PACE BEND, 2025

Regular readers know I hate racing (not to be confused with riding, which is pleasant) at Pace Bend.  This year was no exception.  Don't get me wrong, I came home with three gold medals (and I had a smidgen of competition).  I was also faster than some of the younger riders.  But let's start at the beginning.

Last Monday I took my time trial bike down to Great Northern, mainly to check my positioning and warn my neck what was in the future.  As it turned out, the Garmin decided not to recognize the bike, equipped with a Stages power/cadence meter.  I defaulted to the Strava app on the phone so at least I received credit for the ride.  But the drill I had planned never happened.  Just as well, the wind was up and it was a chore just to get an hour in.  I took the bike and computer to the bike shop in search of a solution.  After a lot of fiddling, and explanation, he got it working.  Friday I was back at Great Northern for a leg opening session.  Only thirty minutes.  My neck still complained.

Saturday I cleaned and lubed the bikes and loaded them into the car along with whatever essentials I thought I might need (mainly nutrition and fluids).  Senior Games run 20 and 40k road races and 5 and 10k time trials in five year categories starting at 50.  Because they are now run on the same day, with the 40k being the first race at 9:00, I skip it.  Pace Bend is a 10k loop.  I arrived Sunday morning at 8:45 and saw the riders off.  Then checked in, received my timing chip and number and went back to the car to leisurely get ready.  

Due to the sparseness in the categories, we all start together.  This is a decided disadvantage to the older groups and ladies.  Tactics are essential.  The first 1.8 miles are mostly a slight downgrade with two longish climbs.  The wind was into our right shoulder.  I started at the back, but that was only about six places.  At the start there are always some who cannot get clipped in quickly and Sunday was no exception.  I was quickly mid-pack and behind a father-daughter(?) duo.  The leaders accelerated and those who couldn't find a wheel were soon left behind.  The three of us made it up the first hill still attached, but at the second the lady kept up but dad was gassed.  That left me with too much of a gap to close.  

For those who don't race, I digress into riding in the peloton.  With pros and younger riders, it is the same, just faster and closer together.  Us seniors place a higher value on our bodies, so we are a bit more cautious.  Still, we ride fairly close and pay attention to any slight wheel movement.  We also evaluate the riding styles of our companions.  Any signs of erratic behavior will result in giving that person more room.  For this race, dad-daughter were very good.

In any case, I was on my own after the first 1.6 miles.  On this first loop I felt as though the wind was in my face 90% of the time.  Perhaps a bit of a misconception.  But I kept up as best I could and on the second lap I could see my teammate, Tom, about two hundred yards ahead.  I almost caught up but was very slow going up the last big hill (7-9% grade) and finished seven seconds behind him.  I count eleven ascents per 10k loop, some harder than others.  For the two loops, I shifted my front derailleur 5 times and my back 301.  Cadence averaged 82 with 104 max and heart rate was 140 with a top of 149 (about 95% of max).  

I had about 40 minutes before the start of the 10k time trial.  Back at the car, I switched bikes, moving the timing chip to the Felt and bringing out the TT helmet.  As I toodled around getting used to the position, it occurred to me that the wind would have me coming out of my tuck and holding on for dear life for most of the loop.  Also, the computer once again wouldn't recognize the bike.  Since I wouldn't be fighting for seconds (the fast guys were a no-show this year), I switched back to the Madone.  This would also give me the opportunity to evaluate the wind for the 5k, which was an out-and-back course. 

The 10k is run in the opposite direction of the road races.  I lined up third, knowing faster riders would be passing me.  We start every 30 seconds so I estimated no more than six would catch me.  The ride was uneventful.  My heart rate and cadence and power were similar to the road race.  I was slower than last year, but last year had good weather.  I determined that the wind was too much even for the 5k, so the Felt stayed in the car.  My neck was appreciative.

