Tom’s Farm TT – 8 Miles
January 16, 2011 – Corona, CA
Masters 30+ – 1st – 21:26
260 watts – 24.1 MPH

Let’s see…it’s the middle of January, it’s sunny and in the 60s, and there is a outdoor TT less than 45 min from my house. Gee. What do I do? Hmmmm….

Having moved to Orange County just over a month ago and not had any interval sessions since September, I wasn’t expecting much from my first TT of the season. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do an outdoor TT in January. The course was short, but had a good 200 foot climb on it. I had enough riding in my legs that I knew I wouldn’t make a fool of myself. I was just riding this race for “enjoyment”, if there is such a thing in time trialing…:)

The Tom’s Farm time trials are put on my Pacific Sunset Velo and are literally held at Tom’s Farm outside of Corona, CA. It’s also a USCF race, so I had a chance to use my newly renewed license early in the year! This is one of the more unique race staging areas I’ve seen. Not only did they have a bar, restaurant, antique shop, flea market, but you could also pick up fresh, California produce (duh, it’s a farm). I soon learned why so many racers brought trainers. There really were minimal roads nearby to use for warming-up. I did some light riding, and found the hilly terrain helped get my legs fresh for the race.

The start line was a good mile or so from the staging area. That made getting to the start line on time even more important. There were enough volunteers, so we had a holder at the start. I could already feel the rush in my legs the first mile, and had a long climb to look forward to within the first mile. This might have helped me, since we had a headwind and I passed several riders on the climb. The road conditions weren’t the best, but I’ve had worse in IL. The return trip was a lot of fun, because we had a tailwind AND a downhill.

I ended up averaging a little over 24 MPH. Not the best, but not the worst considering the course and my conditioning. I decided to stick around and wait for the awards. It was a nice day and had a chance to chat with other riders. I was surprised to find out that I had finished first in the Masters 30+ group. Huh? I didn’t have one of the fastest times of the day and figured someone should have been ahead of me. OK, now for full disclosure. Not only did I finish first in my age group, but I also finished last. Yes, I was the ONLY one in my age group.

Oh, well, it’s still a win and a nice way to start the season, especially when I was out to have “fun”…:)