Stage 3 was a 17 mile TTT. Once again the course was on beautiful wooded roads with good pavement and challenging rolling / hilly terrain. There were a lot of rollers today and 1 significant climb at the 12 mile mark.
I should take the time to introduce my team at this point. We were known as "Team Ohio" and had David Young (Orrville Cycling Club), Mark Bergman (Orrville Cycling Club), John Murdock (Wheelie Fun), and myself. Mark, and David were awesome today. They really put the horsepower down. John did a great job too, doing a lot of work. I was TERRIBLE. My legs did not come around like I had hoped and I was, once again, pushing noodles on the pedals and clinging to the back. I was eventually dropped near the top of the climb.
The Bacardi boys made up for their mistake yesterday putting some serious time into the other teams in the TTT. This brought the GC guys all back within striking distance.
After the TTT I felt absolutely terrible, both physically and mentally. I realized I came into this race over-trained and I was just digging myself deeper into a hole with each stage. I came to the difficult conclusion that I needed to drop out of the race. If I was going to have any chance at recovering to peak form before the Savage Hill stage race, I would need to start resting ASAP.
TTAB is an awesome race. I really regret missing the last two stages. Next year I will be better prepared and, most importantly, more rested before I arrive.
