Why go to Beaumont at all? Mainly, I like this race, even at 40k (or maybe because it is 40k). The course is on concrete or smooth asphalt, mostly flat with enough inclines to take you through the gears. It is well organized, no nonsense, straight-forward, with chip timing and quickly into the awards as categories finish. It is run in conjunction with the Gusher Marathon so there are lots of cheering folks (maybe not for cyclists as we whiz past, but cheering just the same). Everyone with whom I had contact was friendly, knowledgeable, helpful.
I've been training hard for the last six months and looked forward to this racing season. But my racing took a big hit last week-end when the Brazos Valley Senior Games cycling events were cancelled due to weather. There were to be 5k and 10k time trials and 20k and 40k road races (20% of my schedule). The time trials are especially revealing to my readiness, in that they are basically sprints. Alas, that wasn't to be.
Instead, my first race would be the Heads or Tails . I hadn't spent much of my training on the time trial bike, but in tuning up two weeks ago I felt like the saddle to be a bit low, so raised. Then, last Wednesday spent time doing the Great Northern Loop (about 3.4 miles). My TT bike (Felt) has never had a water bottle bracket so I stopped each lap and hydrated. Everything felt great and I finished quite pleased with the workout. On Thursday my hamstrings informed me that raising the seat (only a half millimeter) was a mistake. Pook, ding-fu! I rolled and massaged them and gave them a hot bath. They seemed somewhat mollified. I abbreviated my Friday leg-opener work-out, but the legs were still not happy.
I drove through Houston on Friday afternoon (white knuckle) and arrived at the Hampton Inn in Beaumont a little before 3 pm. Packet pick-up was drama-free and quick, at the Garden Inn right next door. I went up to the table, gave the young lady my name, she pulled out a race number, wrote it down next to my name, pointed to several glasses on the table and said to pick one. Done, less than a minute. I'd skipped lunch so had an early dinner at Olive Garden. Asleep by 8:15 pm.Wide awake at 2:15 am. Bummer. I had choices to make. I brought both long and short sleeve time trial kits. I also had arm warmers, tights, and a jacket. The forecast was for 49-70 degrees, sunshine, with a brisk wind out of the east (actually just a tad south of east) for the north-south oval. I repeated my long-time mantra: under 65 degrees, cover the knees, opted for the short-sleeve BSS kit and attached the number to the back, and put out the tights. I had plenty of time to ponder these decisions with breakfast at 6 am. Needing to fill empty time, I showered. While drying my back I felt a twinge in the right latissimus dorsi (or maybe lower trapezius), bringing my drying off to a quick stop. Ok, I didn't need this too. I had time to relax and be still, and after a few minutes everything seemed fine. The hamstrings were also ready to go.
Breakfast consisted of oatmeal, fruit, orange juice and a sweet roll and by 6:35 I was off to Lamar University and the start line. Even at 6:45 folks poured into the parking lot. I snagged a spot close to two porty-potties, which I considered ideal. The sun peeked over the horizon, and with it came the wind. I wandered up to the start line, surprised to see the starting ramp in a different lane from two years ago. Quickly finding the starter, I inquired as to the change of course (had I been more observant of the map posted on the website I would have seen the change). Satisfied, I returned to the car and prepared to warm-up.
The first cyclists were off at 7:45 and my start time was 8:46. At 7:15 I did a preview ride to reacquaint myself with the nuances of this mostly flat course with a few inclines. Going north was ever so slightly downhill and perhaps 10% of the wind came over my right shoulder. I had on tights and jacket for this ride and felt quite comfortable. The lap took 22+ minutes, but all systems reported in as ready to go. At 8:00 I doffed my jacket (always the plan, but I still had the arm warmers available) and did a few more accelerations. In doing so I met up with Clif, a super fast 60+ cyclist and exchanged pleasantries (I've written about Clif previously). He didn't have on tights.
By 8:30 the temperature had risen a few more degrees and while not 65, I decided I'd look like the fast guys and removed the tights. I don't particularly like ramps, but this had a rail for support plus a holder. I started the computer ten seconds before descending the ramp and beginning this adventure.
I think the wind moved a bit to the south as the day wore on. My speed going north on the flats stayed in the 24-25 mph range and going south 18-20. The hamstrings were good, no noise from my back. The biceps, however, were vociferous in their complaints. I had forgotten about them and how important they are. My training includes building them up and for an old guy, I'm pretty proud of how they look. I held the tuck most of the first lap, but half-way through the second they started sending signals. I didn't count how many times I had to come up to give them a break on the third and forth laps, but it was too many. Truthfully, I also came up for air and liquid (for time trials I use a kid's Camelbak under the jersey).
My friend, Tom Hall, came in first. In Senior Games he isn't in my age group, but when they go to ten year categories, I get a lot of fast guys. Fortunately, he was the only one to show up here. Tom came in 16 seconds faster than me, or 4 seconds per lap. The biceps may have cost me those seconds. Other stats, 2014 vs 2018 laps: 17:47 vs 17:35; 18:11 vs 17:53; 18:35 vs 18:19; and 18:43 vs 18:24. I think that works out to 65 seconds faster this year under similar race conditions. A review of my heart rate reveals consistency throughout the ride, an average of 141 and a high of 146. When it came time for the final push, I had zero oomph to push it any higher.I've reviewed the stats and where I might have picked up or lost a few seconds. This is more about learning what to do next time, not a what-if type review. I can see where I could have shifted to a bigger gear for thirty seconds instead of rolling through or where I went to the small chain ring for an incline rather than come up the cogs in the big ring. My next races are in Dallas, where gear choices again play an important part.
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