Pseudo-Race Report: OKC-Velo Wed. TT

We did the 9-mile time trial yesterday put on by OKC-Velo (part of the summer series that includes crits and a circuit race) - I like these races. My time seemed alright, I suppose - 22:42 or something like that. 5 seconds faster than the last time I did the ride, but I almost crashed twice. I decided to ride in the gutter to get off of the nasty pavement (part of the Draper Lake course is on really nice pavement, while the other part is on absolute crap), and I was humming along in pain (par for the course for a TT) when Justin caught me. He passed me like I was standing still, and I kept on a' movin', but apparently was not paying as close attention to the gutter due to the distraction...and I hit a block of cement that was probably 4-5 inches tall. I am amazed that I didn't flat immediately...that I didn't bend my wheel in...that I stayed on the bike! Then, a little further along, I must have put my front wheel into a crack because my bike swayed under me, and I had to grab it to keep from going down. Finished the race completely parched - Justin had offered to carry some water to share so that I didn't have to put my aero bottle on. He was lollygagging a half-mile away after the finish while I was desperately trying to make spit to relieve the dry mouth...I ended up 4th or something like that for the B division (these races are not split by gender or category - there is an A [fast!] division, and then a B [the rest of us] division), while Justin's stellar blast-off performance won 1st in B. He's riding quite well. I was 2 seconds away from 3rd...paying attention on the course and cutting the corners (in triathlon, you can't cut corners on the bike...it's illegal and called blocking) may well have cost me 'dem seconds.