I HATE PACE BEND

 Don't get me wrong, Pace Bend is a nice place to ride.  But I don't just ride there, I race there.  In terms of placing, I do alright.  But this is a difficult course and an ego-busting one for me.  Yesterday was no different.  I suppose I should be grateful that the three races exposed glaring deficiencies in my training.  And in that regard, I am.  I've been exposed to this venue for fifteen years and have never performed well.

The format for the Senior Games State Finals is 40k Road Race at 9:00am; 20k Road Race at 10:45am; 10k Time Trial at 12:15pm; 5k Time Trial immediately following.  Back several years ago this was a two-day event in San Antonio, with 5k and 40k one day and 10k and 20k the next.  It was also in late March or early April.  I would sign up for all four races.  In any case, this was a qualifying for next year's Nationals, taking place in Pittsburg.  You only have to place in one of the road races and one of the time trials.  Last year I only did the 20k and 5k.  The current format guarantees your legs to be toast for the time trials.

This year I've moved up to the 80-84 category and as far as I know, the only racer in my age group that is faster is Bob C.  There is one other fast guy from Dallas but his participation in Senior Games is spotty.  This year there were five of us in the age group signed up.  I only knew Bob, but recognized the other names and their past results indicated I could beat them.  Bob would beat me in the road race and probably the 10k time trial.  But as it turned out, Bob didn't make it down to race.  So, on to the day itself.

The forecast was for 41 degrees with a north breeze for the 40k road race.  I arrived shortly before the start and checked in.  It was here that I learned that Bob wasn't coming.  After cheering the start of the race, I retired to my car to prep the bike (attach timing chip) and assemble shoes, helmet etc. in the front seat.  Then I waited, occasionally starting the car to warm up.  At 9:45 I started getting ready, attached the heart rate monitor, put on shoes, helmet, made sure I had a water bottle on the bike and left the warm environs of the car to warm up on the road.  My warm-up at Pace Bend generally is doing one loop of the course to re-familiarize myself with the hills, then do a half-dozen accelerations to let the legs know what they're in for shortly.  I was in full winter gear: wool socks, tights, three layers on my chest, including jacket.  My intention was to shed jacket for the race and substitute my wind jacket.  After warming up, I just kept the jacket on.  I knew I was in trouble when I saw it took 27:09 to navigate the 6.2 miles.  Last year it was 24:16.  Then I learned the race would start at 10:45.  I thought I read that 10:45 would be the staging time for an 11:00 start.  My planned accelerations disappeared.

Another thing I don't like about this format is that all the racers start together.  We are loosely grouped by age, with the young ones in front.  For the 20k the ladies joined the guys, for the 40k they were asked to start behind the guys.  Even though Bob wasn't here, I saw no reason to take chances, so I integrated myself with the 60-70 ages.  The plan was to leave the old guys behind in the first couple of miles and in that regard, it worked.  We started off fast and it took no time for a pace line to form.  I managed to find a rather large back to follow.  We struggled up the first incline and there was a break in the pace line.  At the second hill things really got separated.  My quads gave me a signal that they weren't happy and not working well.  This was only about a mile into the race.  My large back had gapped me but at the second hill he slowed considerably and I caught back up.  At 1.8 miles the course takes a sharp right turn and enters the beginning of eight hills of varying difficulty.  This year it was also into the ever freshening wind.  I was determined to find my large back (his name is Tom) to hide behind.  It took a bit after the turn, but I was faster going up and caught him.  About half-way up I passed him and slowed a bit to pace him up the hill.  He passed me going down and I tagged on to his wheel.  This started a routine and easily had me going faster than I could go on my own.

