today we have the "start grid time trials" for athens twilight.  these are 8-up heats done on computrainers.  computrainers are pretty cool, and you can enter a course in the computer to simulate - well, we get a simulation of 6 laps of the twilight course.  that makes this a 6 km prologue to determine who gets "pole posiiton" etc.  starting in the front is critical at athens, as it's a really tight course with very little room to move up, especially when everyone is railed out going super hard.  add 160 racers to the mix and you better not be at the back.  as an added bonus, the top 8 times of the day get a grand final in the evening for a $2g price list.  my heat was #6 (of 12) at 1:45 edt...

 

and i totally rocked the socks off it - winning my heat (against Brice Jones of Jelly Belly and Neil Shirley of Jittery Joes, among others) with a time of 7:55 @ 403 watts power output.  3rd best time of the day at the moment.

 

but before you win something, you've almost always got to be taken down a notch, right?  word, we had to weigh in right before the tt.  me + my bike + 1 full water bottle + my ipod = ?

 

215.5 pounds.

 

oh, snap!  i just chuckled and gave a grin.  the weigh-in guy was like, "yeah, that's the highest we've had today - but that's the good kind of weight, right?"  you better believe it.

 

grand final at 9pm tonight if my time holds.

flippin' sweet - i think it's naptime now.