Faster than a speeding... snail

After competing in my first time trial this morning, I have the following observations:

• I’m slow.
• I’m getting faster.
• Although I’m getting faster, I’m doing so slowly.

But that’s OK, because it’s all about having fun, pushing yourself and enjoying the competition.

Today’s time trial was held starting at College of the Redwoods. Sponsored by Henderson Center Bicycles, the event featured a relatively flat circular route from the CR parking lot, south to the freeway, north along the freeway and back to CR. Each rider started a minute apart and completed two laps. I was told the route was about 11 miles, although I’m not certain about the distance.

I came in with a time of about 33:26, which means I came in fourth place out of a total of seven riders. Will, the proprietor of the bike shop, told me my time was “respectable,” which I took as a compliment.

Since I had never competed in a time trial, I didn’t really know whether I had done my best or not, but I was tickled pink that my bike computer indicated that my average speed was 20.1 mph. That’s 1.1 mph faster than my previous record.

Then again, I kind of felt like kicking myself after the race, being that my legs felt pretty darn good. I was huffing and puffing, but there was no muscle burn. My guess is that my lungs need to catch up with my legs, and that I need to simply will myself to ride faster.

At least now I have an official time to beat and a tiny bit more experience.