Race report

Most of the people I train with are racers. That is what happens when you join a bike club. My club, the COBRAS, is known as a drinking club with a cycling problem. The men and women are all very nice, so nice in fact, that I was enticed into racing this year.

Our club sponsors a seven-race time-trial series that starts in mid-April. The races are on Wednesday night. For the first six weeks, you could count on Wednesday being the worst weather of the entire week. The first four Wednesdays were in the 40s. Week 5 saw heavy rain and 37 degrees (only 1 out of every six riders showed up and I was one of them). Week 6 was even worse and the race was cancelled. Finally, week 7 had temperatures in the low 70s. There was much rejoicing at the start line that night. Riders go off every 20 seconds from 4:30 until 7:15. That accounts for nearly 500 riders!

The competition is strong in Colorado. I typically finished around 15th of 21 in my age group. I was about 45 seconds behind the rider in front and up to three minutes ahead of the next age-group rider behind me. I felt good about my results this year. I do not ride a time trial bike whereas most riders do. That accounts for about a minute over the 9.5 mile distance. I did get an aero helmet for the last race and recorded my best result of 20.9 mph average for that race.

Today was the Rocky Mountain Senior Games, what I call the Geezer Games. Most of the top riders competed on Saturday at the state time trial championships. Some of today's riders were doubling back from yesterday. The senior games had a 5K TT and a 40K road race. I placed 3rd in each race within my age group, averaging 22.2 mph for the TT and 21.4 mph for the road race. The road race course was a double out-and-back with 3 180 degree turns. I lost position each time we turned around. I stayed with the peloton, some 25 riders in all, for the first 20K but they took off after the first lap was completed. I worked to get back into the second group, now constituting eight riders. I took off with about 12K to go and only one rider went with me. We worked together, well, it was me doing most of the work with his pulls at the front noticeably slower. I told him with 3K to go that I was going to go for it. I gained 20 seconds over this distance and placed tenth overall.

I have enjoyed my first season of racing. I plan to do two hill climb races later in the summer. Most of the races are now criteriums and I have no intention of mixing it up like that.

A quick visit to CrossRoads tour

Thomas, an Episcopal priest on sabattical, after descending the Canadian escarpment. Riders are still traveling 30 mph.

One of the roller-coaster hills on the way to Las Vegas. I hit a several-year best of 40.1 mph on one of them. (Slow for many of you I know!)

Tracy asked me a week before tour began when I would be visiting the tour. That set my thoughts to driving to Las Vegas (a five hour drive from Denver) and riding with CrossRoads for a couple of days. The original plan was to ride out to the SAG from Santa Fe and meet my good friends Jim Olsson, Jim Hall, and Rick. Jim called me on Sunday morning and said that Rick spent the day in Santa Fe being treated for altitude sickness. He asked if I would drive out 50 miles and let Rick drive my car back to the hotel so Rick could get more rest and get down from altitude. I did that and then rode to Las Vegas. Averaged 18.8 miles per hour!

Jim O. and I took turns riding and driving to Tucumcari. I rode 57 miles and averaged 18.1 mph today. I remembered Charlie as I approached the 5 mile mark and thought of what a traumatic day it was for us two years ago. I had some quad cramping just before the wall and after as well. A couple of gels relieved the problem. A truck hauling cattle was stalled on the wall (max 11 percent grade) with an overheated transmission, as I found out later. I was praying before I got to it that its brakes would hold.

Jim and I return to Denver tomorrow. Rick is better now and rode the whole day today. I am pleased to say that the tour had an aiding wind on both days with some crosswinds today. Today was the hottest day of tour with 90 degrees on arrival in Tucumcari.

I saw Hank and Carol in Mexico in late March and am pleased to report that they are doing well.

It is a cohesive group and Barbie, Harry, and Darrell will be welcomed by them when they begin riding. Tracy and staff are doing well.

Enough for one day

I was scheduled to ride a local hill climb race on Saturday but it was cancelled due to high winds. So Jim, Craig, and I went to do it today as a hard workout. I was to meet them at 10:30.

Shortly after I got on the Interstate, traffic comes to a standstill. I had passed two law enforcement cars already. I notice that no cars are coming from the opposite direction, so I figure a major accident on the other side has stopped us as people want to get a peek at the carnage. A police car comes racing toward me on the opposite of the highway. I look in my rear view mirror at the car and see it come to a stop with the officer jumping out with weapon drawn. The driver of a truck gets out but just goes to the back. Soon the officer has left the scene. Then a whole phalanx of officers are walking down the line of cars in front with weapons drawn. Not just pistols but assault type weapons. This is serious! They ask for all drivers to roll their windows down so they can look inside. This happens three more times. I tell the woman in the car next to me that I thought they found Osama last night. She laughs hysterically. It is one half hour before we can get going again. I learn later that two idiots have robbed a bank and they chose the Interstate for their escape. They are spotted and the road is shut down. Yes, they were captured. Several hundred drivers are ready to turn the keys on these idiots' prison cells and toss the keys away.

I called Craig and they have waited for me. It is 44 degrees when we leave and supposed to reach a high of 56. We finally get underway at 11. By the time we reach the top of Lookout Mountain, we have ascended just over 2,000 feet in 13 miles, with 1250 of it in the 4.5 mile race course portion. Weather is moving in it appears. We are not looking forward to the descent over the back of the mountain on the return to our cars. Fortunately, it does not really snow on us although flakes are flying. We have 8 miles of descent. I am OK for the first 5 of it but when we turn into the wind I begin shaking. It was worse when I pedaled. I could not maintain a straight line. I am so cold when I reach the car finally that I skip the planned lunch. Jim tells me later that he and Craig begin to shiver at the restaurant despite being seated under a heater. It is 34 degrees when I leave to drive home.

