Final 33k Time Trial

Queen City Wheels held four 33k times trials this year on our course at Cleves. We started at the Tuesday night finish line, went to the start, and then back. The first event in March was bitterly cold with temps in the low 30's at the start and no better than upper 30s by the end. I really don;t like riding in that weather. My time was just over 49 minutes. The April event was rained out although three riders went out in the thunder and lightening. I skipped the May event to do 120+ miles from here in Cincinnati to georgetown, OH, Ripley, Oh and back. The last event was this past Saturday. It was hot and humid with a slight wind out of the south. From my training over the last month in the heat, and from past experience, I know that I lose a lot of power as I get dehydrated. Its not unusual for me to lose 4-5 lbs in two hours when doing 3x25 tempo's. This is even after going through up to 4 bottles. For this last time trial I decided to use my Profile Aero bottle between the bars. I debated using the regular bottle on the frame (hate losing aero position to grab it) or the Camelback vest (feels to bulky under the skin suit). I made sure that during my warmup that I drank regularly. I had two bottles of Gatorade in that hour. For the race itself I filled the bottle between the bars to the top with Gatorade. I'm in general not a fan of the longer time trials. I like 10 miles or less but most state and national events are longer so riding a few is necessary. I felt much better knowing that I wouldn't be as dehydrated as in the past. My goal was to ride each half at around 23 minutes. On Tuesdays I can average about 27.5-28 mph or 22:30-22:0 with my PR being 21:34, well over 28.4 mph. My best this year is 22:11 and worst 22:42. I thought 23 minute efforts would be pretty reasonable. I rode the first half in 26.9 mph or 22:52. The first two miles of the second half were dreadful to say the least. After the turn I had a hard time getting back to speed. By mile 3 I started to get back my rhythm. The last 5 miles had a slight tailwind so i was able to have some extended stretches at 30 mph. On the last climb to the finish at 4% I was still pushing 25-26 mph. I finished with a 46:01 which would have the second half at 23:09 or 26.56. Total time was 46:01 or 26.73 mph. I missed my goal by 1 second. I did finish with nothing left in the bottle and have no doubt that it helped having that for this effort.