RACE REPORT! Cherry Valley 20k TT

Our coach decided it might be a good idea to get some rough outdoor biking under our belts for nationals this year. Last year our team struggled in many ways (me personally on the hydration and nutrition front, some of my teammates on knowing how to ride/push on their bikes) so there has been a clear effort from older members to make sure these two factors don't hit us hard again. So, the team headed down to Cherry Valley to do a time trial.

For those of you who don't know, an individual time trial (which is what we did) is a bike race in which it is all about you and all about speed. They do these in the Tour de France before each road race. This is the one where cyclists go shooting out of a start platform all by themselves (not the big group of guys clumped up, dying up sides of mountains).

So the race.

It was pretty rough. Just getting to the start was a bit of a grueling bike ride. The wind felt pretty bad, but not terrible, and I was warming up on some rolling hills. My coach advised me to do some sprints and hard efforts before I started, which I did and then got back to the course almost just in time to line up for the start.

The line was pretty nerve-wracking. My teammate was in front of me, and her tire was partially off her rim minutes before we had to start. I don't have a ton of experience starting by myself with a clock so that made me pretty jittery and the moment I got on the course, I wasn't focused. In fact, I was freaking out a little bit. It wasn't until I convinced myself to focus on finding the people in front of me that I calmed down and did my work.

Soon thereafter, the course made a right turn into a wall of wind. Absolutely terrifying. I said something aloud, along the lines of "you've got to be kidding me." I pushed with all my might, realizing I could chuck my pace goals to the wind (haha pun!!) and just work. It was rough for a while, but at least I was still keeping 18 mph. Then it just got brutal. I looked down and was struggling at 14/15 mph. I could barely stay in aero without being blown all over the place, so I got in my drops HOPING for some more power and control. What that means for non-cyclists:

these guys are in their drops

this dude is in an aero position - more aero dynamic

The turn around was a gift - no two ways about it. I went around a TIGHT 180 degree turn and was immediately flying down a hill at 28 mph. I held about 27 for a good 3 minutes, and then tapered off to 22-24. The course in the opposite direction was not only shorter, but also had no head wind! I was at the finish line in 15 minutes.

Because we're triathletes and our BIG race is next weekend, our coach had us run off the bike. I may or may not have taken a somewhat leisurely transition. Oops.

I ultimately came in second in the age group... which was entirely made up of girls from the team. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the race (though I may in the near future because I saw one teammate with a camera). So you get a picture of the medal they gave me.

Overall, it was a pretty cool and exhausting experience. Definitely want to do one again.