After the first of two laps, I occasionally checked my mirror and noticed a yellow jacket in the distance.  I knew that one of the other old guys had a yellow jacket on.  Tom had some real difficulty on the second hill and I left him gasping for air.  I didn't relish the idea of eight hills into the wind, and I must have really been slowed because he caught up with me.  I paced him while he recovered.  On the fourth hill, yellow jacket caught us and passed.  I tacked on to his wheel and Tom on mine.  The last hill is the toughest, with ramps of 12 and 15%.  On the downhill just before, Tom took the lead with me on his wheel, yellow jacket behind.  He must of used all of his energy catching us, because half way up the hill, when I took over from Tom, he couldn't follow.  It was like he hit a brick wall.  I know the feeling.

I was leading Tom down and thought that at 27 mph, I would lead him into the turn.  Nah, he'd recovered and passed me.  So we took the turn at a good clip (20 mph) and into the downhill with the wind at our back.  He paced me at just over 30 mph for about a half mile before we leveled off.  Tom kept checking to see if I still had his wheel, moderating to make sure I did.  I think he was offended that yellow jacket had passed us and he was making sure he didn't catch back up.  A peek in the mirror confirmed that he was nowhere in sight.  In any case, at the 200 meter to go sign, I let up and gave Tom a clear finish.  As it turned out, yellow jacket was not the one in my age group, so maybe he was in Tom's.  My legs were shot.  Here is the sad story: my time of 46:26, with help, was slower than the 41:31 from last year when I was mostly on my own.  That's a huge difference.

I had forty-five minutes before the time trial.  This would be one lap, in the opposite direction.  I'd originally considered doing the 10k on my road bike because of the hills.  But the wind would be in my face on the lesser inclines and at my back on the hills so I switched my timing clip to the TT bike and prepared for the next race.  Preparation consisted of getting down in the aero position for a few minutes.

The starter announced that shortly we would be lining up for the race.  I looked around and saw that the riders had already lined up.  Bah!  We had a good ten minutes so I did some more aero work, then came up to my friend, Clif, who was second in line.  I've posted about Clif before.  He is a world class racer and former US time trial champion in his age group.  We catch up at Senior Games.  I lamented I'd have to get to the back of the line and both he and the guy behind invited me to jump in ahead of Clif.  I jumped at the chance and mentioned that my time in front of him would be short lived, even with a 30 second headstart.  It took him less than a mile.  

Interesting enough, the first racer didn't make it very far before something happened.  A couple hundred yards down the road he was messing with his chain on the side as I passed.  I suspect he'd started in the small chain ring and the chain jumped when he went to move up.  I say that, because that is what happened to me in my early days of racing.  I start in the big ring, even if I have to go high on the cogs.  Anyhow, as I suffered up the first incline I contemplated how many riders would be passing me.  I made the turn and got the wind at my back, although still going uphill.  I was in the small chain ring and high on the cogs but confident I'd made the right choice.  I kept waiting to get passed, keeping to the right rather than taking the middle of the lane.  Eventually the second guy passed me.  I spent more time in the aero position than I thought I would and I guess it paid off because I reached the last turn without anyone else passing.  The hill after the turn was a challenge and two guys passed me.  But my experience got me through the last two inclines, in that a correct choice of gears and cadence got me up them faster than what it looks like you can do.  The finish is a slight downhill, giving me an opportunity to rev up the cadence and look like a racer.

In order to give my legs as much rest as possible, I chose the last position in the 5k.  Well, I thought I'd be last, but one of the old, slow guys waved me in front of him.  As it turned out, I was third from the end.  The 5k was an out-and-back.  Wind in your face going out, at your back coming in.  I had no power going out.  I knew I should be going faster, just couldn't muster the strength.  On the way back, I did much better.  I probably could have been a few seconds quicker, but lost track of the finish line, thinking I had one more curve before ramping up the cadence.  

My finish time was a minute and a half slower than last year.  But last year I only did the 20k and 5k, and had better legs.  It really is a tale of stats.  Last year in the 20k my 20 minute power average was 181.  This year it was 154.  In difference in 5k's, last year I had 174 in Dallas (it was the first race) and this year 149.  I figure I'm going to need at least 180 at Nationals and would like to hit 200.  I have eight weeks to get there.  BTW, my heart rate was just where it should have been, holding at 143.