diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 7dee8c7..cb71de6 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -108,6 +108,14 @@ int main1(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }
 
+/* http://wiki.osdev.org/Inline_Assembly/Examples#RDTSC */
+static inline uint64_t rdtsc(void)
+{
+  uint64_t ret;
+  asm volatile ( "rdtsc" : "=A"(ret) );
+  return ret;
+}
+
 static tt_node_ptr_t make_path(tt_arena_t *a, tt_node_ptr_t ok_dict, int n, tt_atom_t const *atoms)
 {
   int i;
@@ -423,6 +431,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 #define N_MESSAGES 10000000
     tt_node_ptr_t r = TT_EMPTY;
     struct timeval start_time, stop_time;
+    uint64_t start_cycles, stop_cycles;
     int i;
 
     gettimeofday(&start_time, NULL);
@@ -450,6 +459,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     /* tt_dump_arena_dot_styled("r", r, &a, TT_STYLE_TEXT_LABELS /\* | TT_STYLE_HIDE_DETAILS *\/); */
 
     gettimeofday(&start_time, NULL);
+    start_cycles = rdtsc();
     for (i = 0; i < N_MESSAGES; i++) {
       tt_atom_t key = ((rand() % N_PATTERNS) << 1) | 1;
       tt_node_ptr_t p = r;
@@ -461,6 +471,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
       /* printf("\nstepped: key %d, %u/%u\n", key, tt_ptr_idx(p), tt_ptr_tag(p)); */
       /* tt_dump_arena_dot_styled("result", p, &a, TT_STYLE_TEXT_LABELS); */
     }
+    stop_cycles = rdtsc();
     gettimeofday(&stop_time, NULL);
     {
       double delta_ms = (stop_time.tv_sec - start_time.tv_sec) * 1000.0 +
@@ -469,6 +480,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	     delta_ms,
 	     1000.0 * delta_ms / N_MESSAGES,
 	     N_MESSAGES / (delta_ms / 1000.0));
+      printf("%lld cycles elapsed; %g cycles per routed message\n",
+	     ((long long int) stop_cycles - (long long int) start_cycles),
+	     (double) (stop_cycles - start_cycles) / N_MESSAGES);
     }
 
     tt_drop(&a, r);