quick!

Eventually, my PV team mates came back into sight and were looking good. 3 riders still intact! I watched the clock until the next team (Boca) came by at exactly the same time split as Pacific Velo - Uno! A couple minutes later Cambio (Tony Lang, Rick Armstrong, Charles Dias) came by about 35sec up on PV and Boca - Both teams also down to 3 riders.

We finished up a little over a minute behind Cambio to take 2nd place overall, and 1st place in the Mens Cat 1/2/3 72+ age group. No other teams in our category, but still a respectable ride with 4 guys that hadn't really ridden together until race day.

After a ride back to the start in a warm truck, I switched front wheels with Mike Proffitt then race again in a mixed team (3 guys, one woman). We finished the course in 1hr 1min and a few seconds - Fast enough for the win. 2 State championship wins in one day. I just wish I got to race the full 40k on my first run as I was left with a lot of unspent watts.

Team Pacific Velo Results

Men 1/2/3 72+
Aaron Wallen, Mark Doane, Tai Blechta, Mike Zagorski - 1st

Mixed 72+
Michelle Simmons, Spence Cocanour, Tai Blechta, Mike Zagorski - 1st

Mixed 155+
Mike Ferreira, Sandy Ferreira, Greg Price, Aaron Wallen - 2nd

Men 4/5 155+
Mike Proffitt, Mike Ferreira, Spence Cocanour, Bryan Gonzalez - 1st
Greg Price, Shannon O'Shea, Wing Ho, Wojciech Szymanski - 4th