True Lies

They call the time trial the race of truth, but we all know things aren't always black and white. Despite the results from yesterdays Elite National Championship I still believe that Phil Mooney is the best elite time trialist in the country. You can't win 'em all though. At this level, against such good competition, you need everything to go right in order to win. Phil rode a rippin' fast race, but it just didn't quite come together and he finished 4th, just a fraction of a second out of third. Here are the full results. Mike Olheiser destroyed it for the second year in a row and bested his time from last year by over a minute. Well done, sir. As luck would have it I found a small licorice cap at a candy store, so boasting-induced indigestion won't sideline me for the rest of the weekend.

Personally I had a great time trial and I'm really pleased. I was looking at the race more as an opener for the rest of the week, and I think taking the pressure off really helped. I figured I'd ease into the race, ride the climb reasonably and then if not too many people had passed me I'd give 'er on the rest of the course. I felt like I was just crawling all the way out and up the hill, but only one guy passed me so I figured I'd give it a go. After paying taxes on my flab all the way up I got to use that ballast to my advantage on the way down, re-passing the guy who'd gotten me on the climb, and then collecting people on the lollipop who'd spent too much up front. I think rolling slowly into a longer TT is really beneficial to me, and I ended up 9th. Whats more, I took almost 4 minutes off of my time from last year. Given that I haven't been TTing that well this year this result has put me in a really good frame of mind and given me some confidence in my Nats prep. (Photo: Vince Owens tuning the engine)

We spent the evening attending the awards ceremony and though sitting in the hot sun maybe wasn't the best for the body it was good for the soul.They have championship races for kids as young as 11, as well as two paralympic divisions. The inimitable Dave Towle was announcing and busting out some real gems, including Phil's favorite: "This girl is a true alchemist and we look forward to watching her turn stars and stripes into rainbows." Classic. They did the awards outdoors right next to the river and it could not have been nicer. USAC did a solid writeup of all the TT results.

At this point I have to bow down and give Andrew Talansky credit for an incredible ride. He won the extremely competitive U23 race (its open to professionals) and set the fastest time of the day. This kid is incredibly talented and he's going places. I'd bet dollars to donuts that one of those places is a ProTour squad. As I was editing this post Switters informed me that my prognostications were correct and Andrew has signed with Garmin. Good on ya, Talansky.

Phil's parents Kevin and Faith (That's Faith in the teal shirt behind Phil) happened to be in town for an Oregon vacation which coincidentally lined up with Nats, so they got to see their boy take the podium as one of the best amateur riders in the nation. Too cool. Even cooler, though, was the delicious meal they treated us to after the awards. I'm still full of delicious pasta and Italian sausage and ready to have a crack at this crit tonight.


Finally, look at Phil getting in some secret training while we were out to dinner. No wonder that guy is so fast.