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Cherry Creek Time Trial Series #3 - Cycle


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Denver, CO
United States
American Cycling Association
40F / 4C
Precipitation
Total Time = 32m 38s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = Cat 4 Women
Age Group Rank = 12/18
Pre-race routine:

As I was driving to the race, every flag I saw was flying straight out because of the wind. "Uh oh," I thought.....it only got worse.

(Sorry if it seem like all I do is bitch about the weather in my race reports, but the weather has been dismal.)
Event warmup:

Warmed up on the trainer for about an hour. At this point it was cold but it wasn't raining and I didn't think it would, so I didn't bother with the thermal booties this time. Hmmm. Big Mistake. About 15 minutes before my start time, I take my bike off my trainer and the rain starts. I put on my race wheels, stop at the bathroom, and it's raining harder. The thermometer said 52 when I got to the race, now it's saying 41. Nice. I head back to my truck with about 9 minutes to spare, put on my full-fingered gloves and a skull cap under my helmet. No time for the booties. Get to the start line and everyone is bitching about the fact that it feels like we're in Belgium. Forgot to get my bike in the proper gear before the start so I started on the small ring. Nice. Not that it would matter though - the 30mph winds were the big problem.
Bike
  • 32m 38s
  • 10.5 miles
  • 19.31 mile/hr
Comments:

I honestly don't remember ever being more miserable on a bike than today. The wind was so strong that the tall grasses lining the road were laying down flat. I'm not a big person, so it doesn't take much wind to throw me around, but today I almost got launched into space. It was all I could do to stay on my bike. During the cross-wind sections, I was leaning so far into the wind, I probably looked like I was riding drunk, not to mention the weaving I was doing because of the gusts. I was so freezing too. I finally got so numb that I couldn't feel my legs or my feet, so I had trouble really pushing it. They weren't listening to my brain's commands to go harder and faster. During the one short, pathetic, measley tailwind section, I was going close to 30mph and I could feel the rain drops hitting my back...that's how bad the wind was. I couldn't feel any rain hitting the front of my body and I was going almost 30. Crazy. It was so depressing to look down at my speed and see that I was going only 15mph into the wind at full gas.

While I was suffering, I was trying to think of something positive to get me through it. I came up with this: I had so much rain on my face that you couldn't tell the difference between the rain, the snot, or the spit. So there!
What would you do differently?:

Stay home, lay on the couch by the fire, drink hot tea.
Post race
Warm down:

Warm down? Heck, I never warmed up! I crossed the finish line, went to my car, stripped off my sodden clothes, put on dry clothes and left. Just like last week, I had the body-wracking seizure chills. I'm sure I looked like an epileptic while I was driving home. After my shower, I wrapped my body in all the fleece I owned and even wore a fleece ski hat around the house.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

30 mph winds, rain, 40 degree temperature, freezing cold numb body.

Event comments:

My time was even slower than last weeks. I guess that's to be expected with the conditions, but I was really wanting to see some progressive improvement one of these days. :(




Last updated: 2005-04-28 12:00 AM
Biking
00:32:38 | 10.5 miles | 19.31 mile/hr
Age Group: 12/18
Overall: 0/
Performance: Bad
Wind: Strong with gusts
Course: Out and back around Cherry Creek Reservoir. Really wet roads, big puddles.
Road: Rough Wet Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Below average
Race pace: Hard Drinks:
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 1
Physical exertion [1-5] 1
Good race? No
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2005-04-28 10:28 AM

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Extreme Veteran
458
1001001001002525
Denver, CO
Subject: Cherry Creek Time Trial Series #3


2005-04-28 10:58 AM
in reply to: #149417

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Expert
852
5001001001002525
Evergreen, Colorado
Bronze member
Subject: RE: Cherry Creek Time Trial Series #3

Wow - that doesn't sound fun at all

I'm totally impressed that you actually did this race - it was completely miserable out last night.  Seriously - I know I'm kind of a wimp so this isn't saying much, but the minute it started raining I would have jumped in my car and driven home to lay on the couch by the fire and drink hot tea as you sugggested!! It does suck that you keep getting rained out though - I'm sure one of the main reasons you do these races is to see improvement over the series.  Seems like the weather just keeps getting worse and worse!

Anyhow, good job making the best of terrible conditions..... AGAIN....

2005-04-28 2:13 PM
in reply to: #149417

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Veteran
264
1001002525
Golden Colorado
Subject: RE: Cherry Creek Time Trial Series #3
Great job!   I was supposed to ride yesterday and instead wimped out..now I feel bad about it.   You are truly an inspiration.   Just make sure you don't catch a cold now.
2005-05-02 2:54 PM
in reply to: #149417

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Master
2233
200010010025
Mechanicsburg, PA
Subject: RE: Cherry Creek Time Trial Series #3
Can't get a brake with these things, huh? No offense to all the Hoss Chicks out there in TV Land, but if ever there was a Hoss Chick award, you'd be my top choice! Hopefully the weather this week will be better and you'll be out on the course screaming with speed and not screaming expletives at the weather

-Frank
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General Discussion Race Reports! » Cherry Creek Time Trial Series #3 Rss Feed