Time trials were held Tuesday morning for junior women and men’s 17-18. The time trial was to see who can finish the 10-mile course, that was on Kanawha Boulevard along Haddad Riverfront, in the shortest amount of time.
- Newcomer Lily Edwards, who races with dcdevo Racing Academy, won for the Junior Women’s 17-18 category with a time of 22:53.
She says that it was a good day despite the rain that appeared while they were doing awards.
“The course was super, straight and back, which I think was good for me, it was easy to get in the zone and be comfortable without having to worry about going through a bunch of turns,” Edwards said. “It was awesome.”
She was followed by Alyssa Sarkisov and Emma Jimenez Palos.
On the other hand, defending champ Ashlin Barry came out for the win in the Junior Men’s 17-18 category, with a time of 19:45.
Barry said that the two years he has competed, last year and this year were great experiences.
“It was great today (Tuesday), super nice conditions, I felt strong, and I just executed my plan really well,” he said.
He was followed by Enzo Edmonds and Beckham Drake.
During the trials, racers are on time trial bikes that allow for them to be lower to the handlebars allowing them to move faster throughout the course, compared to regular road bikes.
Edwards said that she spent most of her time trying to get on the time trial bikes as much as possible.
“Definitely just trying to get on the time trial bike as much possible and getting comfortable putting power out on it,” she said.
Barry said that he was on the bike between 15 to 20 hours a week where he tried to train at the pace that he wanted to be at.
While both of them said that the terrain was good, being flat, they both struggled with one thing.
For Edwards, she said that the beginning was hard for her.
“The start is always the hardest part with all the nerves and stuff, and you don’t know, anything could happen so you’re definitely super nervous,” she said.
However, for Barry, he said that the last few minutes were the hardest.
“The last five minutes, suffering all the way to finish, so I would say the final stretch was the hardest,” he said.
Time trials will pick back up Wednesday morning with women and men under 23 and women and men elite racers.
Hugo Scala Jr, who will be competing in the Men Elite category, was on MetroNews Midday Tuesday afternoon.
Scala is from Dallas, TX and has been racing for 11 years. He has been racing with Project Echelon Racing for four years.
He participated last year, and he said that he was glad to be back in Charleston.
He mentioned that the road races are particularly hard for him.
“The road racecourse in particular is very demanding with these hills and green landscapes,” Scala said. “I think we’re going to be lucky this week, it’s not looking to be quite as hot as maybe it was last year.”
He did say that rain has its own challenges, especially with it being slippery and may cause crashes.
And since he is from Texas, he had to get a little creative when it came time to train for these road races.
“I think one way I’ve prepared is I try to find a hilly area and do a lot of repetitions to kind of replicate how the road racecourse is raced here,” Scala said.
He also said that he would do heat training in order to prepare for the weather.
Races will pick back up Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.
