Racer Ex 

You can control what you can control. That course is brutal and you need to go into it prepared. Riding there might be work for an 18 year old cat 1, but it wouldn't be a good idea for me.

You're stronger and faster, butcha gotta be smart to use the better tools.

sarals 

Sea Otter Road Race, W4

Neutral start, everyone was behaving, no almost crashes this time! We were held at the exit of the track for 20 plus minutes. I never did find out the reason. My legs went cold while we sat there, too.

No matter. We hit the first climb, Henikens Ranch Road, freaking steep, and I separated from the main pack, along with a good ten or so other riders. When I got to the top, a young gal (they're all young, scary) came up and asked "do you want to work together?" I said, "sure, but I recover slowly, so if you're faster, go on ahead". I took the first pull, a slight down hill, then into some twisties, signaled her to take a pull, and - nothing. I looked back, and she was gone! Oops.

Went about on the first and second laps picking off dropped riders, and then got picked off myself by the W35+ gals (one of whom was a monster), and then a men's group. I did not relinquish my gains over the other riders, though.

I thought I saw Ex at the bottom of Henikens ranch, hanging with an official, when I started my second lap. Maybe not!

On the third lap I started to fade. Then it began to get serious. I had been downing water the whole time, but it turns out it wasn't enough. I wasn't grabbing water in the feed zone, either - really dumb! Add to that that I wasn't working with anyone else (I did grab the wheel of a guy who came around me on a climb, and hung with him for a good while, but then got concerned that that was a no-no and let him go). By the time I started down the hill to make the fourth lap, I knew I was in trouble. A men's group came by me while I was descending, and I moved over (safely) and slowed down a little for them (even though I was racing, too). When I got to the base of Heniken's Ranch, the marshall waved the men by the left turn, and waved me by, too (he had told me "Two to Go" on the previous lap). I thanked the gods for that one, because I was really hurting.

I climbed Barloy Canyon Road for the finish, and it wasn't the most stellar performance that I've put in on that hill. But - I finished. And, I WASN'T DFL. I also downed FOUR bottles of water when I got to the finish!

That SOC road race course it one tough bike race. I did better than the day before, even got a little respect from the other gals in the peloton - which was sweet and cool! Fun too was that a lot people who know me were scattered around the course and were yelling for me each time I came around.

Next race - MORE WATER - HYDRATE, SARA!

AzTallRider

Sweet. Way to go, Sara.

sarals 

Thank you, AzT!

Hey, post one of those pictures I sent you!

revchuck 

Way to go, Sara! You kicked a bunch of young butt out there, it sounds like. I hope to do as well my next race.

VanceMac

+1

Creakyknees

Matrix Challenge, the oldest crit in Texas. 40+ 1-4. Beautiful spectator-friendly figure-8 course. 8 yes 8 turns in less than a mile.

42 starters. There was a crash, what, 3-4 laps in? My teamy was caught in the crash, and didn't restart. A bit of road rash but he's ok. One rider went to the ER with a probable broken clavicle.

Officials stopped the race and had us restart. That really hurts, going from all-out racing to a full stop, stand around for a few minutes then go again. One particular cat 1 was taking most of the primes, The other local strong guys tried a few attacks and I kept wondering when the right combo would go up the road. I closed a couple of gaps but was really unable to go with those guys. Other teams closed a few etc so it stayed together.

Speaking of other teams, one team in particular. Bell lap, I'm in 4th wheel and here come the <redacted> guys, 3 of them - elbows out, squeezing guys for wheels. Hey I get it, it's bell lap. One of them comes up where I'm on 3rd wheel and starts argy-barging me. At first I was like, NFW am I giving up this wheel ... but then he came over on me hard, totally unnecessary, in a turn and I decided it's not worth it.

I was on the limit anyway... once we came out of turn 6 to start the sprint I was going backwards. 10th place and both crashes happened behind me.

AzTallRider

Guys like that need to be reported and relegated. Just no place for it - it's dangerous even if everyone is doing their best -not- to cause issue, as your race showed.

You did well, Creaky; way to go.

shovelhd

Good strong recovery Sara. Way to go.

Creaky, figure eight courses are crazy.

VanceMac

Agreed. Racing would be greatly improved if they had the resources (and desire) to instill some accountability. I'd love to see officials call people out after a race even if it didn't warrant relegation and was just a "hey, you were very close to crossing the line there... next time, you'll be relegated."

Nice job Creaky.

Racer Ex 

Nice job all. I was cooked from nearly 100 TSS/hr for 4 hours in the last two days, so I passed on the road race today Sara, had breakfast with my wife and we took our young dog down to the beach for an extended play session. Kinda burned out mentally about racing for a list of reasons.

