Folsom Bike's South Canal Time Trial

Folsom Bike is hosting the time trial on the South Canal. Yesterday (Tuesday, June 8) started the four-week series, where they give prices out and make it even more fun! This was the first time trial I have done since 2008, the year I started cycling. That year, I went from doing a time trial in approximately 34 minutes to 28:26 minutes. Yup, that same season. I didn't do any time trialing last year (I'm sure my readers know that last year was just a horrible one for me, but that definitely changed!). This year, I decided to just go, and my schedule finally cleared up enough to let me ride it.

Randy and I drove over to the time trial to get there on time since he works in Roseville. We got ready, signed up, and warmed up for a whole 1.5 miles. That's... not a warm up for me. I take a while due to my hip, so I knew that this was going to hurt. Add the awesome headwind we had, and we're in for an awesome ride!

Wilson (the owner of Folsom Bike) was holding people up, but I've never done that and I didn't want to fall (something I'm going to practice), so I just held myself up. I felt silly, but I've never had someone hold me up while completely clipped, and it would have been really embarrassing if I had tipped over. So, I started out on my own. The wind was brutal going out. Nothing eventful, really. There are three rollers on the course, which isn't bad at all. The way back was a lot easier, since we had a tailwind. Some guys had passed me, all decked out on their TT bikes, aero-helmets, booties, disc wheels... yeah... But it was going well. Looked down at my watch and was going just in time to beat my last time. At the end, I went faster and it looked as if I beat my time.

We had the prize drawing but I didn't get anything (boo). They had some good prizes, too! Hey, there's 3 weeks left (no I kid. I was there for the fun!). I met a woman who mountain bikes (I hear about her a lot, so I introduced myself when I confirmed it was her), and met another Team Revolutions teammate I've never met before (it was his second time on a road bike! He's a mountain biker). Overall, we had 4 Team Revs representing!

When we got home, we looked at our results. Randy did very well! I checked mine and I did better than I thought- 27:58, which got me second place to a CAT 2 racer, who rode it in 27:21... I wasn't too behind! My average was 21.5 mph and hers was 21.9 mph. If I push a bit more, I'm sure I can catch her. But hey... she's a CAT 2 racer. I'm ecstatic to even be that close to a CAT 2 racer!

This time trial is 10 miles long. It's the most painful ride ever... I'm going back next week!