Originally Posted by beng1

That is part of racing, flat tires etc.. One time before a time-trial I got a flat tire, changed it, then got another one during the time trial, I think I threw the bike about three car-lengths. You can also get bad weather as in a super-windy day, and one time after training all summer and really thinking I was going to set a personal best at an upcoming race, I got a bad cold the day before the race and it knocked two or three miles-per-hour off my top speed. So when I say how fast I think I will go in a race, I am just going by how fast I can usually go in training, but that speed will only happen in a race if the weather is good, the rider is healthy, and the bike stays in one piece.