For the 5k I started close to the back, giving me an additional ten minutes of rest between races.  Several gusts of wind moved me a bit and bolstered my decision to stick with the road bike.  It was over in a little over ten minutes.  No stats for this race, because now the Garmin wouldn't connect to the power pedals.  I must have hit some button, because the next day the Garmin connected to both bikes without any fuss.

Even though I hate racing at Pace Bend, the race itself is extremely well-run, everything goes off like clockwork.  Check in was quick and easy.  The chips/computer sorts everything out and results posted within minutes of the last rider finishing.  I don't know if I missed an actual award ceremony, since I was last coming in and busy getting the bikes squared away.  In any case, when I walked up the hill to the tent, they were already starting to pack up.  But I just identified myself and the age category, it was quickly looked up the the medals handed to me.

I have two months to get my TT act together.  I'll be spending a lot of time on Great Northern.

MILEAGE GOALS

 Several days ago Allen Turner commented on my Strava post something like "do you ever have a week below 200 miles."  I replied, off the top of my head, that while I have that as a goal, I've only reached it three time in the last 15 years.  Well, I really couldn't let that pass without researching my answer.  I have a spread sheet (3 actually) going back to 2008.  But first some background.

When I started racing Senior Games in 2005 I determined I would have good fitness if I rode 800 miles per month.  And I broke that down into two days long, two medium at pace, and two days of drills which would not be a lot of miles.  That gives me four days off and two or three extra days to make it to 800.  I didn't have a coach, I didn't hit my goals.  I only had a plan that needed adjusting.  It's not like I was unsuccessful.  I refer you to my post of xxxxx.  Well, I can't find it.  Here's a summary:  I've been in 183 races, finished first in 59 (32%), second in 51 (28%), third in 35 (19%).  So I've finished on the podium in 79% of my races.

Back on topic.  Not counting my cycling vacations (Katy Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway (3 times), Natchez Trace, Paul Bunyan Trail among others), I've only done nine 200 mile weeks since 2008.  I came close four other times.  Most of my months are in the 400-500 mile range.  

Feb 19-25, 2009,  212.2 miles

May 10-18 2009,  205.3 miles

May 17-23, 2013, 220.7 miles

May 1-7, 2016, 201.1 miles

May 12-18, 2016,  212.8 miles (a very good month!)

Nov 4-10, 2017,  294.9 miles

Jun 6-13 2024, 233.6 miles

Jun 23-29, 2024, 200.5 miles (another good month)

Feb 1-6 2025, 216.6 miles

Let me tell you how to up your mileage: ride with friends.  Scheduled rides with friends will get you out and about when you might otherwise stay home.  Like there is no way would I get battered by the wind like we had today and Tuesday unless I was with a group.  And some strong rider who would let me draft.  Plus, ride at a pace you enjoy.  My definition of "enjoy" might be different from yours.  I don't advocate coming home from a ride exhausted, but that's me most of the time.  Also, I now describe my cycling goals as "fluid."  If you follow me on Strava, you will see in the coming months more days devoted to Drills.  These days are weather-dependent, so will change if I can't get in a good workout.

And thanks, Allen, for recognizing my rides.  I know we don't always acknowledge Strava postings, but we do at least a cursory review of all of them.

FLAT TIRE, THE REST OF THE STORY

 I had a flat tire on today's Trek Parmer Pedaler ride.  It has happened before, it happens to everybody at one time or another.  But this flat tire has a back story, and an epilog.  And so, I begin at the beginning.

In August I purchased a Trek Madone road bike (really nice).  It came with carbon wheels that are tubeless ready, but not tubeless tires.  At the time, I proclaimed that I would switch to tubeless (several years after inquiring about them) in February or after the first flat.  February because that is the start of racing season and after first flat because I saw no reason not to give these tires some wear.

