nacler22

Do It.

Ya know you want to.

Hermes

Why did you remove them for Nats?

shovelhd

Although they were cleared by USAC, I didn't want any kind of protest in case I ended up on the podium. They would not have been much use in that race anyway.

Cleave

BTW, the one time I did the Summer National Senior Games, all of the men's age categories raced separately. Interestingly, the 55-59 field was the largest of all of the age groups. My cycling BFF was able to get into a two-man break during the 40K road race and got a silver.

Also, I wish they'd get the schedule re-posted on the web site as I'd like to better understand when we'd need to take vacation if we go. My wife is still undecided about going and competing in the 10K running race, even though she was 6th out of 546 in her age group at the Long Beach Half Marathon on Sunday. She also said she had a bad day. I wish I had bad days like that in my races. She said if we don't go to Cleveland we'll go to the Huntsman Games instead. I keep trying to sell her on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Allegheny Jet

Don't forget free lodging.

I get what you mean about the dates. I began to plan to race at the Master's National Track Champs in Colorado Springs and now see it is scheduled in Indy (which is a good thing). It might be my bad, but I was sure a few weeks ago it was scheduled in CO. We were attempting to plan for the Senior Nationals at home, Track Nationals in CO the next week, then make our way to Leadville to watch my brother-in-law race the 100.

Hermes

A'Jet, you were correct in that track nats was scheduled for CO and changed to Indy. We are not going to Indy but plan on doing our European bicycle tour in July and going to track Worlds in Manchester.

shovelhd

Cleave, I dug around a bit and found July 18th for cycling, but I didn't save the link.

Cleave

Hmmm... this page notes the games start on July 19th:

https://www.nsga.com/2013-national-games/schedule-events

If the 10K running races is a week or more offset from the beginning of the cycling races then we probably won't go (unless we decide to fly).

shovelhd

18th...19th...wazza difference.

The CT cycling qualifier was well run because a local promoter was hired to run it, and hire the USAC officials and announcers.

AzTallRider

The 2013 calendar could have a conflict between Masters Road Nationals and the Party at Jet's House.

Masters Road Nationals - Bend, OR: TBA, but in July. USAC says "Dates for the 2013 championships have not yet been set, but the races must take place between the end of June and the beginning of August and can’t conflict with UCI World Championships for Masters men and women."

National Senior Games - Cleveland, OH: 7/19 - 8/1

Huntsman World Senior Games - St. George, UT (2 hrs NE of Vegas): 10/7 - 10/19

Hermes

A'Jet, Is this you?

Allegheny Jet

Why yes, it is me. We did short TT's tonight. Track riding seems to be a good fit for me. I ended up with the 2 fastest 500's and flying laps. Just four efforts and I'm tired! I must have been winding down after one of the efforts due to my arms being straight. I really concentrate on bent arms and low shoulders when racing.

Allegheny Jet

AZTR, where are you getting that info? On the USAC site there is a link for the "2013 schedule" at the bottom of the page with the 2012 National Championships. Here is the current USA Cycling 2013 event calander: https://www.usacycling.org/national-championships/2013

There is a 2 day overlap of the National Senior Games and Masters National Track Championships in Indy. I emailed the NSG site today alerting them to the potential conflict of dates for the two national championships.

More people should prod the NSG people to be cognizant of the USA Cycling calendar when establishing the schedule in Cleveland.

AzTallRider

I got it from a press release I saw with Google: https://oregon.cyclingaction.com/2012...-natz-in-2013/

But I'd guess the USAC link is the accurate one...

big john

Have you thought about racing it? I know you race 'cross but I don't know if you have a mountain bike. I have heard the course isn't technical, just a bunch of high altitude climbing.
Is it hard to get an entry? Is your brother in law a bad-ass on the mtb?

Cleave

In 2009, the cycling events were during the first week of the games. We didn't go but we were there in time for the opening ceremonies. As I recall, cycling was also during the first week of the 2011 games.

Allegheny Jet

big john,

Leadville is on my bucket list, but not for 2013. It is my understanding that people who volunteer for the Leadville 100 get a guaranteed entry that is good for the next year and possibly 2. I would hope to volunteer next summer if I’m out there. To enter there is a lottery, and there are qualifying races that have spots for various placing. I'm pretty sure the elite/pro doesn’t need to qualify.

