echappist

nicely done @sarals

Racer Ex 

Kickin it. Awesome job.

Heathpack 

@sarals, are we having fun yet?!

sarals 

Thanks, all!

Yeah, we are having fun! I couldn't ask for anything more.

IBOHUNT

Church Creek 40K ITT or... It cannot get any flatter for 25 miles

I entered the CAT 5 category since that would put my start time last of all the team mates we had there; 4 women and another CAT5 men's racer who has managed to break the top 2 rules of TTs on 4 occasions... Never miss your start time.
2 of the women had never been in a race before and I want to make sure that all of them were sorted and felt as comfortable as they could be.

I made sure everybody had their numbers pinned on correctly, tires aired up and all of the other little things that sometimes get over looked and then herded the cats to the start line with plenty of time to let them know the wind conditions and what to expect.

My fitness isn't anywhere close to what it needed to be and I'd only been on the TT bike a few times since the late April accident. I was just using this as a test of where I was mentally and a true 60 min LP test.

I got passed by the guy that started 30 seconds behind me with 35K to go and took a mental note of... Wow! This is really going to suck but I just stuck to my number.

1:02 and down 6W from target later the job was done and I got the 3rd step... 3 minutes off my PR and 4 minutes and a bit off the top step which would have placed 10th in 55+; About what I had expected.

Of the 6 racers that the team had there, they took home 5 dust collector medals

3rd - CAT4 Women
2nd, 3rd, 4th - CAT5 Women
3rd - CAT5 Men

I promised @sarals this screen shot of my (lack of) pacing skills; Top is power and bottom is the power delta. The first drop out at ~19 minutes is the first corner. Some of the other drop outs are from the cross winds where it was an oh carp moment then others after the 50-minute mark where I had to cross the ground grooves that the highway department puts in to tell people when they are going off the road.

Racer Ex 

I have seen much worse pacing, big picture that's a pretty steady, if somewhat slightly declining power output (which might be intentional?).

That's assuming the numbers are actually minutes and not seconds .

Nice medal haul too.

Heathpack 

Back in the saddle, @IBOHUNT. Glad to hear it. Way to jump in with both feet, a 40k! Pretty decent result too, given the circumstances.

IBOHUNT

Thanks. Someone here had me doing a lot of PU and PD stuff last year and that stuck

Last year same race...


Slightly declining wasn't intentional . Race again next month so I'll try to do better. Fitness won't grow by much but that's whatever it is.

Happier for the team mates than I was for myself.

echappist

well done! also that's a tough course to come back to for your first race. Good luck with the next one

IBOHUNT

Mason jar hand-up's and I'm moving to the track!

Hermes

Aguscalientes Mexico Track Race Report

Last week my wife and I traveled to Aguascalientes Mexico to race at the indoor 250 meter wood track. AM is 6200 feet above sea level and is one of the fastest tracks in the world.

The goal was to set new national and world records. All the record attempts would be for masters so that the UCI designation is Best Performance versus a world record.

And to certify either a world or US national record, there has to be a UCI commissaire and drug testing. In the USA, if one sets a national record drug testing is not required unless, USAC sends USADA to the race. However, if a US citizen is out of country, a drug test is required to certify a national record.

10 athletes including my wife and me attended the event and shared the cost of the Mexican Federation, securing the velodrome and flying in a UCI commissaire. We were fortunate to get Randy Schafer, who is a US guy with significant track and road race experience. Randy officiated grand tours including the TdF. He was the commissaire the last time we did record attempts in Mexico.

My goal was to do the 500 meters, flying 200 meters and flying lap. I did my first attempt at the 500 meters on Friday and it was a PR but so so. I did get some good data and planned another attempt on Saturday when the conditions at the velodrome were the fastest.

I had a great start and out of turn 2 while standing, I broke my handlebar such that the bar rotated and to stay upright, my right arm and shoulder got jacked. I stopped and my shoulder and arm really hurt. I went to the nurses station and they applied ice and checked it out. I had trouble raising my arm when lying on my back. My racing was over.

My shoulder / arm is getting better but it is still sore and I suspect it will take a couple / few weeks to get better. The reality is that one does not set a record by doing normal things and I knew I needed a Herculean start. I got one but my bike was not ready for the forces. Of course, it is my fault for not have the stuff tight enough or that the force on carbon fiber joints is such that CF is not strong enough to take gonzo track starts.

My wife set a new kilo record for her age group and her and two other women set a new women's 45+ team pursuit record. Yep, they stole the kids candy as the women were 50, 60 and 67 years old. And if one wonders about the speed of 60+ women, the 60 year old did a 2:38 2k pursuit and a 40.8 500 meters both good for world records. She smashed the previous records.

