Wicked Makes Her Debut at Beat the Clock Time Trial
 

The very end of April I got my dream time trial bike – 2008 Orbea Ordu (named “Wicked”). (See post at http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...64#post6437764).

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The past month I have been getting in some practice sessions and getting used to riding on the aerobars and gradually feeling more comfortable and confident with the speed and being able to use my power in the TT position. I never rode a TT bike before and even little things like shifting took some time to adjust to (e.g., until I got my arm and hand position correct I had to lift my elbow up to get enough leverage to shift – it is all so different from riding my Orbea Orca road bike). So Saturday was the Beat the Clock time trial on Canada Road and time to put Wicked (and me) to the test.
The time trial series is a fund raising event for the Lance Armstrong Foundation http://www.scaledup.com/beattheclock/. There were 100 entries (registration closed at 100 entries) consisting of individual men, women, teams and tandems going out at one minute intervals. Hermes was also doing the individual TT and we both had early start times because we were going to then follow up with doing the TT on the tandem. Hermes had a 7:01 start time and I had a 7:04 start time; tandem start time was 8:38. The weather was “iffy” with drizzle and wet roads on the drive to the start; temperature was fine in the low 50’s. Fortunately, the roads were dry on the course with overcast skies. The winds were moderate in the early morning and were noticeably stronger later when we did the tandem TT.

My individual time for the 9.7 mile course was 27:11 (7th out of the 19 women finishers with aero). The course is an out and back with 400 feet of elevation gained.

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I was really happy with my result considering (1) my first TT on a TT bike; (2) I beat numerous Cat 1/2/3 women racers; and (3) with one exception, the women who had better times were pros or Cat 1/2 (e.g., a 21 year-old Cat 2 racer beat me by 13 seconds). I am a Cat 4. The winning woman’s time was 23:36 by Kathryn Curi Matthis (pro Webcor Builders team). I am totally psyched for the upcoming TTs including the Northern California district championships at Sattley in a couple weeks.

Outstanding....................but did you catch an pass Hermes? :eek:

Wow! What a bike!

Whoopee!

This is what the 50+'s is all about. New things, new challenges.

WOW!

That sounds like fun. And i LOVE that bike. It looks fast standing still.

Congratulations! Well done:thumb:

How did you do on the tandem?

Outstanding!

And you named that bike well, it certainly is "wicked" looking....:)

Great job! Looking at your beautiful bike makes me wish I had gotten that Transition this Spring after all. One question about your setup. Is your saddle position legal? It looks like it is less than 5cm behind the BB. Maybe it's just the angle of the picture.

Very impressive results.

Amazing bike. There's an Orbea Orca in my LBS I've admired but never seen one of the TT beasties; given the speed at which I ride I likely never will.

Looks like we're hanging out with a fast woman. ;)

Hi Velodiva,

Great job! Hope Hermes did well with his ITT and that your tandem race went well too.

Hi BikeWNC,

The saddle position is only an issue for UCI events and national championships, in general. That being said, if you intend to compete at the nationals, it's probably better to race in a "legal" position all of the time. :)

Short riders can apply for an exemption to this rule. Here's an article about that rule.

How is such an application made, and how often is it granted? According to the rules, the riders are given a "test" by the commissaires prior to the race. You pedal the bike, and the forward protrusion of your knee cannot pass in front of the pedal axle. Of course, you simply ride on the rearward part of the saddle during the test. As one highly-placed federation technical director put, "Everyone who takes the test passes, and these people get to ride a position unavailable to the naive or unaware."

Edit: The link to the article http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadin...tr/tt_fit.html

Nope - he had the fast wheels! :D

A respectable time of 26:47 - although certainly not our best. We had about an hour in between finishing the individual TT and the tandem TT. We got back on the trainer and asked "do we really want to do this?" Having the break in between made it tough to get mentally psyched, but it was good practice for the upcoming TTs.

I'd give that bike a first name . . . Way . . .

Or you can just call it WW for short . . .

Nice ridin'!

Another call for the tandem time. Was it better then the individual times?

A couple of bike slave duties over lunch...swap fast wheels and take pics.

Here is Ms Wicked with the Zipp Sub 9 and HED 3c. This is really pornographic.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...u/PICT0005.jpg

In living room, under Miro...seems fitting.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...u/PICT0006.jpg

Tonight she gets to practice with the wheels in the wind.

Just hope you have no wind-or some big plasters.

And a set of earplugs. Don't know what they sound like on the bike to the rider- but those wheels do make a noise.

Glad to see the Tandem did not disgrace itself- but you will have to train a mate in camera duties for when you are both out there trying to prove how fit you are- No action pics- but we live in hope.

Nice..
Orbea sure makes eye candy....
Your "other" bike is an Orca??
hmmm... It's do-able... but I'd have to sell one of the cars to finance that arrangement... :D

Do you have any other bikes in addition to those two??

Hi,

I can afford the bike, I just can't afford the wheels. ;)

Yes, my road bike is a 2007 Orbea Orca which I absolutely love. Below is a photo climbing up King's Mountain last fall. The Santana tandem is community property. I diverted my clothing/jewelery budget to bikes - clearly more fun!

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...0738532-X2.jpg

Wow! Double Wicked

Well done on the TT!

We'll see you Sunday. Prepare for wind -- it's as wicked as your bike around here!