Creak, could I guess who the team was? There always seem to be a bunch of crashes at Matrix...

Cleave

sarals, great job staying with it! I was talking with my 70+ woman teammate this morning and she was bemoaning having to race with 50+ women at the Super Masters District Criterium Championship last week. Right now, she is the only 70+ woman doing mass start races. She'll be at the Super Masters District Road Championship next weekend.

Regarding water, it's important to hydrate but you have to be careful with what you drink. You can over-hydrate on plain water and mess up your electrolyte balance. Moving to the other end of the pendulum swing can be just as bad as where you were today. Try some different electrolyte and energy supplement drinks when you're training to see how they work for you. For longer races (> 1 hour), I use Perpetuum.

BTW, I am registered for all four races for the Pasadena Senior Games. I also bought tickets for the Mexican dinner and picnic. I'll offer this elsewhere too, but if anyone is interested in the Mexican dinner but will be staying too far away to shower before it (the dinner is in Long Beach), you can come to my house to shower and change clothes.

Hi Creakyknees, sounds like another good race for you and I agree with the others about getting officials into the act if this is a common thing with this team. As many of us regularly note, this is AMATEUR racing and at the Masters level, no one is going to get a pro contract for winning a race. My personal mantra for the end of a race is, "I have to go to work tomorrow." It may not be the best thing to think if I want to win, but sometimes winning is finishing a race with all of skin and bones intact.

I've only hinted at the same thing the past two weeks. After my last race, two weeks ago today, I felt kind of burned out -- mentally and physically. I'll comment further on the training thread.

Colonelmom

First of all GREAT job, you toed the line, you raced... there are lots of folks that don't even bother to get off the couch...

You are constantly looking at what went wrong... great.. but don't forget to look at what went RIGHT as well... sometimes we beat ourselves up so much that we forget to see what went right.... you didn't have a mechanical, you stayed upright... :-) you raced... all good things

on the hydration.. DITTO what others said, need more than just water.. I carry two bottle, one water, one some sort of electrolyte drink... plus don't forger the "e-caps" especially if you see a big jump in temperature on the day you're racing and haven't gotten acclimated; I've also learned to take them on cooler days.. cause I just don't drink as much..
Wish I was closer, so we could race together..

sarals 

Colonelmom, thank you. Hey, I'd love to race with you (and Valygrl)! Maybe we can make that happen one day!

Yes on all of your advice. I tend to look at negatives, but I'm not really overlooking positives - they're just neutral in my frame of mind, they went right. It's almost like an expectation, or a series of them, all weighed. The little stuff, yes, it worked. The big stuff (like staying with the pack) - that didn't, so I look for reasons. That's why I bring them up. But, yes - it was a TOUGH race (I heard Cat 2 guys talking about how hard that course was), and I did finish! A point of contrast - my spin instructor/girlfriend/team mate, who is very gifted rider, flatted out on the first lap and DNP'ed. You roll the dice and take your chances, right?

Water - yes! Additives - absolutely.

Everyone - thank you, thank you!!

sarals 

Hi, Cleave! Funny story on the 70+ woman! Well, you know Barb Giguel. She's 70+ and she still can out climb me, and do it impressively.

Absolutely on the electrolyte replacements. One of the four bottles I drank after the race had an electrolyte replacement in it, and I could feel the positive effects almost immediately.

On Creakyknees (congrats on a great race, CKN!), well, I was talking with a motoref on Thursday and he said "at our age we're just one crash from retirement - be careful". Yes, this is amateur racing, and yes, many of us still have careers (I have to "work tomorrow", too) and families and all that. Risks, and the behavior of "bullies" just isn't acceptable, and it's obviously dangerous. I agree with Cleave, and everyone else. Time to talk to USAC.

Allegheny Jet

Nice job Sara!!!

I did my first race of the year. A mixed Cat 4 and 35+ Cat 3-4. I think they said 57 starters. Due to road construction the race relocated and followed the same flattish course from last summers State Senior Games. No breaks got away and the sprint ramped up a mile out with all sorts of crazy stuff. We were not allowed to cross the yellow line and things were tight. Once enough people blew up I was finally able to sprint but too late to win. Finished 5th over all and 2nd in 35+.

If I could have been nearer the front today I believe I had the legs to win.

