Joy and Nomi took the plunge and signed up for their first 10km running race ever in May 2010 in Singapore at the Sundown Race event...Then they trained for a half marathon in the fall of 2010, Joy's in Canada and Nomi's in Malaysia...Then, they finished their second-ever half marathon in Singapore May 2011 at the Sundown Race event, but this time they ran together!

Then their sporting paths diverged: Nomi went on to run marathons while Joy learned how to ride a bike. This blog charts their progress from 2010 to 2012.

Read their blog to see what their sporting adventures look like or just look at the pictures of Canada's capital city and Malaysia's capital city. You can choose the "follow" option or subscribe via email to be notified of updates. (You can start reading/skimming their first entries from the summer of 2010 or just jump right in, reading from any point you like. The "Archives" will be your guide.)

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Second Time Trial: The Pros Came out to Race!

Me warming up on my trainer before
the time trial. (Don't worry, mom, I put
on a helmet when I was actually on the road!)
Joy here...Under a grey sky and a light shower sprinkling rain drops on my sunglasses, I headed out for my second-ever time trial.  But this time, a couple of heavy-hitters showed up to ride as well.  Pro bike racers Tricia Spooner (last year's Ontario Women's Time Trial bronze medallist) and Sophie Matte (featured in a news media write-up as last summer's winner of this series) from the Stevens Cyclery women's team arrived looking weathered, strong, scary, and confident.  Perhaps it's no surprise that they took spots #1 and #2 of this little weekly, Tuesday night women's time trial series!

What is a bit of a surprise is that yours truly jumped from 3rd place in her age category last week to 1st place this week!

20 women showed up in the light rain showers to ride, and I came in 6th overall...and, I mean, if you don't count those pros taking the top two spots, really I came in 4th overall...but that's getting a little bit crazy on technicalities, so I'll enjoy my 6th place.

The funny thing is:  I don't have a time trial bike; I don't have fancy time trialling equipment like an aero helmet or skin suit; I don't actually know exactly how and when I should be changing gears on my bike; and I still don't really know how to stand and pedal.  So I figure that once I get some of the picky details of just how to ride a bike under my belt, I'll just get better and better, which goes a long way to making this little weekly endeavour really fun.  It sort of feels like the sky's the limit, if you know what I mean.

Me at the start line in the rain!
Overall it took me 17:13 to finish 10km (vs 17:51 last week), and my average speed was 34.85km/hr (vs 33.61km/hr last week).  I'm not sure if I'll be able to improve by 40 seconds each week, as that's a pretty big improvement, but I'm just happy that I seem to be moving in the right direction.

Next Tuesday is the final 10km time trial...and then it'll be 15km ones...and who knows how I'll do at that?

Over and out,
Joy



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