Enumclaw race report # 1

The time trial. They call it the race of truth, but really it’s a test to see how deep you are willing to go. The dEVas did well in the race against the clock, as it was a first for almost all of the squad. Their first time in a standing start, first time on the course, and a their first 10km of nothing but their thoughts, pounding heart beats, deafening breathing and rising lactic acid.

For me, it was the first time I would really lay down the hammer on the TT bike I bought last summer (a bike with two national championships already on its resume) and an aero helmet I borrowed from a friend. I knew the bike liked to fly, but honestly most of the race is a blur corners, pain and a constant stream of both positive, but mostly negative thoughts. After telling myself to settle and find a rhythm the first few minutes, zooming past the girl in front of me, surviving the pop of a hill Gord said was half way (remembering that saved my race!), succumbing and overcoming a long moment of mental weakness before the last corner, I crossed the line annoyed knowing that I could have gone harder and still feeling pretty good on my gel infused sugar high (Ask the dEVas how hard I sugar crashed about 20 minutes later!).

I had no idea how I had done, since I had forgotten to look at my bike computer’s clock. As I walked up to see the finish times several hours later, Liisa’s high five and “way to rock it girl!” hinted that I had must have met my goal of finishing top 15.

In the end, I dug deep enough to finish 1st in the Women’s Cat 4 with a time of 16:10. Conquering their firsts and without the fancy aero machinery, Jen Brummit came it at 19:20, Monika Owczarek finished at 19:03, Jo Hallas crossed at 18:47, Liisa Ingimundson sailed in at 17:43, and our power house mentor/role model/coach/superstar Lisa Howard finished 8^th in the womens 1 /2 with a time of 15:25. What a way to kick off the weekend!