Gretta's First Time Trial

Last night Rich, Gretta and I went to our first TT of the summer. Weird.

Weird bc that used to be my total MO. I went to ALL The TT's, all the time. I loved them and they were all pretty much my A races. Enter in coach, and non stop TT's did not work into a schedule where i had to be running and swimming as well.

Plus the fact that MN had some really bad floading this spring so one of the TT's, the short flat fast one ( well fast if you can hammer on a flat windy road, um...well...not my strength!) was cancelled bc the road was in such disrepair. But...Tuesday Night TT, or TNTT, was going strong!

Below is the course: Which is cut off but its about 11++ miles of rollers in Horse country.

So we got there earlyish to warm up and to just beat traffic. The drive itself is a bugger at rush hour so after sitting in the car that long you kinda want a nap or you need to move. Normally I warmup ( as all serious bikers do) on my trainer. I emailed Jen earlier in the day..." JEN. I am a spazz. What should i do for a warm up?" and preceeded to write out an intricate warm up with attn to pedal stroke, cadence, HR, etc..all stuff i used to do. Her reply And if i had the sound effects it would be better:

"GEESH! Julia! ( Ha, I can see her rolling her eyes) 20-25 minutes on the course on your disc with 4 x 1 min TT efforts, 1 min off."

Ya know what? I was so much better warmed up this way bc i got to ride the rollers and it was so hot that the breeze helped cool me off. On the trainer you sweat like a pig. So Yeah I conquered a fear. Funny that my fear was not warming up on the trainer. Yup. I am becoming a less obsessed athlete. Good for me.

But seriously I used to get my undies in a bundle about these races! Tonight I was just going to do what i could, it was 90 out and humid, And i was in the mood to BRING IT ON, LOVE THE HEAT!!! So after we lined up, I was 8th in line and Rich was 7th, starting at 30 sec intervals I was sweating like you would not believe. Just stopped in the sun at 7:00pm it was so hot. I was going to do my best to chase down my honey and not lose him in my sights. ( How shallow am i that i want to beat my cancer survivor husband in his first race back??!!)

Rich took off and i started my watch ( Usually start it 3o sec out since in the standing /fixed start my hands are holding the bars..and i rolled up to the start hoping that i could clip in easily and the dude holding my bike would not drop me:) And 5-4-3-2-1 "you are off." As I always have i yell back THANK YOU! And start to roll up the hill chasing Rich. Yes we start up a gradual and long hill. ***It didnt used to be this way. We used to start at the other end and turn around at the bottom and finish where the current turn around is. This was a mental bummer since now when i roll into the turn around ( you see a lake) I still am conidtioned to think I AM DONE!!! OOPS. NOT.

So I was cruising so well. I was not blowing up on the hills and was confident on the downside to really push over the hills. There seemed to be a slight tail wind but i was not concerned i would face a wall of wind on the back. Soon dude #1 ( #9) passed me. Hart. Good rider. And at some point, right before the turn around I got passed by the Silver Fox. Note these guys are all in their late 50's, and really good riders. I mean super cool that they are so dang fast!

Anyways after the turn around i did start to feel a bit of wind and....A bit of fatigue. Each hill starts to feel like a mountain and by the time i was at Medina Road I was fully thinking that i wanted to rest at the top of each hill instead of cranking that gearing down and getting up speed on the descent. I did my best, but the time i make up going up hills is hardly matched by the fact that i just dont descend too fast. Even with my disc and with really pushing the hardest gear i can gravity is gravity. During the race i sure didnt think much other than how hard my breathing was, how hard this was, and WHEN WILL I BE DONE?? Oh and please I dont want a woman to catch me:) I knew Suzie was behind me 2 minutes, and i knew she has the ability to catch me, but i just wanted to finish alone. I have been caught on the final downhill stretch bc i am geared out and well...I just cant get going any faster as you go down that gradual hill but there is still about 400 yards of flat till you cross. So hello, unless you have a tail wind you just suck it up and ride like H-E- double hockey sticks.

As I finished i debated the pros and cons of gaining like 10 lbs to descend faster. Ok actually 5lbs, but realized that is still 5more lbs to bring up the hill with me running OR riding! So after 90 seconds of this thought, ok, maybe 45 seconds i decided to just love myself as i am :)

Anyways...Suzie did roll in right behind me with a fantastic time ( something like 24 mph average!) but thankfully saved my ego:) I finished with a 22.81 mph and 28:56 time and since my goal was to be under 30 I did it! I also was super proud that despite my NOT catching my super survivor hubby ( i think he was 28:12?) My Heart rates show i did all i could. 166bpm Avg and 174 max. That's Zone 4-5 baby, and that IS my max.

We hung around, cooled down with Suzie, and hopped in the car to drive home to swim in our pool! 9pm and we are in the backyard pool thankful that summer seemed to be here, if even for a day.

Congrats to the racers, and especially to my super hubby. Take that Cancer!

Gretta will have some more TT's we hope, hopefully another 12 miler before she has to do a 50 mile TT at the end of July! Happy 1st week of summer everyone!