I thought the title of your thread was about my TT! Like you, I just haven't had ideal training leading up to this. My tendonitis in the back of my knee has caused me to reduce my volume, and last week I was in MO, where I only got to ride once due to long work days and rain. Then I hopped on a plane, flew to DFW, got to a friends at mid-nite, got 4 hours of terrible sleep and tried to do a 40K in the morning, riding the course blind. Yeah, great idea. Like X said, the chip-seal and false flats made it extremely difficult to get into a rhythm. The first 30 minutes went great, I didn't start out too hard, my power was right on target (190 watts) , no one had passed me, etc. Then the lights went out. I struggled to keep my power at 160, hit some unexpectedly steep climbs (was that a 10 % er X?) and all in all suffered. So, it was a little bit of a disaster. But, I wanted to ride it as an learning experience to check my position, my new custom front wheel, , my racepak, and a visor. Concerning that, I was pleased my position as in I was comfortable, the wheel felt fast, and I really, really, liked the racepak. I filled it with ice before the start and it was nice to have that cooling on my back. Overall I was only a few minutes out of mixing it up with the leaders despite my bad day. My wife tried to take some pics. Hows my fit? (it looks like I hit a pothole and my bars slipped a bit)