Tewksbury Time Trial

Tewksbury Individual Time Trial

The flyer warned:  "An Individual time trial on an extremely demanding course".  They weren't kidding!

My friend Paul and I decided to drive the course before I registered and we ended up getting lost due to a sign pointing us in the wrong direction (it was fixed by race time).  I realized that I would have no warm up, so I did my best to stretch in the car.  When we finally arrived in the parking lot for registration, there was a long line.  My start time was in 10 mins!  I explained my situation and the riders allowed me to go to the front of the line and get my number.  I then visited the Port-A-John while Paul put my bike together and pumped up my tires.  He then pinned my number on my jersey whiIe I put on my shoes and helmet.  With no more than a couple minutes to spare, I rolled to the start line and was off.

I was so frustrated from the morning's events that I started off too hard.  Right after the first turn, I had already passed a rider.  My heart rate was way up there, so I slowed down a bit and got into a rhythm with my breath and pedals.  The course had many hills, but luckily none of them were too long. By mile 6, the half-way point, I picked up the pace a bit and passed a few more riders.  I knew that the final climb would be brutal, so I made sure to ride right below my max so I could make it up the steep hill.  Within a mile or so, a woman passed me.  I paced myself behind her until about a mile before the final climb.  I then passed a young guy struggling.  He asked how much further.  I told him not to give up, just three more miles.  In an attempt to distract myself from the burning in my legs, I started to chant in my head, "just three more miles, just three more". My coach is right, warming up is very important.

Next I hit the climb.  The hill was steep and just long enough to make you want to cry or vomit, or both.  I was told after the race that it starts out at about 8% and then toward the top hits 18% and then 21%.  I am not sure if this is true, but my legs weren't disputing it.   When I glanced at my cadence it read 44rpm, I couldn't believe it.  I encountered two riders walking their bikes up the hill.  I couldn't blame them, but kept telling myself to just keep pedaling.  Then I heard  "go Maria, you are doing great, go go go"  It was my friend Paul.  He was comfortably seated on the hood of his car.  You would think I would want the encouragement, but I wanted to strangle him for being there.  At that moment I realized that I could get off my bike and go home.  I focused forward, tried to ignore him and charged up the last part of the hill.  The descent was sweet, but ended with a sharp right turn.  The marshal was chatting with someone in a car and had his back to me.  I yelled "Which Way?"  He pointed a bit too late and I fishtailed and almost lost it.  I am not sure how my bike stayed upright, but I made the turn.  I increased my speed and stood up and sprinted when I saw the people in the distance.  I have no idea where found the legs to finish at such a high speed, but I passed one more person about 100 meters before the finish line.  Finally, it was over!

I spun out for a while and waited for the resutls.  More than two hours and a sunburn later, they were posted.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I got 1st in the Cat 4's,(#2 was about 1.5 minutes behind me) and I placed 3rd overall for women.  The stressful morning with no warm up had a happy ending after all.