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Old 09-19-12, 12:24 PM
  #51  
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Originally Posted by Allegheny Jet
I'll hook you two up with my team mates who will be in your race. A secret team...
It's gonna be a blast... I just need to 'make the team'. I feel pretty confident, and am trying to not be overly so... My mojo had floated away the past few weeks, but I'm on the upswing now and gunning for Vegas Gold.
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Old 09-19-12, 12:33 PM
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Motivation.

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Old 09-19-12, 01:00 PM
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Originally Posted by shovelhd
Motivation.

Old School Bling!
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Old 09-19-12, 01:02 PM
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No kidding. I bought those Ray-Bans in college.
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Old 09-19-12, 03:37 PM
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More Senior Games inspiration?

No golds.
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Old 09-19-12, 04:06 PM
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You two are both lookin' good. Very inspirational! I hope to add to the photo collection.

But Cleave, how did you get 6 medals when there are 4 events? Did they add some in Cali?
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Old 09-19-12, 06:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Cleave
More Senior Games inspiration?

No golds.
Where's your mic?

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Old 09-19-12, 06:41 PM
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C'mon Cleave, bust a move.
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Old 09-19-12, 07:41 PM
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I do prefer envelopes when making the podium. These are this year's blingies.

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Old 09-19-12, 08:03 PM
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Crap. I am away from home. I will have to start traveling with my medals.
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Old 09-19-12, 08:06 PM
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Cleave, At least your medals are around your neck and not a dog.
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Old 09-19-12, 11:02 PM
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Does my "Big Sur Half Marathon" finisher's medal count?
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Old 09-20-12, 02:21 PM
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Originally Posted by AzTallRider
You two are both lookin' good. Very inspirational! I hope to add to the photo collection.

But Cleave, how did you get 6 medals when there are 4 events? Did they add some in Cali?
AzTR, there are actually seven medals from four races. Since the bike races during the official California Senior Games got cancelled due to weather, they moved the qualifying to the Pasadena Senior Games which had been the California games until recently. I don't remember exactly how the medals were working for the California Senior Games but they were giving out medals for each games. For some reason I didn't get a medal from California to go along with my bronze from Pasadena. It didn't really matter either as long as I qualified.

Originally Posted by Racer Ex
Where's your mic?

Originally Posted by shovelhd
C'mon Cleave, bust a move.
In all seriousness, my wife made me pose for the photo. My wife is a much better runner than I am as a cyclist. She is almost always on the podium in her age group and she'll wear her medal all day after a race. She wanted a picture of me with ALL of the medals. I think you can sense my enthusiasm for the photo from my expression. Also, as stereotypical as it sounds, being Asian and all, you wouldn't want to see me trying to bust a move. Then again, maybe if I bought a dreadlocks wig...

Originally Posted by Hermes
Cleave, At least your medals are around your neck and not a dog.
These medals would crush our cockatiel. Actually, the Pasadena medals are pretty heavy. The California medals were surprisingly cheap.
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Old 10-06-12, 09:42 PM
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Nevada Senior Games 2012-10-16 - Day 1 (5K and 40K)

I'm still clearing my lungs more than 8 hours after the races, even after a big lunch and a nap. Chasing Ex's wheel on a break will do that to you! More on that later.

The course for all the cycling events is a frontage road along I-15, North of Vegas. The pavement is good. The course drops from the start, then rises leading to the turnaround (for the longer races) 6 miles out. The 5K is a straight out one direction drag race. The other races are out-and-back. Weather was great: not hot, and very little wind for the TT, with it building during the 40K. Ex and I scouted yesterday, found the turnaround marked in the road from prior years, so we knew the route and planned.

5K TT
I went out hard (but in too tall a gear for the standing start), then eased off a bit, but I went close to all out the whole way. My PM was telling me I was fading badly, but I finally (and correctly) started ignoring it. My heart rate was running about as high as it has gotten for a long time - around 92% of my all time max. It was a good run. You can always find things to pick at, but it was about as well as I've done. I was prepared, well-coached, and I went out and did my thing.

I finished first, in 6:11, @ 30.165 mph, 7" ahead of the next finisher. Turns out I am the only entrant in my age group, so I was guaranteed Gold by finishing. That part didn't thrill me, but I made it matter by beating the whole field. That part did feel good. AFter crossing the line, I rode off, made a bunch of awful noises, then rested up with Ex for the "road race".

