Dunlap TT

Date 6/8
From Emily, the Dunlap TT report on weekend of dodging raindrops
Race: Dunlap Time Trial
Category: Women's Pro/1/2
Location: Davis (think lots and lots of farmland)
place: 4th

on the morning of June 5th I awoke, bright and early... well early anyway it wasn't particularly bright outside, in actuality it was pouring and I was hoping that the rain would let up for the race, I still can't really get a grasp of the whole rain the June concept, damb global climate change (angrily shakes fist at the sky) after having the mandatory dose of caffeine to get myself up and running I set out for the  race and to my delight the rain had let up, though it was a little iffy as to whether it would hold through the race (but man I was glad I'm not a junior racer, getting up at the crack of dawn to be drenched is not really my cup of tea, i have this thing where I kinda like to be able to see when I'm riding, silly isn't it?)

soon after arriving I checked in and and pinned my number and in no time it was time to get warmed up. I prefer to get long warm-ups in prior to time trials, so I gave myself plenty of time to get going. To prep for the race I did my new favorite warm-up, a moderate-to-high intensity interval followed by some high cadence spints (I liked this warm-up, suggested by Karen at Redlands, so much that it has become my standard mode of getting ready to race) of course i do throw in my own flavor a bit to get me pumped to ride hard, fantasy metal! (I have kinda eclectic taste in music and today was definitely a dragonforce type of day) I arrived to line up for my start a bit early (being slightly OCD I to err on the side of early), and had a nice chat with Linda prior to my start, because let's just face it Linda is awesome :)

this year there was a start ramp for Dunlap which was something new for this race, I felt as if I was getting tilted a little too much prior to my start, but I was able to correct and there were no issues (thank goodness, it would have been totally embarrassing to face plant off the start ramp :P) I felt pretty good and I ramped up the pace and shifted into hard gears and soon was able to slip into a nice rhythm of 26-27mph, I passed my 30 second and 1 minute riders relatively early on, my 1minute 30 second person was Olivia Dillon so I didn't think I'd be able to come close to her, but I decided to make trying to see the green dot of her Irish national champion skinsuit far off in the distance a goal, I didn't but I like to give myself tough goals to work for so that I can push myself to my limits. When I hit the headwind section my speed dropped, but I didn't let it phase me and just tried to keep my speed as high as I could sustainably.

The rest of the race pretty much continued along those lines, with only the sound of my breathing in my heart and the occasional thought of checking speed and some motivational internal self talk. After turning the final corner and seeing the finishing tent in sight I put my head down and gave it all I had to try to save precious seconds and was able to increase my pace all the way to the line. After catching my breath and cooling down, I faced another challenge... waiting for results (which normally isn't so bad, but I was fighting theclock once again to try to get to a physiology study group on time because passing my classes and getting my master's degree is kinda important too, though as it should be second to bike racing :P).

After results were posted I saw that I was 4th with a time of 45minutes and 15 seconds, not bad overall, and I still made it to my study group on time though that was not nearly as fun of a race...

cheers

-Emily

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