Colonelmom

Langley Speedway W/1/2/3 & W 3/4
The 1/2/3 race went off at 1000 for 50 minutes with only 10 ladies on the line. This race is held on a 1/4 mile oval, only slightly banked. My goal, finish with the group... well NOT so much... I lasted about 15 minutes after about 3 or 4 attacks, I just don't have the snap in my legs... I saw the last attack go and didn't react quickly I should have gone with her.. my mind was telling me.. she's attacking... then OH **** she's attacking.. and with 25 mph gust and 10 mph+ steady wind.. once OTB all I could do was TT until the pack caught me... repeated and then popped again, ended up 2 laps down, but finished upright...
Only had an hour between races and let the legs get TOO cold... should have just stayed on the bike and kept spinning... we had a mixed field of 3/4W and 17-18 Juniors.. lots of strong gals coming from the TRI world and with NO corners, massively hard. Same thing as the first race... quickly popped off the back and the wind was worse by 1200. I have to add some "interval" work back into my training... so i can respond to attacks and not blow up :-) BUT, any day on the bike racing and finishing upright is a good day :-)

AzTallRider

Nice way to get started, Jet. I'm usually one of those guys blowing up as guys like you blow past at the line.

Wind is tough, C'Mom... SO hard to reattach if you get gapped.

shovelhd

Bethel M45+, low 40's stiff wind (goes without saying), somewhere in the front of the field, but not top 14. Going into the final weekend at Bethel, we had the team GC, first place, and second place tied with the other guy not present. The tiebreaker meant our guy needed to get more points than the other threat, so we spoke and I told him I'd get him off the front, so stick close. Unfortunately, he didn't. The race started out pretty fast and aggressive, and stayed that way through to the finish. It was definitely the hardest M45+ race of the series. About 6 laps in the prime bell rang, and I was set up on the outside. Guys were looking around so I went for it early and held off three other riders. I had to chase a few breaks up the road for a bit. I brought the leader and #2 up to them at least once, and brought the field up a lot more than once. When another prime rang, I was on the wheel of a guy I knew could ride through it and stay away. We sprinted head to head up most of the hill and finished him off with the kick. That took enough out of him. The rest is sort of a blur, I was pretty wasted.

Bethel P/1/2/3, results not posted, unknown. It should be a top 20. I was pretty wasted from the first race, but rolling around beforehand was not a disaster. Motivation was a bit low after all the previous fireworks, until a guy rolled up to me to chat, whom I have never beaten. He's a 60+ guy, finished 2nd twice at Nats, races up at Battenkill and rides away from the field, is a professional coach, and was riding his brand new $15K full custom bike. Sometimes motivation just drops in your lap sometimes. So I made beating him my race. He was fresh as he did not do the Masters race. I started the race off just sticking to his wheel. gsteinb comes up to me and says to me "you look like a shark stalking his prey". Somebody noticed. So the long and short of it is we were off the front three times. One time he attacked me after I had to bridge a split and got away. I tried to bridge up, got within 150m but ran out of gas. Oh well. Then I did my share on the front to reel him and the break in. The sprint set up really well for me, and I was really surprised to have one left. All this work and tremendous guidance has paid off. I am back on track, and as ready as I could be for my A race next weekend.

I totally enjoyed doing the Bethel series on a team. It is a lot of sacrifice with a lot of rewards. I had so many people come up to me to congratulate our wins and how we rode. We wanted to go into this series being the team to beat, and we backed it up.

sarals 

Shovel, that's the best report I've read from you yet this season! Congratulations on smart, motivated, and strong racing!

Colonelmom, yeah, the wind. You did great to keep with it. Tough conditions. To me loosing is giving up - you didn't!

AJ, nice to have you back racing! Great work, my friend!

gsteinb

By far my hardest race of the series. My hardest race in quite a while. I was under constant pressure from the start. But I showed up to be aggressive. I was aware that the knock on me since my crash has been that I haven't really demonstrated my former aggression and ability to really take charge of a race. I sought to right that and I think I was in every move but for one early two man break that contained our teammate in second. That one really helped us and worked tactically. I think there was one also before the final move stuck that Shovel was in that had the right combo of guys that I tried to stall the field for it t work. Unfortunately one of the aggressors jumped across and I had to follow. The final break was a 5 lap beauty with something like 8 guys. Our teammate Matt laid down the last lap to bring back a guy who tried to escape. Caught him right when it was time to sprint. Team worked great today, and I had good legs to cover the meaningful challenges to the jersey.

AzTallRider

It's been great reading about how you guys have handled the series. Awesome work.

gsteinb

Thanks. It's a great group of guys and I'm very fortunate and appreciative that guys spend their weekends working for me in these things. I look forward to springing some of them in breaks in the coming months.

shovelhd

I forgot I was in that break. Blur.

It's a pleasure racing with gsteinb.

revchuck 

Dang - Buncha old guys on that podium. Congrats!