Luckily, a new local bike shop is sponsoring a time trial every Tuesday evening on the Folsom South Canal. This is basically a service road adjacent to the canal. There are no motor vehicles on the course so it is a great setting.
Folsom South Canal
After spending all day Tuesday in class at the Marriott on Sunrise and 50 it was just a couple of miles south on Sunrise to the canal. At the end of our training, I grabbed a couple bottles of cold water. Opps! While unloading my bike it was obvious that something was missing! That's right, forgot the water bottle! "Doggone it", my friend William heard that and when told of my situation offered me one of his extra bottles. Okay, now we're in business.
Being unfamiliar with the course, I took a few minutes to ride down a couple of miles and realized that there were three (3) ramps on the course. Each one was about fifty yards in length and the steepest one was about 12% gradient. That will certainly slow one down!
As the riders arrived there were a few things very apparent: a)the guys all had really cool time trial bikes; b) all but a couple were either 1/2 or 1/3 my age (is that really an advantage?); c) they'd all done this before.
Now that is one cool bike!
When the sign in clipboard was passed to me I was lucky number 13 to start. Since this is a grass roots fun time trial, there is no fancy ramp to roll down and no electronic timing device. Nope, you just roll up to the line and a guy holds you and your bike up so you can get clipped on to the pedals. Erin (volunteer) gives the countdown from five as each rider leaves 30-seconds after the last one.
"Five, four, three, two, one, GO!" And I am off. The adrenaline is pumping as I settle in and get comfortable on the bike. My breathing is a bit erratic because I am not used to hammering this hard non-stop for ten miles! The first ramp seems to get here really fast, up and over ... not too bad. Not as fast over the next two but now it is flat until the turn around.
After turning around, I see one rider still coming down the canal behind me. Did I mention that the other four that started after me had passed me long ago! No worries. The final rider goes by about 1/4 mile after turning around. There is a nice headwind so I get down and just keep pedaling! Oh boy! These ramps are a bit tougher on the way back. Though I am feeling tired, I reach down for what's left in the tank, I see the finish line ahead and cross it knowing that I've given my best out here tonight!
Erin shows me the clipboard and I tell her "number thirteen" and she points to my time. Actually, it made me happy as my goal was 32-minutes and my time was 31:24 with an average speed of 19.11 MPH. Guess how fast the fastest guy went ... 29-MPH! Can you believe it?
What a fun evening! Next Tuesday the goal will be to go faster!
