Fifty Plus (50+) - Finally took the plunge!

Last year I had planned on trying an open road race but when my Lapierre had to go in for warrantee work I decided to pass rather than try racing the Jamis.
So today I got up at zero dark thirty and drove down to Camp Pendleton and entered my first road race. They were predicting rain, and we got some, I hate rain. There is a pretty good climb about mile 12 and I hate climbs. There was a rolling start behind a pace car because of the weather and that grouped us up quite a bit, and I hate being grouped up. Ok maybe hate is a strong word. :D
But with all of those things I don’t care for I had a great time. I might have been a bit too conservative on the first half of the race but I managed to let it out on the way back to the finish line and came in about the middle of the pack. :eek:

I think I might try this again. Just because we are over 50 doesn’t we can’t try something different. ;)

Wow, cool!:thumb: I'll be expecting the lil racer boy to drop me on GMR.:twitchy:

Congrats on your first race. A mid pack finish is a great start. It's still zero dark thirty even though I've been up for over an hour. My first race of the season is today and I could not fall back asleep due to the anticipation.

R. F., congratulations on a good finish!

Congratulations for even giving it a whirl and then doing so well.

Thanks for the support friends. If someone asked what I learned it would be that what is in your head is just as important as what is in your legs.

Congrats Robert. Was this the race? http://www.camppendletonraces.com/bike.html

Great going. The only race I have done is a mountain climb race, I would be pretty frightened on an open road race where the speeds are greater and things tend to group up.

I applaud all those here who go out and flat road race - please don't wind up in this collection of photos:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-oGQdXvkTg&feature=related

Congrats Robert. Was this the race? http://www.camppendletonraces.com/bike.html


Yes, I have been planning on giving it a try for the last two years. I decided to race in my age group and we started in the sixth wave with 19 in the 60+. They added all of the Clydesdales and whoever else they could toss in to beef up the group to about 40 I think counting the 17 Military riders as well. The women and MTB group started in the seventh position.

Like I said I might have been a bit conservative because of the group dynamic but my goal was to finish and to set a benchmark for myself. I also didn't want to be the cause of anyone else going down on the wet pavement. But is a well produced race even with marshals all along the course and flagmen at the hard turns. The Marshals at the climb were more than encouraging. They were yelling at us as if we were new recruits doing an obstacle course.
While I held my own on the climb I didn’t gain on anyone and I didn’t recover on the decreased climb just before the top. I will have to work on that if I expect to do better in other races.

I love riding through the Camp. We were in Newport Beach a couple of weeks ago and rode from San Clemente through the camp and turned around at the shopping center.

Excellent. It reminds me of my one and only race experience about 20 yrs. ago. I had only been cycling for a couple years. I recall that I was about 42-44 yrs. old. My son, wife and I went up to the Newport (RI) Naval Base for a race. There was a category for children and I wanted my son, who was about 8, to try racing to see if it was something he wanted to get into. My race came first and as I was prepping my Bianchi Squadra I couldn't help but notice that I was surrounded by "20-somethings" and they had these weird pedals that didn't have toe clips. A very pleasant young man remarked that he wasn't expecting to see "someone your age" racing. At the start of the race everyone shot off while I fumbled to get into my clips. I struggled to catch up to the back of the group. It wasn't a particularly long race and mostly flat. Eventually I caught up to some of the group and ended up finishing 11th out of 22 riders. My son won his race but wasn't interested in this type of riding. He ended up doing BMX and now races motorcycles when he can afford it. We both got blue ribbons for participating. They hang in my shop next to my Masi.

Your story brought back fond memories. Thanks.

Way to go Robert! :thumb:
Sounds like a really exciting day for you!

Congratulations, Robert. Tremendous job!

I bow in your direction, great job!! My last "race" was in 1985 NORBA Novice Level MTB race in Northern, CO. I finished 12 out of 30, my brother, won and got bumped up to Expert Class, (back then we only had, Citizen/Novice/Expert/Pro, classes. Wouldn't even DREAM of racing nowadays! :O

Excellent. It reminds me of my one and only race experience about 20 yrs. ago. I had only been cycling for a couple years. I recall that I was about 42-44 yrs.

Your story brought back fond memories. Thanks.


The 40-50 class was packed. The 50 to 60 class was pretty big as well. I will say the Marines were very polite. There was a Civilian and Military class and the Marines were very respectful. Once the race started they didn’t cut you any slack however. There were plenty of Marshalls along the course and at every turn so it was well marked. What surprised me was that I didn’t get dropped on the climb because as everyone who knows me knows, I don’t like hills. :eek: