Life Through My Eyes: Beat The Clock and Help Beat Cancer Time Trial #1

Beat the clock is a wonderful time trial series that raises money and awareness to benefit the LiveSTRONG foundation. I participated in this event twice last summer and noticed that the rider registration was much lower today. Yes, Lance admitted to Oprah and the world that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his 7 TDF victories. I personally was not at all shocked by the “confession (aka-I got caught),” but if you were and you now hate Lance, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people out there fighting the fight against cancer. This series is not about Lance. I am going to give people the benefit of the doubt and hope that they were not boycotting a wonderful series, but rather choosing to stay warm and dry in bed (weenies) on a dark/wet January morning.

Individual Time Trial

Valley of the Sun is just around the corner and I needed to get some legit TT training in. Sure I take my fancy bike out with my power tap/4 season tires for some efforts, but it’s just not the same. There is something about slicking your hair back, putting on that stylish aero helmet and shhhhwoooooshing down Canada road with your fancy disc wheel. Ahhhhh something about it screams fast freedom! The helmet keeps my ears plugged so I am unable to hear my obnoxious panting. I know I look so cool on the bike so it doesn’t matter that a pint of snot covers my face, chest and sleeves come the finish. We all know Lance IS a liar...... It IS ABOUT THE BIKE. Haha. Ok, Ok- at least it is when it comes to me looking cool!

Thanks to my wonderful sponsors a new Argon E-118 showed up on my porch yesterday. I can’t wait to get it fitted and start riding! Who cares about being fast, How cool will I look on this?!?

http://www.argon18bike.com/bikes/triathlon-tt/e-118.html

Anyways, back to the ITT. How do I always get so sidetracked? Regardless, the morning started with coffee, oatmeal and several trips to the bathroom...... darn race nerves! I put on my sweet Jakroo Hellyer Velodrome skinsuit for the occasion and set out to Canada Rd with my man Keith. I was the first to start at 7:31am. I hate not having a carrot:/ I have done this event twice with finishing times of 24:47 (May 26 2012) and 25:02 (July 7^th 2012). I figured somewhere around 25min was where I would be. I rolled up to the TT start and took off looking cool of course. I felt good and just raced my race. The best part was when my loving boyfriend that started 2 minutes behind me, passed me like a freight train. He didn’t even say hi! Other then that I have no complaints. Ok, maybe one. I rolled in at 25:56...... my worst time EVER! I was super bummed until results were posted and my strong ass super-star teammate Sara came in at 25:55, one second faster then me! I always forget about wind/rain factors. Whew, what I relief, I don’t suck.

Team Time Trial

I asked Keith if he would consider doing the Coed TTT with me. I figured it would be difficult, but knew it would be excellent training. He of course had to take it to the next level and set a top 3 leader board goal. Ok, slot 3 sounded doable at 24 something. I finished my ITT at 7:57am and the TTT start was at 8:12am. We had 15 minutes to simultaneously recover, spin, and stay warm. I was a little flustered at the start and didn’t get myself organized or my garmin reset. Keith took off at the whistle pretty much leaving me alone in the morning mist. That was start fail 2 of 2 this season. Note to self- work on starts. I quickly got onto Keith’s wheel and we took off. I was on my best behavior on the way out and just allowed him to kill me, as I stayed glued to his wheel. It started to rain and my eyes were wet. The water from his disc was splashing me in the face. I was legally blind for about 3 miles. The only thing I could make out was the lime green on his kit and a big black blob of a disc wheel. As we hit the turn around the rain subsided a bit, but so did I. I think I yelled DOWN DOWN 6 times on the way back and the response I got was, “come on.” I think I almost starting crying, but I didn’t have enough energy to do so. Keith and I finished the TTT at 23:21 which is 2:35 faster then my ITT today (no wonder why I wanted to cry) and :17 seconds shy of the Huang/Thornburn 2006 record! I’d say with a little training we can get those 17 seconds!

Beat the Clock Records- http://blocg.wordpress.com/results/beat-the-clock-records/

2M TTT Mixed