July 27th Time Trial

ABOVE: Charlie Lockerson, Lynn Smythe, Rob Smythe

West Palm Beach Race Series My husband Rob and I, along with our friend Charlie, participated in a 15K time trial this morning. 15K is equal to around 9 1/4 miles. The race was part of the West Palm Beach Race Series. Rob and I have been racing in this monthly series since March. We've been talking to our other friends about the series, trying to see if we could get any of them interesting in participating in the time trial. Our friend, and Team in Training Assistant Coach Charlie Lockerson, expressed interest in the race. He lives just a few miles from the race start and decided to join us on today's race. Although Rob and I were the slowest riders in our age group, we didn't let that discourage us. We both managed to post personal best times. WOO-HOO, let's hear it for the couch potato crowd! Rob's Times 3/09 - 30:59:86 4/13 - 28:32:66 7/27 - 27:44 Lynn's Times 3/09 - 30:33:10 4/13 - 29:47:32 7/27 - 29:23:13 Charlie's Time 7/27 - 26:28:29 Bike Diva Can't Turn In spite of the suck-ass turn I did at the halfway point, I still managed to ride a few seconds faster than my last time trial. I'm gonna have to set up some orange safety cones up in the middle of our street and practice doing 180 degree turns. I freaking freaked out, slammed on my brakes, unclipped my left foot and crawled around the turn. Must have lost 20-40 seconds doing that. MAN - now I'm pissed off at myself for doing such a weanie turn. I would have had a really good time, for me, if I didn't whimp out on the turn. Racer's Start Even though I'm a whimpy turner, I did the official time trial start. You know, when the race official holds the back of your seat and you clip in to BOTH pedals. You hold your front brake lever and then the race official counts down the last 20 seconds or so, when he gets down to 5 seconds, you come off your seat. When the official has counted down to zero, he lets go of your seat, you let off the front brake and start pedaling. I didn't even fall down - yeah me!!!! Rob and Charlie were too whimpy to try the racer's start. Chicks RULE, boys DROOL!!!! So WTF - if I have enough guts to do the racers start, why can't I freaking turn!?!?!

ABOVE: Charlie Lockerson and Lynn Smythe. That's me on the right trying to be funny - looking really aerodynamic in my Rudy Project time trial helmet. Rudy Project This was the first time Rob and I got to try out our new Rudy Project time trial helmets. Rob spent some time the night before getting them properly adjusted for correct fit. They are a bit hotter than our normal road bike helmets. They don't have as many ventilation holes, to help make you more aerodynamic, and thus go faster. They were pretty sweet looking. I'll have to get some pictures taken the next time we wear the Rudy Project helmets in a race. Our helmets had a built in clear face shield, but I wore my regular road bike sunglasses underneath the shield. This is south Florida and the sun was freaking brutal.

ABOVE: Charlie and Lynn waiting for the time trial results. The girl to my left won fastest girl of the day.

Next Time Trial The next time trial in this series is scheduled for Sunday, August 17th. It's a 40K time trial, which is 25 miles long. That's gonna be painful. You can go all out for the 15K time trial, but the 40K is 2 1/2 times longer. No way for an old lady like me to sprint the entire 25 miles. I'll just have to pace myself and try not to burn out before I get to the finish line. Take care, Lynn AKA the Bike Diva