Week 1 Time Trial

Men's A Riders: Six Laps
1. Eric = 25:11 (3:59/4:08/4:15/4:16/4:!7/4:16)
2. Furby = 29:18 (4:41/4:37/4:46/4:52/5:00/5:22)

Men's B Riders : Five Laps
1. Paul = 24:04 (4:39/4:47/4:48/4:52/5:02)
2. Andy = 26:14 (5:01/5:08/5:23/5:30/5:16)

Women's B Riders: Four Laps
1. Renee = 22:09 (5:20/5:29/5:42/5:38)
2. Rosette = 23:29 (5:53/6:00/5:49/5:47)

Men's C Riders: Four Laps
1. Alex = 22:15 (5:17/5:44/5:51/5:33)
2. Jeremy = 22:17 (5:05/6:19/5:21/5:32)
3. Ben = 24:41 (6:04/6:36/6:30/5:31)

Tonight marked the return to the Red Hawks weekly prairie time trials. I added a lap for the A men to give them a total of six laps or approximately 6.3 miles. The course includes one tough up hill and one fast descent; all of it on loose crushed limestone. Some heavy rains this summer have left some nasty gullies and ruts, as well.

Eric's lap times are pretty similar to those he recorded last year, even with the additional lap. I'm quite pleased with that considering its the first of the year. Paul's first lap was similar to his first lap of his last time trial of 2009, but his subsequent laps were faster, showing that he's gained some endurance in the past year. Andy's times are a bit slower than those posted last year, but he's nursing a sore knee from a dislocation suffered Monday night. Furby's times are also a bit slower than last year, but tonight marked his debut with the team in 2010 after missing the first week of practice.

I'm extremely pleased with the performance of Renee, who set the best time for our four lap riders. That's not to say that I'm disappointed with the others. Alex posted some decent numbers considering tonight marked only his third (maybe?) time on his mountain bike. Rosette, too, is still adjusting to this off-road phenomenon and getting acquainted with handling the bike on sketchy terrain. Jeremy, who's still nursing a sore hip from a fall earlier in the week, took another nasty spill on that sketchy terrain, and Ben seemed a bit exhausted after a week of riding hard, staying up late and getting up early with ROTC training.

An off-day tomorrow should have them prepared for Saturday and Sunday. I don't think they'll set any course records, but I'm confident they can all go the distance if luck is on our side.