Taking off these thru-axel wheels is more involved than my quick-release ones.  Only a few weeks ago did I even practice removing a wheel, and it was the front one.  So it was an unwelcome surprise when cruising along about 17 mph when the rear wheel suddenly went flat.  I called out "flat" to get the group to stop and called out to Jim H that I was going to need assistance.  This would be the first time removing the rear wheel.

First thing Jim said was turn the bike upside down.  I never do this, but removed the water bottles and turned it upside down.  Then shifted to the smallest cog.  Jim removed the wheel for me, I handed him the tire tool, and he started to remove the tire.  Meanwhile, I removed the saddle pack and took out the spare tire.  Well folks, since I haven't had a flat on the road in quite a while, and hadn't planned on having one with my newish tires, my mind hadn't fully considered my new Madone with the Pro51 Carbon Wheels.  My spare was perfectly fine for my Emonda with the Dura Ace wheels, but the valve stem was too short for the Pro51's.  Jim had a spare.  One of the benefits of group riding is there are plenty of spare tubes.  The trick is getting one with long stems.  Anyway we used Jim's.  Uh, my tires are 25mm and Jim's tube was 35-45mm.  Jim did the installation, I aired it up with CO2 cartridge, and we cleaned up and were on our way with no further interruptions.

Here is the epilog.  When I got home I intended to switch out Jim's tube to give it back to him (not getting him a new one is another story).  That's when I discovered I could not remove the tire from the wheel.  By this time I could remove the wheel from the bike, but not in the upside down position.  Try as I might, I could not get tire the off.  It will have to stay there until I go tubeless.

I immediately ordered two Continental 5000 tubeless tires and will be visiting the bike shop tomorrow to arrange to get them installed.  Plus buying tubeless repair kits and extraneous stuff that goes with going tubeless.  If you read earlier posts from this year, you will learn that I'm not a big fan of tubeless.  But I am a big fan of how they ride, so I'll suck it up and learn how to deal with them.

CYCLING HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE YEAR

 In working on our Christmas letter, I realized my cycling escapades would take up too much space, so I'm writing them up here and will provide a link.  There needs to be some context.

The year started off March3 with the Senior Games at Pace Bend Park.  Regular readers know I hate racing at Pace Bend, mainly because I don't do well.  This was not billed as a State Championship, but since there weren't any other Senior Games in Texas this year, I prefer to think of them as Championships.  The full write up can be found in my March post, but I ended up with two gold and a silver in the three races.

Next on the agenda was USA Cycling State Time Trials in Hempstead in May.  Again, the full write up is under the May posting, but I came home with a gold medal.

For some reason, I didn't do a post about the USA Cycling Nationals in Augusta, GA in July.  Fort Gordon underwent a name change and is now Fort Eisenhower.  I had the time trial July 25, road race July 27, and criterium July 28.  We had booked our annual stay in Suches, GA  July 15-August 11 so that meant I left the mountains, raced, and drove back.  

I warmed up for the time trial in a drizzle but for the race itself, it had stopped and there weren't any puddles on the road.  I had previewed the competitors and was confident of getting on the podium.  I came in third, which was also last (not by much).  One person who signed up didn't show up.  This is a difficult course and I've ridden it faster.  I'm thinking it's a nutrition thing.

For the road race, Durwood and the new guy(showed up wearing a National Champion jersey) were racing for gold and the race turned tactical.  Two laps with lots of climbing.  Durwood set the pace for the first lap and we suffered.  Then he backed off.  I knew I was racing for third, but couldn't put any moves on the front because it would be Durwood who would reel me back in and not my competitor.  So it came down to the last climb, and I cracked.  Fourth place, but still on the podium (which went five deep).

In the criterium, it was only me and Durwood in our age group.  We were racing with the 70+ guys, so I was happy to hang with them for maybe fifteen minutes.  Then it was survive to the end.  But I still got the silver.

