Let's Race

Mary competing in her first time trial

This past week started with the Rapids Wheelmen Time Trials out in Ada. Ian and I have raced there once before and this time Mary joined us. This is a 15 mile out and back, fairly flat course along Grand River Avenue. The riders start individually every 30 seconds. The idea is to ride against the clock and not the other people on the course. Which is a good thing since I was getting passed regularly by 20 somethings on time trial bikes. But the good news is I improved my time over the first week by three and a half minutes. Ian's time was about the same and Mary finished is less than an hour. She was very happy about that since she was thinking she was a "slow" rider. Her average speed was 15.6 mph. While not blazing, that's far from slow. The complete results are at this link.

On Saturday Ian and I traveled over to the other side of the state for the Tour de Frankenmuth. This was Ian's first ride with the Rapid Wheelmen Junior Team. The race was on a 16 mile loop that started in the downtown of the delightfully German themed town. The Juniors did one loop and the Category 1 and 2 riders did 5 loops. The top riders were competing for prize money, the juniors were competing for medals. Ian finished 8th in his age group, getting beat out at the line for 7th place. It was a great learning experience for him and he said he really enjoyed it.

Ian approaching during his first Junior Team race.