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-   -   Just hanging out shooting the bull (https://www.bikeforums.net/masters-racing-all-disciplines/704193-just-hanging-out-shooting-bull.html)

Allegheny Jet 06-11-12 05:33 PM


Originally Posted by shovelhd (Post 14341755)
Go get it, AZT. We have a house in Ohio to invade.

The pressure is on me to qualify for the Ohio team in July. We will have the jungle room ready for Racer EX.

Hermes 06-11-12 11:40 PM

Success has many fathers
 
I had the privilege to assist my wife in winning her 3rd consecutive NorCal State road ITT championship and missing a National record by 7 seconds for the 20K event. I did not race but helped her do all the things the things required to get ready to race plus coaching. Racer Ex helped a lot with the bike fit in LA and some other suggestions. And there are the countless hours that other coaches and mentors have contributed. She makes it look so easy but in reality we all know it is very hard.

Tonight we attended the second team pursuit workout at the track. She had the fastest flying kilo time of all the women including the elite women. The more aero position we developed in LA really worked well. And she set a new 1 minute power record blowing away her previous numbers.

The goal of the team pursuit program is to send a couple of teams to compete at elite track nationals in Los Angeles, CA in the fall of 2012.

ITT course... Flat at 5000 feet elevation in the Sierras

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMG_3422.jpg

The finish

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMG_3475.jpg

Results

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMG_3485.jpg

chasm54 06-11-12 11:46 PM

Fantastic, Hermes. Congratulations to your wife, and good luck in the track nationals.

Allegheny Jet 06-12-12 05:21 AM

Way to go Ms Hermes! ... and crew.

qcpmsame 06-12-12 05:30 AM

Great news on the win for Mrs. Hermes!

shovelhd 06-12-12 05:31 AM

Congratulations Mrs. Hermes. Outstanding work.

AzTallRider 06-12-12 06:56 AM

Wow, she truly is the Diva. Please give her my congratulations.

sarals 06-12-12 08:50 AM

MEA, wow! Congratulations! Hermes, you have every right to be proud. :thumb:

nacler22 06-12-12 09:45 AM

Results

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMG_3485.jpg[/QUOTE]

:beer:

cycledude555 06-12-12 10:02 AM

Master's Racing
 
Folks,

If this has already been discussed I apologize but, I did not see anything like this so I wanted to ask your opinion. I am 59 yrs old and started riding over 3 years ago. Last year I entered 2 races and got lapped in both and pulled from race. This year I have stepped up my game both in fitness and racing tactics and raced a few races. Recently I have entered the Master's 50+ but, in the races I have entered they have included 35 and 45 along with 55 yrs old for Master's. I have been lapped both times and pulled from the race along with several others. I don't think it is fair to lump 55 yrs old with 35 and 45 yr old's. What have the rest of you seen in Masters races? Thank you in advance!

Racer Ex 06-12-12 11:06 AM


Originally Posted by cycledude555 (Post 14345771)
Folks,

If this has already been discussed I apologize but, I did not see anything like this so I wanted to ask your opinion. I am 59 yrs old and started riding over 3 years ago. Last year I entered 2 races and got lapped in both and pulled from race. This year I have stepped up my game both in fitness and racing tactics and raced a few races. Recently I have entered the Master's 50+ but, in the races I have entered they have included 35 and 45 along with 55 yrs old for Master's. I have been lapped both times and pulled from the race along with several others. I don't think it is fair to lump 55 yrs old with 35 and 45 yr old's. What have the rest of you seen in Masters races? Thank you in advance!

It's regional and usually contingent on field size. In some areas like SoCal and Texas, there will be a separate 50+ race or a 55+ race.

At Gila the 50+ are lumped in with the 40's but scored separately.

Like with women's fields it's often tough to justify a separate race for a small number of entrants. That said if the numbers support it you should ask not to be lumped into the 35/45/55.

Another option is to move the higher age group into another less demanding race so you can ride the whole event. You may get some support on this or you may get some backlash from some of the better upper age groupers.

shovelhd 06-12-12 11:23 AM

cycledude, when they "lump you in" with the younger groups, are the number sequences separate? In other words, are the M35+ 2xx series, M45+ 3xx series, M55+ 4xx series, etc. If so, line up early and try and surround yourself with guys in your group. That way even if you get lapped, you will have a race experience, and they should not pull you. If they don't separate the fields, then I think you should look for a different race where they do.