Yes, it was enough excitement for one day. I am going to Tracy's tonight for dinner. I have been helping a little with tour preparation The staff will be leaving Wednesday for the drive to Lost Angeles (I can say it since I lived there). For the XC09 riders, Mack will not be part of the tour this year. Given his early departures from tour over the past few years, travel insurance for him was prohibitively expensive.

I have been spending the past week cycling in Fredericksburg, TX. This is a cycling mecca. During the previous week there were 360 riders registered for Texas Hell Week. Our group was 13 for the week. Seven members from our Denver cycling club, the COBRAS (COlorado Bicycling Racing Association for Seniors), joined several previous CrossRoads Cycling Adventures riders. We had a blast. I rode 256 miles over the past 6 days. This is hill country and there was lots of climbing each day, up to 3,500 feet for me. Barbie from Crossroads 2009 was able to drive here from San Antonio on the first day and ride with us. The picture shows Barbie, myself, and Tracy, owner of CrossRoads Cycling. We had a short distance and long distance group each day and would eat together each night. Several have said that they would like to do this again.

Some of my fellow COBRAS clubmates: MeanMac (closest), Jim (left), and Dave. We are on a 56 mile ride with 3500 feet of climbing.

Craig was my roommate for the week. We are returning from visiting the Lyndon Johnson State Park, a recovery day before we get back in the car tomorrow for the return to Denver. Craig is a heck of a rider!

Finally, there are some other COBRAS in town. While walking through town today, I noticed several 427 Cobra cars. Not sure if they are originals or replicas though. We could probably get $100 for our jerseys. It is two days back to Denver and I will then be off to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on Monday for a week. Our resort has spin classes and Pepe will be sure to work me hard. I am looking forward to dinner on Tuesday with Hank and Carol.

Snow day

The picture was taken this morning. We had a foot of snow from two storms on Sunday and Tuesday. The temperature this morning reached a low of minus 6 degrees. In addition to it being a snow day, it is also a slow day. So I thought I would take the opportunity to update my cycling blog.

CAFR stands for Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. With apologies to my friends in governmental accounting, my CAFR stands for Cycling Annual Fitness Report. I needed just 30 more miles with three days to go to reach my goal of 7,500 miles in 2010. We had a nice day of 60 degrees but social obligations kept me from riding on that day. Then frigid weather set in and the thought of back to back days on the trainer to get the last 30 miles was very unappealing. Oh well, 7500 is just another round number. I enjoyed the year in cycling and that is what counts. I got two tours in during the year and joined a cycling club making many new friends.

So what about 2011? January was a tough month. The first two weeks were good and I then got sick for the first time since early 2005. Scratch any riding for the next 11 days and then a slow recovery to fitness. I will go to Fredericksburg, Texas in March for a week of hard training with fellow club members and other CrossRoads tour riders. I think that there will be about a dozen of us. Fredericksburg is a mecca for cycling. Texas Hell Week, an intense training camp for hard core cyclists, will be held the week before we arrive.

Other than one criterium in oh-so-long-ago 1974 and triathlons in the 1980s, I have never raced on a bike. I intend to participate in a seven-race time-trial series in April and May. Our club puts on the TT and nearly 500 riders participate weekly. Riders go off every 20 seconds. I put in 3 TT efforts in November and December and it was nice to see the improvement.

I plan to do one tour this year. I have never done a tour in Colorado so will undertake my first one in August. It will be in Western Colorado and entail lots of climbing over the week of riding. The tour is sponsored by Colorado HeartCycle and should have about 30 participants. Looking further ahead, I am tentatively planning a New Zealand tour in January 2012.

That is it for now. I will write about the 2011 events as they occur.

Carmel

Another ride is in the books. The ride was very enjoyable. We traveled about 960 miles over 14 days of riding. My totals were 612 miles during the trip, somewhat more than I had anticipated riding. We are quite tired today. Attention to the road was absolutely required today. It took us 10 miles plus to leave Santa Cruz and we probably had to stop at 20 traffic lights on the way out of town. We were headed into the rising sun as well, so had to be on the wary side for holes in the road. When we approached Monterey and rode to Pacific Grove, many other cyclists and pedestrians shared the bike path. We weaved our way through it slowly. Traffic on the 17 mile drive was heavy and again our full attention was required for vehicles pulling in and out for the scenery. One driver almost clipped me thinking he could squeeze in before I got there. Or his attention span was short and he forgot already that I was there.

Thanks for following along on another edition of "Life in the slow lane." At this time, there are no plans for another chapter any time soon. My body definitely needs a rest with two trips this year and approximately 6,300 cycling miles for the year. Once again, thanks to Robin for allowing me to express my passion and for driving the SAG vehicle for the past two years. I am glad that she got to witness it for a couple of days.

Thanks to my fellow riders Doc, Jim H., Ron, and Tracy. I really enjoyed your company on and off the bicycle. You helped make it a successful trip. This is my third time down the West Coast and I am grateful that we shared it together. You helped me see things in a different way. May we log many more miles together over the upcoming years!

Today's riders: Dana, Doc, Tom, Tracy, Paula, Ron, Jim H. Dana and Paula joined us on the ride from the hotel to the first SAG. A club ride of perhaps 40 cyclists passed us on the route like we were all standing still, although I am sure that Dana could have stayed with them.

An ocean view from 17 mile drive. Lots of traffic on the road, but there is a bike lane for most of the drive. One could spend several hours along this road, especially on the nice day that we had today.

The Lone Cypress tree. It is approximately 250 years old and is the official symbol of the Pebble Beach Company. It is one of the most famous trees in the world.

Getting some food at the end of the trip.