Chuck! It's good to see you back!
I wish AzT would put in an appearance....
I'm doing two races this weekend. Neither really "counts", as far as I'm concerned. I'm looking at both as training at race pace. The first is a Bay Area Senior Games (non USAC) 20K road race on my local course, the CCCX Circuit (climbing). There are four (four!) women entered, all told. Two are team mates, the other is my training partner. We're each in different age categories. It will be fun, and it will be something more than a fast group ride, but with not much on the table, I doubt anyone will go really hard. If they do, I'll go after them
Sunday I'm racing a crit in Salinas, at the airport, on a course I train on every now and then. It will be a combined 3/4 field, and I'll be surprised if more than six women are in the field. I will be way overmatched as far as age, but so what. I have some specifics I want to do early in the race, before they wear me down. An attack or two, try to go off the front, just because, and then go on to finish the thing.
Because, with both of those races in my legs, I'm scheduled to do a three hour pace ride on Monday to simulate the third day of the stage race I'm doing in two weeks. I need some hard rides to lead up to a third day. My recovery from hard days on the saddle has been pretty good this year, so I think by the end of the week most of the effects of the hard stuff I do this weekend should be cleared. It will interesting to see how I respond!