Thursday was the big day. Team Basis had five women competing in the time trial: Lauren Gaffney, Kele Hulser, Chrissy Ruiter, Kristin Johnson, and I. We arrived early so everyone would get the warm-up they wanted. I actually pinned my number from the inside of my jersey, so the pins wouldn’t cause added drag. Because this was a UCI (Union Cyclist International-world governing body for cycling) event, all the time trial bikes had to conform to UCI standards. The protocol stated that you had to have your bike checked before your time trial start, but once you had the bike measured, it couldn’t leave the area. This can make for messed-up warm-ups and huge frustration if you have to change something last minute to fit their standards. Luckily they gave a pre-check, so if your bike didn’t fit; you could fix it and check it again, removing your bike from the area. I took my bike to be measured, and the official put it on the measuring device. He told me my saddle was too far forward. The rule states that the nose of your saddle must be five cm behind the bottom bracket. This rule does not apply if when you sit on the bike, a plumb bob dropped from the front of your knee intersects the pedal spindle. I sat on the bike and the official declared that my bike was fine. The start of the time trial ended up being delayed by 30 minutes. The junior men went off before we did, so that made a quick change of warm-up plans necessary. It also gave added time, so I had plenty of time to stretch, get a leg massage from Uhl, and do my typical warm-up, which takes 45 minutes.

Nicole wasn’t racing, so she was able to drive Rick’s car and follow me during the time trial; Uhl rode as a passenger. I wore a radio so Uhl and Nicole could communicate with me during the time trial. Uhl’s job was to give me technical information. He told me where to be on the road, when my cadence looked too low, how to prepare for a turn and general encouragement. I know he was vital to the success of my time trial. When you are so focused on going as hard as you can, sometimes you forget small things like “the shortest distance between two points is a line.” The start order was based on race category and age, and the last 15 riders were seeded according to the finish in the 2003 time trial. I was 10th from the last to start; I followed Jessica Phillips (Equipe Nurnberger), who is always a contender in a time trial. The riders left at 1-minute intervals, except for the last ten starters, which had two minutes between them. It makes it a little harder with a two-minute gap because you really don’t have a rabbit to chase.

In the time trial, they call you up to the line, which is on a ramp. You get on your bike, and someone holds the bike from behind. That way you are ready to go. They give you a countdown at 30, 15, 10 seconds, and then they count down from five seconds: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! At that point, you stomp on the pedals and take off down the ramp. I tried to get up to speed as quickly as possible. The course started on a slight uphill followed by a screaming descent. At the bottom of the descent was a left-hand turn which crossed a drainage dip in the road.

The new twist today was the addition of barriers to keep those going out and coming back from hitting one another. The barriers were not solid, so it was difficult to see exactly where they would spit you out. That made all the corners a little more difficult than when I pre-rode the course. The road rose for a little bit then flattened out. A right-hand turn put me on a slight descent followed by a quick flat section then into the first hill. There was a slight descent after the hill and then rolling sections. A quick left-hand turn put me onto the lead up to the next hill. They had us riding on the left side of the road (two lanes each side) on the way out and back, so we only had one lane in each direction.

I made a left-hand turn and was on the worse climb of the day. It was steep, especially when you are on a time trial bike, which isn’t necessarily built for climbing. I struggled up that hill. Luckily there was another screaming descent into Perris Lake State Park. The park was closed for our time trial, so we didn’t have to worry about any other traffic on the road. I made a right-hand turn which put me on the rolling hills to the turnaround point. They didn’t put the turnaround in the wide-area we thought they would, so I had to slow down more than I anticipated. I went around the cone and headed for home. Nicole informed me that I had made up six seconds on Jessica at the turnaround. On the way back out of the park, a squirrel ran across the road in front of me. Luckily it kept running across the road, so I didn’t have to swerve to miss it. Uhl said, “Great job on missing the squirrel.” I made the left-hand turn and started the climb out of the park. That climb was a little tough.

The top brought relief and another screaming downhill; I was spinning my 56 x 12 at 40+ mph. At the bottom of that hill I made a sharp right hand turn. I really tried to push the flats and rollers on the way back to the finish. The last few miles saw a descent followed by a slight rise. I made a left turn into a headwind and the final push before the climb to the finish. I made the right turn onto the finishing climb and my legs were toast. Nicole and Uhl were telling me to give it my all. I was in too big of a gear, so I wasn’t turning it over fast enough. I should have just stood up, but I decided to stay seated. As I neared the top, I tried going into my big chainring. There was too much tension for it to shift, so I just slammed it down into my smallest cog. Uhl was yelling, “GO, GO, GO!” as I sped to the finish. I was so happy to cross that finish line. I immediately asked where that put me. My time was 36:04, which put me in 3rd place at the moment. Christine Thornburn (Webcor) had the fastest time with 34:16. I cooled down on my trainer and watched the last nine riders roll in; six of the last nine riders were from T-Mobile. I think they all had visions of winning the TT and gaining that Olympic spot. However, none of them could beat Christine’s time. T-Mobile took spots two through six, but it didn’t gain them a spot on the Olympic team. You could tell the T-Mobile camp was very disappointed. Christine was totally elated with her ride and the selection to the Olympic team. The paper the next day said: “First the Lakers. Then T-Mobile.” It was fun to see the underdog win.

Results:
1) Christine Thorburn (Webcor Builders) 34.16.25
2) Amber Neben (T-Mobile) 0.08.24
3) Dede Barry (T-Mobile) 0.10.06
4) Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile) 0.21.26
5) Kimberly Bruckner (T-Mobile) 0.31.18
6) Mari Holden (T-Mobile) 0.55.93
7) Katrina Grove (Rona) 1.16.05
8) Candice Blickem (Genesis Scuba/FFCC) 1.28.78
9) Heather Albert (Team Basis) 1.48.32
10) Jessica Phillips (Equipe Nurnberger) 2.01.33.

Team Basis riders:
17) Kele Hulser (Team Basis) 2.46.80
23) Chrissy Ruiter (Team Basis) 3.08.09
44) Kristin Johnson (Team Basis) 5.19.71
51) Lauren Gaffney (Team Basis) 6.03.72

Looking back on the time trial, I really had a phenomenal time trial. Since I hadn’t been training for six weeks, that result was incredible. Those women were flying when they came to trials, and I only lost 1:48 to them in a 24.5 km time trial. I just wonder how I would have done if I had not been sick and thus not training for six weeks before Nationals. Kele was really stoked with her time trial. Chrissy and Kristin were disappointed with their rides. Kristin just got back from spending time in Italy with her fiancé, so she was feeling the jet lag. Mike, a chiropractor who works for the HealthNet team, also helped us out with massages. Bobbie had to get back to work, so Mike gave me my post-race massage.