Beat the Clock Time Trial, August 29, 2009

Photo: 1) RFA 2) MEA 3) chatting after the TT (Yvonne, Marcia and me)

Last Beat the Clock Time Trial for the year - a beautiful warm morning and many personal records set. It was a great practice for next weekend's Esparto TT. And BTC is always a lot of fun - great cause for Lance Armstrong Foundation and time to chat with fellow team mates and friends. Patt Baenen does such a fine job organizing and thanks to the volunteers. I am always honored to have now retired WebCor Pro Christine Thorburn do the countdown. Up early at 5:20 AM and plenty of time to warm up for our start times: 7:32:30 for RFA and 7:37:30 for me. This time I had the pleasure of being the last women's ITT start. Passed two women and one junior - no one passed me. Rich and I have been doing VO2 max intervals on Canada - that and my power meter helped me do a PR of 26:23 - good enough for #2 of the women. RFA also had a PR of 27:19.

Russian Ride, Sunday, August 2, 2009

This was my second group ride since "the crash." We had a large group of about 18 cyclists - Emily and I were the only women. Dmitrij is still in Belarus so it was Vlad driving the Five Rings Cycling Centre support vehicle. We climbed up 84 and out to San Gregorio. Good pace line out 84. Rich and I split off the group and returned via 84, up West Old La Honda and down Old La Honda. Rich and I rode strong on the way back but I can tell that I am still building my endurance. I felt fatigued. But a gorgeous day - 55 miles and 3800 feet climbing.

Beat the Clock Time Trial - August 1, 2009

MEA and RFA warming up

The August 1, 2009 Beat the Clock Canada Time Trial results are posted at http://www.scaledup.com/beattheclock/results.html. Another great event with a good turn out for a good cause. Thanks to Patt along with the volunteers who make this event a success. I was so happy to be back doing a TT since my May 17 crash. Good to see our friends and team mates! My start time was 7:42 & RFA's start time was at 7:36 so we had enough time for an adequate warm up. The air was in the high 50's and light breeze. Not conditions for record setting TT times but a pretty nice morning. I was the first woman out so no real rabbits to chase. Behind me was a fast Metromint pro 1/2 woman, so one of my goals was not to get passed. My start was not great but I settled in well. I just kept focused on pressing hard. I saw the Metromint woman at the turn around and I could tell she was making some gain, but I was hoping that I could improve my ground on the uphills on the way back. I finished in 27:27, good enough for 3rd out of 11 women. The winning woman’s time was 26:02. I was 27 seconds off my last time in March, but considering my serious crash and rehab, I am quite satisfied. On the road to recovery! Yea!