What? Time Trial? You mean I have to go fast? Uphill, flat road,
fast is not a problem. It’s the entire downhill portion that comes with living
in such a beautiful, and incredibly hilly, part of the country that terrifies me.
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| Pretty Darn Lucky |
So Time Trial, eh? The purpose of the time trial is to split
our large cycling group into smaller, similarly paced ride groups. Okay, I
understand the point of this as I had a similar experience when I was training
with a group for two Mini Marathon seasons in Indy—except, I knew how fast I
could run. No time trial needed. And running downhill isn’t quite as
terrifying. And there aren’t any hills in Indianapolis.
For those of you who know me pretty well, you probably know
that I’m typically a risk adverse person.
Examples below:
- In first grade, I found 15 cents on the playground. Instead of pocketing the finding and going on my merry little way, I avoided any chance of getting in trouble and turned the money into the office. If no one claimed the whopping $0.15 by the end of the week, it was mine. Come Friday, I was 15 cents richer. Yes!
- In high school, we had an amazing donut shop a few blocks away. One of the best things about this was the fact that students not so infrequently left campus to take a mid-morning donut break. Not me. I always gave my donut money to a friend who found thrills in being sneaky. I may have not wanted to get caught leaving campus, but I wasn’t ever giving up a donut.
- I don’t even like driving fast. I try to stay 5-10 mph over the speed limit—most of the time. In fact, the only ticket I’ve ever received (knock on wood!) was for a rolling stop. Behind a parking lot. From a VA Hospital police officer. Ugh. And maybe enough parking tickets to thoroughly fund my coffee habit for the rest of my life—but this is neither the time, nor place to delve into my unique ability to receive parking tickets
Now that I seem like the most boring person of all time, back to the Time Trial. As we learned, the time trial is
meant for us to ride at a comfortable pace so we can be appropriately placed
with others who ride like we do. Hmmm, well, I think I’m the only cyclist here
who actually goes faster uphill than downhill, so this time trial thing should
be interesting.
Knowing that we wanted to train together this season, Emily
and I rode the time trial together, only getting separated by stoplights and a
few moments of “OMG I DON’T WANT TO GO AS FAST AS MY BIKE WANTS ME TO GO DOWN
THIS HILL!”
Side note: when
I was little, and I was doing something that scared me, I would sing Hakuna Matata
to myself to help alleviate some fear: Hakuna Matata! Hakuna--It means no worries for the rest of your days--It's our problem-free philosophy--Hakuna Matata! It didn’t seem to help me out here. At all. Thanks a lot Timon and Pumba!
Looking back, it was a great ride through Portola Valley
(incredibly beautiful!) and Emily and I finished strong together.
While I’m learning to fight my body’s, or more like my
mind’s, fear of going downhill fast, I
have to remind myself that I’m riding to help those with cancer—who are
fighting a much scarier and much longer battle than the brief moments I spend
descending these hills. This is what keeps me going.
GO TEAM!
Please take a moment to visit my fundraising page and consider donating to help CURE Cancer:
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