40K RR (out and back)
I've mentioned how prepping for this weekend has been a lesson on how to focus on an event, that event being the 5K. I've been imagining what that focus would be like if there were no other events... it would be laser! The RR was a lesson in planning strategy, evaluating the race, and executing tactics. I don't think there is a better person to learn than from than Ex. We had scouted the course chosen the spots where attacks would likely work, and talked through a lot of possibilities. We then went out and kicked butt.

After the start, Ex and another guy in his youthful age group (who raced pro in Europe in his younger days) pulled us along for most of the first leg, at a B group pace, telling each other racing lies... wups, I mean stories. Eventually, a guy decided he had enough of that and went OTF. I wasn't particularly concerned, knowing 'we' (meaning my domestique) could easily pull him back. As we approached the turnaround, Ex wisely decided to be ahead of the pack for that, and he punched it a bit, using the turn to bridge the gap. I dodged a bunch of people who were trying to run into each other turning around, while thinking "Oh ****", then took off after them. A couple of guys came with me as the rest of the pack fell back. Part way up, I second guessed pulling anyone up, and eased off. But Ex and the two other guys up there were easing off a bit too, and another guy came around to pull us up. There were now 6 of us in the race, and we started rotating. After one rotation, a guy dropped off, leaving 5. We rotated for that leg, with guys starting to really shorten their pulls as we neared the climb to the start of the second lap.

I was looking for any sign from Ex, and what I saw was him putting a little extra pressure, and I could tell it was having an effect. The guy I knew was most aggressive (Mr. Lightspeed) was two riders ahead of me in the rotation, and Ex was behind me. So just as the guy ahead of me moved in front of Mr. Lightspeed, I attacked. The field was pretty well blocked, and I was away clean.

For about a second, before Ex was on my wheel. :-)

As we hit the turnaround, Mr. Lightspeed put on a nice burst, cornered well, and came up on us. I said "One guy on our tail" to Ex, and he said... "That's all? Good!" I went past Ex and into my best impersonation of him, trying to crank out some efficient speed. He did a masterful job of blocking, and before long I had a good lead of a few hundred yards. I kept the pace, as I mentally started thinking "Come on, Ex, bridge up, bridge up." My HR was running what it had for the 5K. And of course as soon as I stopped thinking that way and focused on just churning out the distance, I had my partner.

Trading pulls with Ex, my HR came down 3-4 bpm. I was still on the edge, but when we did the final turnaround, I saw our lead, and that Mr. Lightspeed had blown up trying to hang with Ex, I knew we were looking great. We had the wind at our back the final leg, and cranked out some fast miles. The closer we got to the finish, the more Ex slapped his butt, letting me get a lot more rest than he did. As we were climbing to the finish, he mentioned that we wouldn't break 60 minutes for the 40K. But hey, we were pretty darned close to it for a RR. As we approached the finish, he told me to enjoy the win. I resisted, briefly, because he had indeed done more of the work, but he said "You did the break... go ahead." So I did, crossing with arms raised.

So again, I was guaranteed Gold by finishing, but I made it count by abusing my super-domestique and taking the overall win. Something like 1:03 or 1:04 for the 40K.

Tomorrow, I get to do it again, but without the help. My goal is to get the overall wins again, earning the Gold I'm bringing home.

So Jet? Make sure you have those rooms ready, I'm coming to party!
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Old 10-06-12, 10:31 PM
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Congrats AZT. Well done.
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Old 10-07-12, 06:15 AM
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Great job AZTR! Impressive TT ave!!! Next summer's National Senior Games are going to be fun times. Good luck at today's races. With you, Ex, shovelhd and Cleaves staying at our home there should be some good stories flying about.
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Old 10-07-12, 08:02 AM
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Superb work you two. Ex sent me the pic.
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Old 10-07-12, 08:08 AM
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Great job! And I don't ever want to hear about small field size... totally irrelevant. Just means the competition all stayed home, cowering in fear!
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Old 10-07-12, 09:52 AM
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Using my track calculator, your lap times were 18.3 seconds on the 250 track based upon your 5K time assuming a "standard pursuit" start. That would yield a 4:58 4K individual pursuit. That result would have placed you 12 of 17 at elite track nationals. https://www.usacycling.org/results/in...&info_id=56051 Your flying kilo times were 1:13.2. Your 2k pursuit would be 2:32 which would put you on the podium for 55 to 59 at masters track nationals. Great result.
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Old 10-07-12, 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Hermes
Using my track calculator, your lap times were 18.3 seconds on the 250 track based upon your 5K time assuming a "standard pursuit" start. That would yield a 4:58 4K individual pursuit. That result would have placed you 12 of 17 at elite track nationals. https://www.usacycling.org/results/in...&info_id=56051 Your flying kilo times were 1:13.2. Your 2k pursuit would be 2:32 which would put you on the podium for 55 to 59 at masters track nationals. Great result.
Well, I see the course may have been downhill most of the way. Was the wind at your back? Still a great time.
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Old 10-07-12, 12:55 PM
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Downhill, yep. But into the wind, which built throughout. Wind wasn't a big factor for the 5K. It was for the 40K.