Next is a story of a non-race.  We go back to last year.  Shortly after road Nationals, USA Cycling held Gravel Nationals.  Only one person in my age group participated.  His time was much slower than what I could do.  So I set my sights on this year, if no one signed up in my age group.  Trek sponsored some gravel rides early in the year and I rented a gravel bike to see if I really could ride gravel.  I also went up to Waco to ride with my team leader.  Whitney advised that the Nebraska course was no worse than what we were riding on.  As we got closer to the date, and only the one guy signed up, I was ready to go.  I bought a really nice gravel bike.  Rode it for a week.  But when the last day of sign up came, I gave it a lot of thought (plus how much money it cost), and decided that gravel really wasn't in my future.  I returned the gravel bike and came home with a new road bike.  Ray at Trek gave me a super deal on a Trek Madone SL7.  I followed up on the results this year.  The three oldest competitors came in over 12 hours (should have been 5).  I haven't talked to Fred yet on what happened, but I'm thinking my guardian angel helped me avoid this.

On my new Madone in September I returned to Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos).  No illusions on this one.  The oldest age group was 70+  AND we were starting with the 60+ guys, so I had no hope of staying with the group.  This is another love/hate course. The full write  up is in the September post, but I came away happy with a 5th place trophy.

TOPPLING OVER!

 This longish post is probably TMI before getting to the subject, but bear with me.  My July 7, 2021 post (if you care to read it) details the eight, now ten) times I've fallen.  I would have added "off my bike", but in some of those I was stuck in my pedals so technically I was on the ground but still connected to the bike.

Yesterday I eschewed the group ride for several reasons.  It starts at 8:00, only goes 26 miles, and I don't particularly like the route.  But the real reason is that a few days ago I started a new medication which has one side effect of lowering blood pressure.  I wanted to see what would happen on a long ride.  And so, at 7:22 I set off for Walburg.  I've done this ride for years.  It's 50-60 miles, depending on various back roads I take on the way back.  Even though I intended this to be a chill ride, my energy level was down a bit, as was my heart rate.  I'm thinking medication, but the jury is still out until I do a fast group ride, but I digress.

About fifty miles into the ride, exiting Old Settlers Park at US 79 into Kalahari Resorts (for those who are local), I approached the traffic light.  The light just turned green for those leaving Kalahari and turning left in front of us, and I knew I'd get the green next.  I slowed my cadence and timed it so I wouldn't have to unclip.  I creeped along and was about to accelerate after the last car turned.  But she didn't!  Rather than complete her turn she slowed, apparently thinking I was going to go out in front of her.  It happened in a flash!  My foot got caught up and wouldn't unclip and I toppled over.  Now I was on the ground with both feet still in the pedals.  It took some maneuvering to get unclipped.  By then, one of the drivers next to me rushed over to see if I was hurt.  No, nothing but my ego.  If he had been a cyclist he would have asked if the bike was ok.  Actually, my left knee lost a little skin.  Interestingly enough, the same three places as in previous falls.  Also a few bruises on my left elbow, and my right thumb was oozing blood under the nail.

I made it through on the next light, but stopped at a convenient place and sat down to address the situation.  I carry an emergency zip lock bag with antiseptic wipes, Band-Aids, gauze pads, sun block and other stuff.  I wiped the knee and put a Band-aid on the thumb, checked the bike, replaced the mirror that had come off, and took a few minutes to let the adrenaline subside.  Then did the final seven miles.

Of course, this incident shouldn't have occurred.  I could have easily just stopped and waited the few extra seconds.  But I relied on experience instead of judgement.  Apparently experience is not always the best teacher.  So, be safe y'all and carry a first aid pack for when the unexpected happens.

Ft Cavazos State Road Race Championships, 2024

 About yesterday's race: I was really pleased with my last place finish.  As a matter of fact, the placing was expected.  But my performance exceeded expectations.  And it could have been even better except for an unfortunate happening.

