Out of the Blocks

Someone in this photo got quite the workout a couple weekends ago.

There is something to say for perfecting your start to an individual time trial. Practice can make perfect, or at least make it easier to look like you know what you are doing. When the fingers count down from five, four, three, two, one, and the clock shows zero the last thing you want to do is fall over when the holder releases his grip on your saddle. There is strategy to it as well - do you explode from the shade of the start house in an all out sprint, or is the start a simple beginning to a measured effort? When you play the role of stand-in for the rider who has, somehow, missed the start time you are presented with ample opportunity to do just that - practice, I mean. This particular weekend, missed start times were especially, and surprisingly, frequent.

The stand-in seemed like a mostly thankless job, though I say that assuming she did receive thanks from the organizers, and maybe even the race officials, and I am not exactly sure how those stand-in starts would translate to the world of two wheels, but there was certainly no lack of opportunity to perfect a starting form.