Out here we have a huge Masters contingency, often a third of the registered riders. M55+ means M55+. That's my category. No interlopers allowed, for the most part.

sarals 06-12-12 12:20 PM

A little (well, a lot) off topic, but I wanted to share this with you folks. It was really nice to get this kind of recognition from the community. It was also a surprise! I received a "hey, did you see?" phone call the other morning - I hadn't, I knew nothing about it.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/articl...ty?odyssey=tab

sarals 06-12-12 12:30 PM


Originally Posted by cycledude555 (Post 14345771)
Folks,

If this has already been discussed I apologize but, I did not see anything like this so I wanted to ask your opinion. I am 59 yrs old and started riding over 3 years ago. Last year I entered 2 races and got lapped in both and pulled from race. This year I have stepped up my game both in fitness and racing tactics and raced a few races. Recently I have entered the Master's 50+ but, in the races I have entered they have included 35 and 45 along with 55 yrs old for Master's. I have been lapped both times and pulled from the race along with several others. I don't think it is fair to lump 55 yrs old with 35 and 45 yr old's. What have the rest of you seen in Masters races? Thank you in advance!


Cycledude, to pile on, and maybe to sooth just a little, I get exactly the same treatment that you do. As Ex said, the women's fields are small, and it makes no sense to split them up. I race with Cat3/4 and Masters 35+ (they don't break them down any further than that in women's fields) all the time. I routinely get lapped, and I routinely get pulled off a lap short - but, I'm considered a finisher and given the finish. That's okay with me. I know I'm not going to do well, yet. I know I'm at least ten years older than the next youngest/oldest competitor, too. That doesn't matter, or it least it doesn't any more. It's the racing experience I'm looking for right now, and that topic is enormous. It's quite a feat to put on that number and circulate with some really talented and fast kids and older folks, and it's a goal, something I need, to get to the level I need to be to actually mix it up with them. Believe me, I thought too in the early part of the summer that it was grossly unfair for a sixty year old to be racing in field populated by twenty year olds. It is what it is, and do believe me, there are sixty year olds who can hang with the twenty year olds. I want to be one of them, and with experience and fortitude and training, I will. So can you. Ex has suggested "racing up". That's a great idea. Those folks are closer in age to you and I, but they are a lot faster that you and I. They are also sensible, measured, and less apt to make silly mistakes. They are worth riding with. You might consider that.

IMHO, of course! I assume no responsibility for anyone catching the racing bug because of anything I said. I wasn't even in town when I said it...!

Racer Ex 06-12-12 01:00 PM


Originally Posted by sarals (Post 14346481)
A little (well, a lot) off topic, but I wanted to share this with you folks.

Very cool!

I spent my time in the military as a Crew Chief, mostly on 'Nam era Hueys. The majority of my pilots were either gunship guys or medivac guys. Exceptional pilots. A bit loose at times...betting a round of drinks on who could auto rotate closest to a spot on the landing strip, jumping out of the aircraft from a 50 foot hover as "water survival training".

Great guys to work with.

Allegheny Jet 06-12-12 01:10 PM


Originally Posted by cycledude555 (Post 14345771)
Folks,

If this has already been discussed I apologize but, I did not see anything like this so I wanted to ask your opinion. I am 59 yrs old and started riding over 3 years ago. Last year I entered 2 races and got lapped in both and pulled from race. This year I have stepped up my game both in fitness and racing tactics and raced a few races. Recently I have entered the Master's 50+ but, in the races I have entered they have included 35 and 45 along with 55 yrs old for Master's. I have been lapped both times and pulled from the race along with several others. I don't think it is fair to lump 55 yrs old with 35 and 45 yr old's. What have the rest of you seen in Masters races? Thank you in advance!

I know the feeling of getting pulled. It happened to me 5 years ago when I was a Cat 5 and my season's goal was to "not get pulled" or to finish a RR with the pack.

I encounter the same mixing of groups in some of my races here in Ohio, MI and PA. I raced in a Crit in PA last Sunday with 40+ and 50+ fields racing together with separate placing for each race. One advantage of the mixed fields is that teams can work together for riders even if they are in separate races.

I'll be racing in Canton OH this Saturday in a 55+ race that will start just after a 45+ race with instructions not to mix fields. I've done a few races like that and with smaller fields of 20-25 in each race and there have not been issues with mixing fields. I have found there are races with just 55+ out there, but it takes planning and travel time to get to them. This year I raced in Pittsburgh PA in a 55+ race, in MI at the Barry Roubaix Gravel RR 55+ with 78 entries, the Cone Azalea with 15 entries and will race the Midland Crit with a 55+ race and the IceMan Cometh CX in the 58-59 division with 89 racers.

shovelhd 06-12-12 01:15 PM

Wow, sarals, just wow. Now I know why you can be impatient with your racing. You have to be a cool customer in your job all day long.

What kind of aircraft are you certified to fly?

My ex-neighbor is a para rescue jumper for the Coast Guard.

Allegheny Jet 06-12-12 01:17 PM


Originally Posted by sarals (Post 14346481)
A little (well, a lot) off topic, but I wanted to share this with you folks. It was really nice to get this kind of recognition from the community. It was also a surprise! I received a "hey, did you see?" phone call the other morning - I hadn't, I knew nothing about it.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/articl...ty?odyssey=tab

Nice write up Sara. You have a cool job, but I'm sure it is a tough job.