Due to lack of volunteers and participants, I was racing in the 70+ category and all of us 70+ers were starting with the 60+ guys.  This course is a triangle that goes 15.7 miles north, 14.5 miles south and about 2.5 miles northwest.  There is always wind and when it comes from the SW is a killer on the second leg.  But this year it was NE so my plan was to go hard with the peloton until the large hill at eight miles would see me getting dropped.  Then it would be against the wind by myself for seven miles until could get the wind at my back.

All went to plan for one mile.  I was comfortably drafting behind my teammate when I hit some rough road and my front wheel started to shimmy.  Conventional wisdom indicates I should lean forward over the bars, putting more weight on the wheel to get the shimmy to stop.  That didn't work.  I dropped back and actually stopped for a few seconds to make sure I hadn't flatted.  Those seconds cost me my draft so I did fourteen solo miles against the wind.

One rider had also been dropped and he became my rabbit.  I caught him on the big hill then spent the next seven miles putting distance between us.  It felt good to make the turn and have the wind help me up the next hill.  I estimated I only lost five minutes due to the wheel wobble incident.  About five miles further on, at about mile twenty, I caught a glimpse of a white jersey just cresting a hill.  Now I had my second rabbit.  As it turned out, he was pretty well gassed and just trying to get to the end without dying.  It only took a few miles to catch up.  I was keeping my heart rate around 90% of max and with the wind I was zipping along.  

Soon enough the finish came up and I hit the computer button.  Wrong button, it was for lap time.  I realized the mistake 49 seconds later.  I mention this because taking out the 49 seconds brought me under two hours.  And this is what made me happy.  This was the fastest time on this course since 2015!  And, this year the podium was five deep, so I received a fifth place trophy.  Yes, there were only five in the 70+ group.  The two guys I passed were in their 60's.

Finally, stats: Training Peaks gave me two gold medals for 60 and 90 minute heart rate.  Strava gave me four PR's.  I was doing 30 mph when the wheel shimmied, but my top speed was 38.3 and I topped 30 about a dozen times after that.  I averaged 15.7 against the wind and 17.5 with it.  The last two and a half miles were uphill but I managed 15.8.  My average cadence was 79 with a max of 114.  

Tubeless Tutorial

 This is not a tubeless tutorial.  On our Trek Lamar ride today two of the riders had flats.  As it turned out, both were riding tubeless tires.  Those of us who have yet to be enticed over to the new trend, learned a few things.  Doug is our most experienced guy and, by the way, had some nifty tools.  

The first flat, we found, had a hole in the tire.  The sealant should have fixed that.  Unfortunately, due to inexperience plus a broken hand that put her off the bike for an extended period of time, the sealant apparently had dried up.  Mostly, these need to be refreshed every three or four months.  And I read somewhere you need to spin the wheels like every week or less.  That is, don't let too long go without riding.  Doug first got out a little gizmo that looks like a big sewing needle and threaded some rubber-looking thread into it and attempted to push it into the hole.  The object is to get the "thread" off the needle and fill the hole.  I saw this one other time on a ride and it worked quite well.  Didn't this time.  So he went to plan B, got out a little squirt thing and squirted some sealant into the hole.  This worked well enough that he could get air in the tire sufficient to ride.  As it turned out, there was some more air added a little later, enough to get her to the abbreviated end of the ride.  We also learned that you shouldn't use co2 because it reacted poorly with the sealant.

The second flat was a slight slit in the sidewall.  The sealant doesn't do well, or at all, on sidewalls.  However, tubeless or not, you should always carry a spare tube, which he had.  Getting the tire off the rim took a little doing, because you have to do something (sorry I wasn't close enough) to the stem.  Getting the tire off took a bit of doing, mostly to keep the sealant from going everywhere.  That was done quite expertly and Doug neatly emptied the tire.  The tube was installed (the slit was small enough a boot wasn't needed) and aired up (using co2), tire replaced on the bike and we were off.

Due to the time it took on these flats, we decided to skip tacos and go straight back to the shop.   I may be too old to go with tubeless tires and through-axel hydraulic brakes.