Jack Frost Time Trial

Took a car down to the parking lot early in the morning. Then rode to the start, which was about 15 minutes. Stretched, then finished my warm up. Weatherman threatened rain with afternoon pouring. Since my start time was 12:44, I was hoping that “afternoon” meant- really, really after noon. I used pink bike with clip on Profiles, aero helmet (red) , skin suit (orange and navy), knee warmers (light. blue), arm warmers (canary yellow), shoes with covers (white) and ipod down the front of skin suit (best decision of the day- kept my mind off the pain and helped me keep cadence up when I got tired). As I rolled up to the start area, I heard a shot from Candi Murray through my headphones, “Did you get dressed in the dark this morning?” I did inventory a little later and realized that green and purple were the only colors of the rainbow that I was missing. We have our basic team kit, but I’m using old team colors to supplement. No worries- by the end of March, I should be looking pretty fabulous. Oh yea, although cloudy, no rain today.

I felt alright. Held a steady heart rate of 179-181. Every time I pushed a little too hard, I’d look to see 182, so I guess 181 is my threshold for now. Saw a max HR of 184, but I’m sure it was higher when I come through for final sprint. Speed varied due to wind and exhaustions, but stayed between 22 and 25mph the whole time- mostly 23 . I think I could have tolerated a little more pain at the end and even gotten out of the saddle to sprint at the end, but didn’t. I definitely worked the hip flexors and butt though. I got some nice cramping about a minute after it was over. Haven’t seen results yet- expecting to have around 32 minutes.

Later.... 31:48. That's ah'ight. 2003's time was 33:35.

Stevo and Carl busted out in orange today as well. They looked pretty dang fast.

"Tight" Kits

Umphda! I dropped by the Godfrey house to pick up my new team clothing. Mum says something about Pop trying on one of the skin suits and mentioning that it was s little small. A little...? So, I take a medium skin suit into the "dressing room" and come out a new super hero! These kits are TIGHT (times 2). They're pretty hot looking in a bright safety orange, slickery smooth spandex (think fast). However, I will really need to lay off the goodies. Or just start racing my bike.

Well, it wasn't the MOST painful thing ever. We rode super slow for the first 45 minutes. I think we started with about 20 riders. There were a couple of attacks just before the hill. I began the hill about in the first third of the pack. It got strung out and I thought I'd catch back on to the group on the descent. Unfortunately, there were two groups of 5-6 riders up the road. The first group was trying to hold off the second and the second was trying to chase, and I was...chasing. Noreen and I worked together at the bottom, but after a while I looked back to say something to her and she wasn't there. I knew the next hour and a half would be less than fun, in the wind, alone. I caught another rider a little after the staging area, then I caught another a little further along. Finally, just after the turn to go to the hill, I caught up to Jill Wascom. We said hello and worked together, but she was having knee issues. We helped me up the hill and I pulled her down, but after a while I pulled away from her. I think I finished somewhere around 10th, based on what I could see ahead of me. I felt strong overall, and know I did a lot of work, but it just wasn't going to happen out in the wind alone.

Why do women visit so much? Is it really because we were going so slow? Do they really have that much to say? Argh! I should have jumped a couple of times just to get the group to shut up a bit, but felt too comfortable spinning and watching the sheep go by. Who knew what would happen? I think I will at Banana Belt, but it's hard on that race, when you're going up or down hill most of the time.

Oh yea, well I guess there's nothing like starting your race season on a whim. Chuck and I were planning to drive to Sun River today to spend the rest of the weekend with an old friend of mine, maybe ride if the roads were clear, but most likely, snow shoe. Just before we sat down to dinner at McMenemins, Lesley calls as basically says that it was so cold down there, that you oreally couldn't even enjoy any time outside.

So, the next thing we know, we're planning to race Cherry Pie. I spent most of the day today drinking a lot of water (cramming for the text so to speak), changing wheels, tires, and going for a short ride in the wind. Tomorrow should be interesting. Stay tuned.