And the wind was up early for today's races:

10K TT
With the headwind, I used the downhill to offset it, and didn't push very hard until the course leveled out, knowing (thanks to Ex) that spending the extra watts just isn't as productive going downhill. I used perceived effort as a guide until my HR caught up to where I was, and then used it as a guide. As the road tilted up a bit towards the turnaround, I started spending my watts more. I basically just gradually increased my effort through the race. I passed my 1' guy early on, but my 30" guy (Mr. Lightspeed, whose name is Mark) managed to stay away through the finish, but less than the 30". So it was another Gold, and another overall win.

20K TT
I felt I had something to prove - that I could win this one without my ultra-super-domestique. It was a big headwind, coming a bit from the right. I knew it was Lightspeed I had to be concerned with. He's a big aero-belly power guy, so I wanted to wear him down and if need be, blow him up on the (250', lol) climb to the finish. Heading out into the downhill headwind, I set an easy pace on the front for a bit, then rotated off to see who was up for some effort. It became clear it was only Lightspeed and me. So we rotated on the front, with a big pack trailing behind us. My plan was to get separation going up the rise to the turnaround, maintain a fast pace going back with the tailwind, then kill it on the final climb. As we approached the rise, I was trying to wear Lightspeed down a bit, by guttering him on the yellow line when I was pulling, and pushing a bit so he wasn't getting a full draft. Everyone thought I was going along the line to get someone else to pull, so they just lined up behind me, not realizing what I was doing. I finally did an attack, and Lightspeed came with me. The two of us were away clean, but when I asked him to work with me, he said he had a 60+ buddy he was trying to help. I was game, so I asked what number he was, and told Lightspeed he should have him attack, then we could bridge up. But #112 just came to the front, and when I fell in behind him, prepared to block, he just stayed there, pulling. Not smart. Enough of that. So, realizing Lightspeed was back in the pack, I took off onto the hill and into the headwind.

I got my gap, and settled in at a hard pace, building a lead of maybe a couple hundred yards by the turn. I increased it a lot in the fast section where we had a slight downhill, and then level, with the big tailwind. As it turns out, that's where I won the race: in the first couple of miles after the turnaround. After that, Lightspeed and another guy started working together well, and were closing the gap as we headed up the climb to the finish. But they were 'a day late and a dollar short', as I held on to win by a few hundred yards.

So around an 8 mile solo break gave me overall win number #4.

Hermes, thanks for doing all that calculation, and I sure wish I was that fast! But then, according to my PM, I am about as aero as MEA on her track bike!

This was a great experience. Training right for an event, planning strategy, then going out and making it happen. There wasn't as much competition as I would have liked, but I beat everyone that lined up.

A lot of the people there use this event as prep for the huntsman games, which start in a couple of days in Utah. Check out the website. It's a big event, USAC sanctioned, that draws ~400 cyclists. WOrth considering for next year's calendar.

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Old 10-07-12, 03:21 PM
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Well done again. Were there any other USA Cycling licensed racers participating besides you and Ex? Trackies are calibrated for kilo times and I fell hook line and sinker for your 6:11 5K thinking it was an out and back course.
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Old 10-07-12, 06:15 PM
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Really terrific two days of racing, congrats! AZT did not have the highest value TT rig out there but pretty much smoked all comers for both distances. In both road races he raced his bike and executed at the right moments (his attack in our race was perfectly timed).

The competition, while small, was pretty good; our ex pro in the Saturday RR had come off of a 2nd place at the NYGF and it took me several hard attacks to dissuade Mr. Litespeed from allowing me to bridge up clean to AZT. The smaller field meant this was much more a mano a mano slugfest where strength and tactics could not be cancelled out by numbers. Strongest/smartest guy won.

That's good stuff right there.

Should have some video in the next few days.

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Old 10-07-12, 07:17 PM
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Let there be no mistake: I am in debt to Ex for his training and prep, not to mention his pulling my fading butt in the 40K

In keeping with tradition:

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Old 10-07-12, 08:03 PM
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"He took all the gold and now the women folk want to follow him home"!
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