First race of the season, it was COOOOLLLLDDDDDD. After "warming" up I was still frozen, but I figured I would be producing enough body heat during the time trial to still go with shorts. Besides, everyone else was going for shorts. Big mistake, I'll explain later. So I ride to the start line, get in line and wait. Fortunatly, it was only about 1 minute of waiting, because I kind of misjudged the timing of my warmup. No problem. My time come up, and off I went, I had a great start, up to 26 mph right away. I knew this was on the downwind part of the loop, so I wanted to work into it. Right after I started, now down to just shorts and Long sleeve top, I was freezing. Not how you want to start an all out effort. Unfortunatly I was released right as the Masters women were coming back through, so the first lap I rode entirely on the outside of the course making passes. I felt ok, and decided to hold back just a hair so I didnt bonk. Laps 2-3 were about the same, but just a little slower as I fell back into my pace. Lap 4 I developed a nice side cramp, but nothing to bad to work through, but the wind on the back side of the course had picked up significantly (where the course is more exposed to it). Unfortunatly the downwind side was much more sheltered and you didnt get much help from the wind. I was struggling to accelerate after making the turn to downwind by now, and I was only doing 25 mph as opposed to 28 mph downwind, and was now all the way down to 21 upwind from 23. My first two laps the average was right around 25, but it had fallen to 24 by lap 4. Lap 5 was painful. The cramp got worse and I got passed by the my first person. Up until then, I had been passing, and no one had gone by. For some reason it played with my head for about 2/3 of that lap, until I broke through and said "this is my last lap coming up, I dont want to be passed" And took off. My average for the last lap was great in comparrison to what I had been doing, I caught back up to the guys that had passed me and gapped me. With about 1/2 lap remaining, I really started to pick it up again. Sprinted in for the finish at about 29 mph and crossed the line.

I felt like crap (which is I guess how you are supposed to feel after a time trial), but I hadn't gone nearly as fast as some previous time trials. I know my body really doesnt like the cold, and I knew I didnt get enough of a warmup in. While coasting back to the parking lot, I looked down at my legs for the first time, and my knees were completely purple. I had never seen that before... I should have kept the tights on!

Times were WAY slower than last year talking to some people, and looking at the previous years results I would agree. This could have been a very very fast time trial because it is flat as can humanly be. I dont think there is a foot of elevation change the entire time. Thats ok, gave me something to judge my fitness on, and that was the goal of the race.

Better warmup.

Just a nice easy spin after I put on all of my clothes.... I was freezing!


The cold and lack of training. The month of may will be my go hard month...


An awesome Time Trial. I really liked the beep count down and having them do it in French made you feel like you were in a Le Tour Prologe! The course got a little crowded because it was 6 laps, and with riders going off every 30 seconds, well, at least you had someone to catch the whole time!