This is a long story about how we came to have a really short championship race. For years the Texas RR Championships have been held at Fort Hood. This was a brutal thirty-three mile course and I was never young enough to have to do it more than one lap. The race was very popular, well run/organized. But this year not enough sponsors came forward to fund the race and it appeared that we wouldn't have one. Then three Austin organizations came forward and agreed to do it. They already put on the Oatmeal Classic, in Oatmeal, Texas. I'm not privvy to what all had to happen in a short period of time, but a few months ago I received an email announcing the championships.
My elation was short-lived in that the oldest age group was 60+ and they would be doing fifty-two miles. Bad enough to race against guys twenty years younger, but the distance was too far. I put it out of my mind. Then we had the tragedy of one of our teammates being struck by a car, Because our team is scattered, we couldn't organize a memorial ride so just dedicated an individual ride to him. Several of us wrote to the race organizer to try to get older age categories included their lineup. Resources were minimal and they had very little time to make adjustments. The best they could do would be give us a two minute head start over the young kids, 13-14 boys, and younger boys and girls categories. They also limited us to one 13-mile loop. And, the categories, 70+ and 80+, were dedicated in memory of Tom Hall. That's how I ended up this morning in Oatmeal, Texas.
One other side note: I encouraged my friend, Craig, to enter. He is 75+ and hasn't raced in fifty years, although he is a ride leader for the weekly Trek rides. He and I pre-rode the course last Wednesday so had a pretty good feel for it.
About this morning. There were six riders in the 70+ and just me in the 80+. I think it quite difficult to get excited about driving from all over Texas to do a 13-mile race. Next year they promise it will be more normal. One other note: all of the hills were done in the big ring. At the start I was quickly clipped in and jumped to third and found a wheel to draft. I thought we were doing just fine until two guys passed us. Truthfully, I thought I had the fast guys wheels. As it turned out, with a little back and forth, I just followed the one wheel for eleven miles. Since I wasn't racing anyone in my age group, I didn't feel the need to extend myself too much. As it was, I spent 55% of the race in zone 4 and 37% in HR zone 5, so it wasn't like I was lollygagging.
The race that started before us was hit by a two minute downpour. The race after us probably did several laps in a torrential downpour. I wouldn't know, I was safely sheltered.
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