To be clear, I race in the 80-84 age category. Racing in August in Augusta may have prompted some competitors to stay home and avoid the oppressive heat and humidity. But we begin this adventure seven weeks prior, after a short setup.
Plan A, formulated in January, was to race Senior Games in Pittsburg, visit family in Maryland, vacation and ride the great gaps in North Georgia (based in Suches), come home and prep for Augusta, then drive to Augusta. Because the Pittsburg folks couldn't decide on a racing venue until after regular registration closed, I decided this would be a poorly run race, so we cancelled reservations and we didn't go. We also skipped Maryland. The dates for the Augusta races were finally announced, and rather than drive from Suches home then turn around and drive back we would just extend our stay and make the short jump from Suches to Augusta. Therefore we left home six weeks before racing.
I was doing my last time trial training on Great Northern and was twenty minutes into a one hour workout and pushing 20 mph. Great Northern is a mecca for cyclists and runners. I was coming up on a runner who decided to cross the street. She turned left and I turned right to miss her. She then did a "squirrel maneuver" and reversed course right in front of me. It was a frightful collision. I'll spare you the details, we both came out battered and bruised but with no broken bones. The bike was ok, except the left shifter looked a little wonky, so I took it to the bike shop for evaluation and tune up before going to get myself cleaned up.
Later that afternoon the bike shop called. It seems my fifteen year old bike's Zipp wheel (front) has a hub that had been recalled. In good conscience, they could not give it back to me and had to send it off to replace the hub. I brought them my road bike wheel so they could complete their tune-up, which they did the next day, Saturday. Tuesday we left for Suches.
I had a fine time riding the gaps and enjoying the mild temperature. But I learned quickly enough that the five years since our last vacation here had taken a toll on my muscles and cardio. I had to forego even attempting Brasstown Bald (I've written extensively about this in the past) and restricted my riding to the lesser, but still challenging, gaps. The problem with being in the mountains is there aren't any flat sections of any length. While I was riding a lot, none of it was fine-tuning my racing chops. I finally hit on a relatively flat place to practice time trialing, the parking lot at Brasstown Bald. The three practice sessions I did there were mainly to stay in the tuck and acceleration drills.
Nationals consist of three races: 20k time trial, 40k road race, 45 minute criterium. It occurred to me that I might need some out-of-saddle accelerations in the criterium, so I used a short flatish section not far from our cabin to practice. What that practice told me was that I had one 15-second acceleration in my legs and no more. It was too late to build them up. I would have to stay seated and hope that would be sufficient.
My races were on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. The para racers were scheduled mostly on Wednesday, thus I wanted to preview the course on Tuesday. As it turned out, Tuesday at 1pm had temperatures in the triple digits according to my Garmin. In any case, there are numerous hills and it took 66 minutes to complete the 14.7 mile course and I was completely worn out. I had planned to also preview the TT course but put that off until after the races on Wednesday.
There were only four guys in my age group for the time trial. One, Don, I'd raced against in Florida and was faster and one, George, was new to me and had no history with USA Cycling. The third guy, Durwood, is so much faster than everyone that his first place was assured. As it turned out, Don was a no-show and George started 30 seconds in front of me. The course starts flat then has a steep downhill (7-9%). The entire course is rolling, some steeper than others and is out and back. Because of the downhill, Durwood didn't catch me until mile two or so which is about the time I caught George. So he passed both of us at about the same time. I averaged 19.1 mph with 35.5 on the steep downhill and about 8 going back up. My heart rate of 144 was right where it should have been at 92% of maximum. Durwood beat me by four and a half minutes and I was ahead of George by about five minutes.
There were five guys doing the road race, which turned out to be 47k. As we were called to the start line, I saw George but couldn't see the other two. I don't even worry about Durwood. This course goes in the opposite direction of the time trial, but the start is similar in that it is flatish then a steep downhill. Then comes a really long, steep uphill. I need to back up a little. Even though there were only five in my age group, for the road race and criterium, we are grouped with the 70-74, 75-79, and 80+ riders. This makes for a pretty big group, all but two of which are stronger and faster than me. In any case, it is incumbent to go all out on that first climb in order to stay with the peleton. My high speed of 41.3 came on the downhill. About three-quarters of the way up, I got gapped and by the time we topped the hill and made the turn, they were gone. There were a half dozen riders behind me, and I hoped they included my competitors. The support vehicles came around, including the ambulance. Another rider and I hopped on behind and we almost caught the peleton, which had slowed. Another incline had us dropping back. I also lost my companion on this climb.
My guardian angel was looking after me. Up ahead I could see a couple of riders dropped from the peleton and it was obvious from their posture that they had given up racing and were in cruise mode. Cruise or not, it was about my speed. One of the riders had on the pink and black Geri Atrix team jersey. This team is based in Waco and I know most of the riders. After a mile and a half of exertion, I finally caught up to them and announced my presence. It turned out that the Geri Atrix rider was Tom Hall and Tom and I have raced each other for years. When I said I needed to draft awhile and wanted to put a little distance between myself and the guy following me (about a quarter of a mile back), Tom said he'd give me a pull. So I hopped on his wheel and he sped up a bit. He pulled me over three miles up to the finishing hill where he eased off and I continued up. That was lap 1 of 2. I had to do it all over again. About half way up the big hill Tom caught up with me again and once we had eased our way to the top he said to hop on and he'd pull some more. We didn't push the hills this time but when it came to the rollers he upped the pace and we enjoyed the ride, at our speed. At the finish hill he powered up and I finished about twenty yards behind. As it turned out, my three competitors had all been pulled after the first lap, so I wasn't in any danger of losing my silver.
So, I was lucky. I get to brag about being a Nationals Silver Medalist even though I didn't have my best stuff. There were a dozen guys at the Senior Games Nationals in Pittsburg, why only one came to Georgia is not for me to ponder. Now I need to start work on my jumps.
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