TRAINING FINALLY PAYING DIVIDENDS

I trained (definition: cycled a lot) for the Senior Games State Finals, held last week. These consist of two time trials of 5km and 10km and two races of 20km and 40km. For the first time since my initial entry five years ago I failed to garner a medal, which is neither here nor there. Yesterday, for the first time, I was able to stay with the fast group in our Sunday rides. What happens on Sunday is a large group starts out from the bike shop. We stay together through town for about seven miles, then the pace picks up. In a few more miles we come to a stop sign, turn right and begin an incline (too shallow to be a hill) and the pace picks up some more and a lot of people can't hang. Yesterday I climbed easily, pedaled smoothly, and thanks to drafting, was able to ride with this lead group, at least for the five or so miles to the rest stop and turn around point. The return was with the slower group, but I still finished strong. My lament is that I should have trained harder earlier and my fear is that, with the season over, my form will revert to previous levels. I resolve to hold my form through the winter; stay tuned to see if that happens, or if it goes the way of New Year Resolutions.