And we had several new hour records set by both men and women. All and all it was a great time racing.

Bandera

Very well done to all!
Hope the injury heals quickly.

-Bandera

Heathpack 

Too bad about the bars and shoulder injury, @Hermes! Hope you're back in business soon.

Who was the woman who smashed the WRs? Was that Mrs Hermes or one of her teammates?

Sounds like a great experience overall, bar mishap not withstanding.

sarals 

@Hermes, I'm really sorry to hear of the injury! Here's to it healing quickly. I'm also sorry that you couldn't finish the effort. It would have been a great one, I know.

I followed the exploits down there. The riding was incredible by everyone. The 500 was destroyed by the 67 y/o by a large margin. Impressive! And I have to ride against her at Worlds. I'm honored to be on the same wood with her!

Congrats to MEA for her stellar ride. She certainly is one in a million!

Racer Ex 

AC is a blazingly fast track. Rumors are swirling about an hour attempt being put together for later in the year. Congrats to the new record holders.

Hermes, sorry to read about the body not cooperating. At this point I always wonder which one of mine is going to show up. Heal up, and go get em next year.

Hermes

The woman who smashed the WR was Lenita. She is a long time racer who is also a triathlete and did the Kona ironman. She only does timed events and had set a previous 2K WR. She just turned 60.

Thanks for all the support, my shoulder feels better already.

sarals 

Was it Jan who took the 500 (65-69)?

revchuck 

@Hermes - Argh! Glad your shoulder's feeling better. Now you've got a story to tell - "...and then there was that one time I..."

And congrats to the ladies!

IBOHUNT

@Hermes - Heal up and congrats to Mrs. Hermes.

globecanvas

@Hermes, great story, huge kudos to Mrs H, and sorry to hear about your frustrated attempt. I am impressed you had the physical wherewithal to avoid crashing when your bike broke!

Hermes

No, she did not attend. The event was privately organized and funded in total by the attending athletes and or their sponsors and my wife and I were the only athletes in the 65-69 age category. Lenita was 60-64, Andi was 45-49 and Molly was 40-44. We did not have a 50-59 woman although we invited one but she could not attend. For the men, we had one racer in each group for the 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 65-69 and 70-74.

Hermes

You hit the nail on the head. I was very fortunate not to crash. Also, the Mexican Federation provided officials and medical staff at the event. The medical staff did a great job attending to my shoulder and the doc taped it up.

Hermes

Besides the very well organized racing, the Mexican Federation and USAC did a magnificent job officiating and making us feel very comfortable before, during and after the racing.

The Director of sports and recreation for Aguascalientes (Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/IDEAgs/?hc_...tY&pnref=story ), met with us at their facility in Aguascalientes and wanted to know about each one of us and our goals for the event. One of the employees was assigned to us to assist in transportation and anything else we needed to make our stay and racing better.

Aguascalientes is a city of over 1 million people and the IDEA arranged media coverage by the local papers and photographers and videographer at the track. Each day, there were pictures and a story about the racing. Our racing was the lead story in the cycling section of the papers with the TdF results taking second position. This is how important local racing and athletics are in Aguascalientes.

The locals were very nice and warm to us and we felt very welcome as international travelers and athletes.

As a side note, we flew out of Tijuana Airport on Valaris which is a Mexican airline. There is an express bridge that crosses the border from the US to the Tijuana airport such that one parks on the US side and walks over to the airport clearing immigration and customs on the way over. It was very smooth.

On the return trip, we picked up our luggage and returned via the bridge and it was very easy. When we get home, my wife says, I cannot find one of my bags (we had several on the trip). We left it on the belt in TJ airport.

I called Valaris and they had our bag. I went to the cross border bridge and was informed that only ticketed passengers can use the bridge. I would have to enter Mexico from a traditional crossing. I had to park at Otay, cross the border and taxi to and from the airport to pick up the bag and then stand in a long line to clear immigration and customs to get back in the US.

Valaris would have jumped through hoops for me but they were powerless to move my bag across the border either by assigning an employee to carry it or ship it.

I now have a very big chit to collect from my wife at a future point in time.

sarals 

"hell hath no fury"

It was quite a group at Aguascalientes. I talked to Molly about it a little bit at the LAVRA I did two months ago. She was aero testing on Monday, and we chatting a little bit. She's a great lady. So are Andi and Dan. Oh, and this other couple, Hermes and MEA? Yeah, they're pretty cool, too!

Great story, @Hermes. I too am impressed you kept your bike up when you had the handlebar issue. I was picturing that whole scene in my mind as I read it, and it was a bit terrifying.

Congrats again to everyone!

LAJ

Sounds like an awesome time, @Hermes. Well done keeping the bike round side down.