Yankee Springs TT 2012

I rolled into Yankee Springs with a knot of dread in my stomach.  Yankee has always been unkind to me and I expected this 4^th year of racing the time trial to be no different.  Being the first mountain bike race of the season, it is always difficult to gauge your bike handling and conditioning (or lack of).   Fortunately, unlike past races, the weather wouldn’t be an excuse for poor performance - it was cool but great for racing.  As the clock ticked for my start time, I was comfortable with setting my goal at simply beating my time from last year.

My start time was 10 seconds behind my teammate Heather Kubiak.  This was a good thing because it gave me the motivation to chase.   I made up the time to get behind her pretty quickly (or she waited?).  We rode together for quite awhile until I needed to let off and catch my breath.  She rode away and I was passed by a couple other girls.  I tried not to panic because I knew there were still a few miles in front of us. 

I ran into several men on the trail the farther in I got.  Fortunately, everyone was very nice and let me pass with little complication.  I also had pretty open shots when I needed them on the climbs.  I was able to catch and pass some of my competitors on the hills. I kept rolling along trying to get a glimpse of pink aka Heather.  I didn’t see her until about 3 miles left.   We had a couple male riders separating us, and I knew when we got to people cheering in the woods that the parking lot would be coming up quick.  As soon as we hit the grass I started the sprint.   When we came around the final corner to meet the crowds I was standing for the finish.  I was a little surprised I had that much left in me which probably means I should’ve been riding harder on the trail. 

After catching my breath, in the typical “lay down and look like I’m dying” fashion I was met by Laura with the news that she thought I was 1st and Heather 2^nd.  I was sure she was wrong, but thankfully she wasn’t.  I had finally conquered Yankee , taken 7 minutes off my previous time, and was able to stand on the “podium” with my BFF.  The times for the 1^st thru 5^th place riders were separated by mere seconds.  I was the lucky one that day.