State TT and looking ahead

This past week was the build up to the State Time Trial Championship race. This event is in New Haven, IN which is just outside of Ft. Wayne. In other words: it's a long ass drive. The riders start at around 8am, so this race requires an overnight stay. Luckily there's a hotel basically right across from the start line.
I wanted to get up there early enough to get out on the bike for an hour or so the evening before the race to get the "car legs" shaken off. Last year we didn't get there after dark and didn't the chance to ride any.
This year we got in w/ plenty of day light left so I set out for some openers. It was hot, but I felt really good riding at threshold.
Race morning my start was 8:53am. I got up, got my routine done and headed toward the course to ride around some prior to starting.
It was going to be hot, but I consider myself to do well in heat in general. I got started and immediately felt good and in control. Time trialling is such a delicate balance of going as hard as you can w/out blowing up. To do it right you have to ride right at you limit, but w/out going over your limit too far/too much. This northern course is dead flat; it's interesting to ride a road 12miles out then back and not have to shift gears at all really. It gives your mind plenty of chances to wander, but staying focused is important. Staying on top of your gear, keeping your head down, keeping you rhythm, these things can become difficult when you're staring at a straight white line for an hour. But I had no problem keeping focus this day. It all came together and I had the best feeling 40k TT I've ever done. I came in and had dropped 1min 1sec off my last year's time. I won here last year and I really thought no one would beat my time this year. I was right. It's only Cat3, so nothing to brag too much about, but I did post the 4th best time overall. I was very happy with my race.
So now I'm attempting to take a week off of cycling and shift gears to cyclocross mode. After this week off I'm going to get back riding next week, but w/ no specific workouts, just riding. I do plan to race MTB this weekend (after this week off), so we'll see how that goes. I'll go into it w/ no expectation. Hard to believe it's almost August.