Fitchburg TT (Stage 1)

We woke up to thunder showers this morning. It’s been raining off an on since we arrived yesterday afternoon. Still haven’t seen the sun. My start time for the TT wasn’t until 1:40pm. We headed off to the course just before 11:00am. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped and the pavement was dry. Sweet! It sprinkled off and on while I was warming up, but nothing significant. About 20minutes before my start, fog started to move in. It was pretty thick! Visibility was really bad – maybe 200meters or so. I got in a pretty good warm up (or so I thought). I was on the rollers for 45minutes and felt that my legs were loosened up. I headed to the start pretty early (7 minutes) just in case. I didn’t want to show up with 15 seconds to spare like Nature Valley. Stood around, got my bike checked, and soon enough I was being held on the ramp for the start. Off I went. The course was rolling. Everything was big-ringable. The hills weren’t steep by any means, just gradual. There were some pretty fast downhill sections. The pavement was rough in spots. Most of the course was blocked by the wind from the trees. It was a beautiful course, even though I couldn’t see much of it. We drove it last night so I knew what it looked like without the fog J. I never found my rhythm during the TT. I couldn’t get comfortable. I forgot to tilt my saddle up a little and kept sliding way forward on it. But I just couldn’t find the right gear to push. My mind was all over the place. I kept thinking about the course, dodging potholes and rough sections, thinking about how I couldn’t get into the rhythm. I was focused on my breathing, but couldn’t push my legs hard enough. I never felt the burn. Anyway, I finished with a 21:02:91 in 21st place. We put 4 of our 8 riders in the top 11…SWEET! Our guest rider Evelyn Stevens, finished 2nd just 4 seconds off Alison Powers lead. Anne finished 3rd, Carla 7th, and Jessica 11th. This is super awesome. We are all excited to race the next 3 days. There’s no internet at our host house, so I’ll try and hop into a coffee shop with updates. If not, I’ll be keeping a journal on my computer and upload this later. Thanks for reading!

-A