For the couple of days before the TT we had a good time just relaxing and gossiping (as you do!) but when Wednesday morning rolled around, the once relaxed atmosphere of the apartment suddenly felt icy and cold. Having 3 TT specialists in the same apartment meant that it was game on. Not being ‘renowned’ for my TT ability (lol) i was lucky not to have the same expectations which were placed on my roommates but regardless i was still a little anxious coming into the event, determined to prove to myself that i could in fact do a 28km TT and show those who doubted my ability wrong. Leading up to the TT, people questioned my decision to race the TT and the question ‘are you serious??’ and laughing were generally accompanied with it...Great confidence booster!! :s
Alex and I rolled over to the course together around lunchtime to begin our warm up. I was starting a mere 1min in front of Alex which only meant one thing...I was bait!!! Haha. I completed my warm up in what i thought was more than enough time to get to the start line however i rolled to bike check to realise that Sally Robbins, who was starting 1min ahead of me, was already on the start line! Oh well, i got there in time so i guess that’s all that matters but note to self: it pays to be organised.
I rolled off the start line pumped on adrenalin (maybe from my near start miss???) and smashed it up the climb up the highway. My coach said that previous results showed that the person with the fastest time up the hill generally pulled up well overall as there weren’t many other places on course where you could make up time. I caught my 1min marker near the top of the climb and began the ‘flatter’ section of the course trying my hardest not to throw up my breakfast. Yep, think i may have been a bit too ambitious up the climb but oh well, i just had to limit my losses on the downhill! Just over half way into the course i was thinking i was on a good one and was happy with how i was riding when i heard the all too familiar sound of the disc wheel coming up behind. Just at the moment when Alex came past me i heard the sound of a punctured tyre. For a split second i thought it was Alex but then quickly realised it was my front wheel. Dammit. Unfortunately, it is a battle between you and the clock, so sadly this basically meant game over for me. We had some troubles with the wheel change but once that was done, I tried my best to relax and get straight back into the swing of things. I was impressed with how quickly I managed to regain my focus as I was determined to finish what i’d started in as best of a position I could.
In the end, I finished 27th and 8th in the U/23 classification. Disappointing result on paper, however I was thrilled with my performance pre and post puncture and both amazed and proud of myself for actually completing a 28km TT!!
The ACT crew got some great results also with Vicki Whitelaw placing 4th and Alex Carle 3rd in the u/23 category as a first year senior...Awesome ride girls!!!!
Full results can be found at http://www.aorcc.com/images/Day1_Womens_Time_Trial.pdf
My hardcore TTing self:
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