Hermes 06-12-12 02:16 PM

Sara, Great article. I was telling MEA the other day about Sara's flying and how much skill, confidence and guts it takes to fly and land an air ambulance in difficult terrain under the pressure of time with lives at stake. Sara, your eye hand coordination must be off the charts.

AzTallRider 06-12-12 02:54 PM

I loved reading about your background and what you are doing Sara. Congratulations, and thank you, for a valuable job well done. You truly have a career that is not 'just a job'.

AzTallRider 06-12-12 03:15 PM

Small fields don't work well for the race director, and most of us don't like a field that is too small, so we have to expect and accept that the Masters classes will be combined. I'm 57 (license age is 58) and my races here will be either 50+ or 55+, depending on how the organizer decides to split things up. When USAC dropped the M30-34 category, many races went to breaking the age groups on the x5, so we see more 35+, 45+, 55+, 65+ groupings. But as you've seen and people have related, those will often be combined in the same start and scored separately. Whether the starts are separated by 30 seconds or not is sometime left up to the racers here, but usually it goes as described in the flyer. I actually prefer it if we share the same start, as then I'll have teammates in the same start, and working together is fun and educational. If the race is 50+, then I will generally be racing for a teammate, especially since we have the top 50+ guy in the state. If it's 55+, then I'm racing to win. I enjoy both situations. Actually, I probably enjoy the 50+ race more, but my ego drives me to want to see wins, so I'll jump on any race that has a 55+ category. Heck, I jump on any race I can attend. The race schedule usually keeps me from doubling up and racing up in the 45+ (frequently back-to-back, and I haven't tried that yet), so I double up and race Cat 4 as well as the 55+ or 50+, so I can get a little break between races.

I must say that, if they combined 35+ through 55+ here, people would freak out and revolt. Not only would the field be huge, but it would be lap city very quickly, and what's the point of that? There are a few people in our age group that can hang with the Cat1 guys you find in 35+, but not many.

CycleDude, how many starters have there been in your races? And, as an aside, you haven't done many races, and it's certainly nothing unusual to be dropped by the fields you described, given your experience level. The first 10-15 races you are just getting your feet wet.

sarals 06-12-12 04:19 PM

Hey guys, thank you, very, very much!

Shovel, let's see - I've been checked out in Hueys, I've flown Cobras (really the same thing, different rotor though); Bell 212's and 412s, Bell 47's (MASH), Jetrangers (Bell 206 series), Bell 222's (Airwolf) Bell 205's (civilian version of the Huey); MBB BO105 (the Red Bull helicopter, in fact I've flown that very machine); Sikorsky S-76, S-55T, and a little bit in the S-61; and now the McDonald Douglas (it used to be Hughes) MD902. The aircraft I learned to fly in was the Hughes TH-55. I've got a little time in many other machines, plus some airplane time.

Hermes, I honestly don't know if my hand/eye coordination is any better than average. Helicopters are all about finesse, and flying them is my one true mastery - and for a klutz like me, that's saying something!

AzT, AJ, it has it's moments! Most of the time it's pretty freakin' boring! I like it that way. And, most of the time the people we transport have benign injuries. A few really need us, though, and that's when the whole thing is so worth it.

Ex, I had a notion you were in Army Aviation! Call it a sixth sense. Warrants, back in the day, WERE pretty cool, weren't they? I'm proud to have been one!

Now, if I could just get to riding that bike like I fly, I'd die a happy girl!

cycledude555 06-12-12 07:32 PM

In my race last week they lumped all 35/45/55 into same start but, when the 35's lapped me and 6 other riders we were pulled from the race. They did separate us in the results but, we still got pulled!

AzTallRider 06-12-12 09:42 PM


Originally Posted by cycledude555 (Post 14348284)
In my race last week they lumped all 35/45/55 into same start but, when the 35's lapped me and 6 other riders we were pulled from the race. They did separate us in the results but, we still got pulled!

How many at the start line?

AzTallRider 06-12-12 10:13 PM

I did the A race Underground Crit tonight, and told myself that if I chased anything early, I'd throw my water bottle in my spokes. I rode within myself and finished on the lead lap, but losing what was left of the pack as it accelerated to the sprint. I needed to show myself that the other time I finished with the A pack wasn't a fluke, that I can hang with them if I conserve. I raced pretty smart, only letting myself get filtered to the back a few times by not shifting over when folks came around. One of those times was too close to the end, and I got gapped for the final acceleration. Didn't have enough left to close it up at that pace. I averaged 260w (310 NP) and that tells me I'm still not being really efficient, but then there were times we were going up the rise at 30mph, and that required some power.

I was feeling lazy thinking of heading out to race in 106*, but found I'm pretty well acclimated now and had a blast. I love that earned exhaustion feeling.


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