Hammonton, New Jersey, the "France" of...Hammonton, New Jersey

Julia destroys it once again!

The New Jersey state championship time trial left me feeling very non-pro.  Not that I’m attempting to become a professional cyclist, nor do I think it’s a good idea for amateurs to compare themselves to the pros, but a few circumstances led me to compare myself to these amazing athletes.

First off, I recently got a fancy DVR to watch the Tour de France whenever I want, so July is a fun month to be obsessed with pro cycling (well, mostly men's pro cycling, but the women are finally getting some exposure).  Wait, I have cable?  NOT PRO.  If I were training to be a pro cyclist, I should be living out of a car on $10 a day.  Secondly, I finally found a 40k time trial course (longer than most local TTs) and it even had two beautiful podium attendants (ok they were dogs, but whatever).  VERY PRO.  The course was flat with several corners and a U-turn.  I started out really hard and passed my teammate Kristie after a few miles.  Wait, my 30-second woman was my teammate? NOT PRO.  Everyone knows that teammates shouldn't be given adjacent start times, but a Bikereg snafu messed things up.  I passed the turn-around and started to fade.  Oh crap, I had pulled a typical Wander and blown my load too early.  Kristie, who meted out her effort more efficiently, passed me.  I drifted into la-la land for most of the second half and stared at the passing scenery: farms, and purveyors of blueberries, guns, and jet skis.  I snapped out of it for the only “hill” on the course, which was a small highway overpass.  I imagined it was a Pyrenean summit and accelerated in excitement, passing Kristie who continued to keep it steady.  After I secured the imaginary mountains classification points, Kristie passed me for the last time.  My legs hurt and I suddenly felt very cranky.  I thought about quitting the race, but then I thought "WWATD?"  Well, Andrew Talansky would wait for the team car to service him, and then he would finish the day’s race like a champ.  Oh wait, I had no team car.  NOT PRO.  So I serviced myself with some sports drink and continued to chug along to the finish.

End result: I took second place in the out-of-state category, with the third women’s time overall.  QCW had two riders on the podium, with Kristie taking third in our category.  Pretty awesome considering I paced myself like an excited puppy, and Kristie had to deal with an annoying teammate lurching back and forth the whole time.  We rounded out our awesome day by sharing the podium with Italian greyhounds Gi and Gwen (yes, they are full-grown!!).  Not exactly pro, but very Euro.