SENIOR GAMES STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, 2020

     I am always playing catch-up in the spring, since I never train as much as I should in the winter.  Having the Senior Games State Championships in early March doesn't help my confidence.  When I looked at who signed up, in my age category, I wasn't buoyed either.  There were eight in the group and four of them are faster than me.  Or so I thought, I mis-remembered John as being Bill.  Only the top four qualify for Nationals next year in Fort Lauderdale.  So I prepared to fight it out for forth.
     The weather was chilly with overcast skies and I warmed up in tights and jacket.  The 40k road race was first on the schedule and I skipped that in favor of the 20k, which was second.  While waiting around I discovered that my friend Tom, faster than me, did the 40k and was skipping the 20k, so that was one less fast guy with which to contend.  He also did the 10k time trial and skipped the 5k, again giving me one less competitor.
     As race time approached I removed my jacket and replaced it with a wind vest, still keeping three layers on my chest.  The tights stayed on, keeping with my mantra: under 65 degrees, cover the knees.  At the last minute I also removed the vest.
     This was a mass start, with all age groups going at the same time.  We lined up according to our age groups so we knew who we were racing against, but being old, we were in the back.  The young guys showed no mercy from the get-go, but I stayed with them for a mile and a half, combining power and cadence to good effect, following wheels.  The grades on this part of the course are deceptively steep.  On the one that dropped me I would have said it was a 3-4% grade, but Garmin is showing 6-9% ramps.  Anyhow, that is where I waved goodbye to the front group and became a solo rider.  My friend Fred stayed with the front group so I knew I had second, because I'd built up a lead over the others, who were dropped immediately.
     I did well, powered up each of the back-side hills, including the biggie before finally getting a breather on the longish downhill.  Again on the back-side I noticed several riders overtaking me.  I looked at the computer to verify I hadn't slowed appreciably, and a bit of concern went through my mind.  But as they got closer I saw it was the lead ladies group who had started thirty seconds, or maybe a minute, behind the men.  I tacked on to the back for a few hills but on the last one they powered away.
     Even though by myself, for the last two hundred meters I jumped out of the saddle and sprinted just to get used to doing that.  My time wasn't great, but better than expected.  Training Peaks gave me two gold medals for 10 minute and 20 minute power.  This is the range of power I'll need for the Driveway criteriums.  They also gave a silver for 20 minute heart rate.  All in all, a good effort.
     For the time trial in the afternoon, the wind had picked up considerably.  I had forgotten to change out my power meter, so that data isn't available.  I guess I could have had a few beats higher in the heart rate, although the high of 150 was over 90% of max.  The memorable part of this ride was a gust of wind that blew me across the road and of course brought me out of my tuck in order to control the bike.  Fortunately, it happened when no other riders were returning on this out-and-back course.  It cost a few seconds, but I finished twenty seconds behind Fred, so didn't affect the outcome.
     So, rather than duking it out for forth, I managed to cruise into two silver medals.  I thank Tom for not competing and Bob for not coming.  I only have Fred and Tom this year and next before we are in different age groups.  Now it's on to criteriums, where my only goals are to not finish last and to hang with the peleton for two laps (last year it was only one lap).