I got ready for Thursday’s prologue by looking at last year’s time and dividing the course into thirds. Using that information, I set some time goals for myself.

I thought I started off well. There’s a little kicker right off the bat and I got over that pretty good. But when I got to the first time check I set for myself, I was behind it. But I was still catching my 30-second man, so I thought I was doing OK.

After I reeled my 30-second man in, Ben Jacques-Mayne (Bissell Pro Cycling) was my minute man. I could see him as we hit the climb, which was my second time split, and thought to myself that maybe I wasn’t going as bad as I thought.

Up ahead, he went out of sight as the course curves off to the left. Not too long after that, I made the turn and nearly ran into a rider, who I initially thought was him. Instead, it was my minute-and-30-second man.

I kept going, but could tell I was slipping. I tried to save a little for the last climb to try and rip it up since I’m a climber and that’s where I can really make up time. But by the time I hit the last 100 meters I was pretty cooked. I ended up finishing in 53rd place, 42 seconds back of the winner, Rory Sutherland (Health Net presented by Maxxis), and three-tenths of a second slower than my teammate, Shawn Milne. (Jacques-Maynes was fifth on the stage.)

So now I’m looking ahead to a stage that better suits Team Type 1. We’re not really a team built for prologue time trials. Friday’s race is five laps of a 17-mile circuit. Just looking at the course profile, it appears it will be good for us. At the San Dimas Stage Race last weekend, we had all of our guys make the decisive split on a tough circuit. Based on what we did last weekend, I think we could possibly win if things go our way.