Time trialling on a windy Saturday morning

A belated report.

Saturday was day eight of my life as a member of the Valkyries squad
and it was time for my first time trial effort. And what a great time to
do it - I'm as unfit as I've ever been so I can only improve.

I got to Stromlo Forest Park in plenty of time to do a few warm up
laps around the crit track. I expected there would be other Valkyries
doing the same thing but instead I was all alone. At 9.25 I rode up to the
gate expecting to see someone there but still I was alone. I have to
admit it was about this time that I started to doubt myself. Had I
gone to the right place? Did I get the time right? Then I spotted
Simon. He was as perplexed as me at the lack of starters and we just
agreed to carry on when Francesca and Anna turned up. Yay, some company!

Simon took us down to the track to do some drills. The first was one
legged pedalling. I had heard of this before but I hadn't realised how
difficult it would be. Not just the coordination element but the pain
factor - my thigh started to burn almost instantly! The second drill
was fast pedalling. We put the bike in the lowest gear and tried to
pedal without bouncing - without much success. More practice is
definitely needed.

And then it was time for the time trial. Francesca and Anna went off
first and after some nerves over Simon holding the bike for my start,
I was off too. Up until this point, my only experience of time trials
was watching Fabian Cancellara cruising along some lovely cobbled
streets or similar at about 60 kms an hour. Mine was not like that.
I struggled badly on all of those hills. Luckily the saturday morning riders where
very friendly as they overtook me. Waiting at the six km mark was a
cheering Anna and Francesca - thanks guys. We were met by Simon half
way along the ride back to the gate. And he was kind enough to give me a
little push up the hills so I could keep up with the other girls. I
could have used the help during the trial :)

We made it back to the gate and then came the bad news. We had to do
it all again! My legs were very tired and not surprisingly my time
was slower the second time around. We were even slower on the way
back riding into a horrible headwind. It was about then that I was
thankful I hadn't ridden from home and I was very happy to put the
bike in the car and head home for a nice warm shower.

Thanks again to Simon for the session and thank you to Anna and
Francesca who were happy to keep at a pace I could handle.