Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Fabulous Finale to the '09 Time Trialing

This passed Saturday was the Henderson Time Trial, my favorite one. Two weeks after I bought my first bike, I went out and tried my first bike race - the Henderson TT. And I was immediately hooked. This year marked my 4th appearance, my 3rd doing the mixed gender team time trial w/ Hwood.
As the first time riding w/ anyone else on the road since my crash at State, I was oddly nervous and hesitant to get in Jay's draft. I knew it was crazy to feel that way - there is no other wheel out there I could trust more to ride than his - but I still had to fight my way through the fear.

Since Jay can TT way faster than I can, I sat in his draft for the entirety. My max speed in the draft equals the max effort he can pull me at, making us even that much more a perfect pair. The first couple of miles, I struggled to relax in his draft and let it pull me in. I knew the wind would tire me and I tried to force myself closer, focusing my site on his rear derailleur.

As the adrenaline pulsed through my veins and flooded my muscles, the fear dissipated and I closed the gap. In a daze, I watched the rear wheel and rode at my limit. When he shifted, so did I. Jay rode the perfect pace, never faltering, never wavering...consistent and steady. We flowed steady through the turn-around and regained our pace quickly as we tackled the immediate hill.

Settling in again, Jay raised it to an 11, and my legs were happy to oblige. With 2 miles to go, Jay turned it up again, blowing out all the carbon and stealing every second from the clock that we could. Into the final turn, my hubby stayed wide and allowed me to come through for the final finishing push. Head down, I dropped another gear and drove my heals into the pedals. Silence filled my ears and my vision tunneled in on the line.

We screamed over it at 28 mph, in our new best course time ever!!! Shaving more than 3 minutes off our time from 2008, we finished in 34:25 on the 15 mile course, winnig the Mixed Gender category for the very first time!!!! It was awesome. And for the first time, we also won the ice-cream bet with Silver Steve & C-Ray. B1+ch please! (thanks for the breakfast substitute, Steve!)

Time-trialing in love,
Kristy Kreme

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