I think my brother-in-law is a bad ass cross country mountain biker. He does very well in the 50+ mtb races of distances of 100k and 100 miles. Recently he missed the podium by 3 minutes in a race that lasted 8 hrs and 47 minutes. He is going to Leadville next year resulting from "qualifying in" at race at NY at Whiteface Mountain this past summer. I understand that when you “qualify in” you can race Leadville that year or next year. Dave decided that he would train for a better finish next summer.

I am doing the Iceman Cometh MTB race in MI in November. There will be over 95 racers in my age group at 58-59yrs. It will be my last hurrah of this racing season.

Racer Ex 

"EPO all in my veins;
Lately things just don’t seem the same;
Actin’ funny, but I don’t know why;
’Scuse me while I pass this guy"

shovelhd

A friend of mine just won gold at Masters Track Worlds. She's friggin' awesome.

Cleave

DZ will always be one of my favorites.

VanceMac

If more people cared about cycling, the resulting South Park would be awesome.

I was already amazed that Lance still had his ardent defenders even 5 years ago, never mind now. After that second paragraph of the USADA press release (below), to still hear people trot out the "he's never failed a test" and "he's a cancer saint who can do no wrong" responses... well, there's a price to pay for not teaching critical thinking skills in our schools.

Racer Ex 

The "saint" part of this is a better explanation than any critical thinking skills as to why Lance still has people defending him. A lot of people need to invest themselves completely in a "hero" or "messiah" because of some deficit in their own lives or personality. They use that to prop themselves up and when that person is shown to have feet of clay or worse, some of them just can't let go. Admitting they were duped just isn't an option and the harder the outside world presses in, the harder they fight back.

When I did Gila a few years back people lined up 3-4 deep around his motor home (roped off of course). Listening to some of the comments ("I saw him yesterday!") all I could think of was "man, you folks are pretty messed up".

So rather than view him as a guy who was willing to lie to some little girl who just had chemo, they do a lot of mental gymnastic to deny the obvious truth.

Years after Jim Jones fed his followers poison Kool Aid, some of the survivors were still defending him.

shovelhd

Same deal with Chuck Manson.

AzTallRider

The mental gymnastics we are willing to go through to maintain our beliefs can certainly be amazing... it's always an eye-opener when I catch myself going that way.

I asked my FB-BFF's for book recommendations awhile back, which led me to read "Bad Blood", and then I started Steinbeck's "East of Eden". I'm enjoying a slow read of that (great account of the history of the Salinas valley), but took a break with about 25% left in order to read Tyler Hamilton's book. It's truly a great read... not just the inside take on the cloak and dagger stuff the teams do in their doping wars (prepaid cell phones, thermoses in motorcycle saddle bags), and the insights into Armstrong's personality (egads!)... but his descriptions of hitting his limits. How he describes pushing against the threshold of what he could do, and how that was affected by both training and doping, are real gems. After pushing pretty hard aganst my meager limits this past weekend, I love his descriptions. Of course, his ability to push through is legendary.

The entries in his training journal are jaw-dropping: 371w average when he weighs nothing... going up a yardstick climb at 6.9 w/kg and having that totally piss off Lance and undermine their relationship. And all based on a strict, doctor controlled regimen of chemical enhancement of natural ability. Then came yesterday's release of the details in the case against Armstrong. Reading that, I almost got confused and thought I was still reading Hamilton's book, as they both describe many of the same activities. It's really something. EPO in particular turned the contest into one where the guys who had the best ability at a relatively low hematocrit level (Armstrong and Hamilton were in the 42 range) were the ones who could be superstars when they boosted that up to the UCI's limit of 50. Those naturally close to 50 (and of course those unwilling to play the doping game) became pack fodder or left the sport.

Racer Ex 

I've been 47-48 since I started getting regular physicals, so I guess I would have never made a very good pro.

One of the fall backs for the Lancitologists has been that everyone was doping and that it was a level playing field. No they weren't and no it wasn't.