Another year, another complaint about racing at Pace Bend. This year was even worse, in that, for a myriad of reasons, I'm nowhere close to race ready. But I dragged my body out there with every intention of just cruising around the course. The Senior Games runs a one-day, four race agenda: 40K and 20K road race and 10K and 5K time trial, in that order. Given my lack of conditioning, I skipped the 40K.
My friends and competitors from Fort Worth, Bob and James, were there. One other racer who can beat me handily had signed up but didn't make the trip. Bob usually beats me in the road race and I take him in the time trials. But last year he was hit by a car and just recently returned to the bike. He and James raced the 40K and Bob wasn't fit enough to continue in the 20 K. After most of the racers had started their fourth and final lap, jumped in to do a warm-up lap to refamiliarize myself with the hills and how the wind would affect the race. Shortly after getting on the road, James came up and we rode together for awhile. When I advised him I was just warming up, he said oh, and moved on ahead. But I kept him in sight and could tell he was struggling on the hills. He was my only competitor in the 20K.
Due to time constraints, all the age groups start together. I lined up close to the front. The first mile and a half was into a fairly stout wind, so I knew the young guys wouldn't be going all out. Another advantage is getting clipped into your pedals quickly. If you miss a rotation you will get passed. I did not and was in the front group, tucked nicely behind a tall rider. I fell behind on the last climb before the turn, but James was somewhere behind. I spent the rest of the race checking my mirrors looking for him. A young guy came past and I latched onto him for awhile. I worked as hard as I could, but my speed wasn't there. I ended up about four minutes slower than other times here. As for James, I found out later that he took the turn too quickly and ran off the road and got some road rash. Gold #1
For the 10K, it was one lap run in the reverse of the road races. I stayed on the road bike because of the hills. Because the races are chip-timed, there was no particular starting order, so I lined up first. Once again, my best today didn't match previous days, and Bob had recovered enough to beat me. James was being attended to at first aid. Silver.
For the 5K, it was an out-and-back with only two climbs so I switched to my TT bike. The reason I wanted to be first in the 10K was it would give me more time to recover before the start of the 5K, in which I lined up last. I was needing much more recovery time than usual. It was also beginning to get hot. I felt like I had enough fluids, but continued to drink. Apparently it wasn't enough.
I was slow off the start, took my time getting into my tuck, and came out of it shortly thereafter. I wasn't going fast, but after a mile or so, my neck started cramping. There was no power in the legs. I finished two minutes slower than my next slowest 5K. I was resigned to silver. BUT, James was even slower. I don't know how, but two minutes slower than me. I don't know how that happened. I didn't talk to him about it. So I ended up with first place.
I am concerned about how I felt in recovering. Unfortunately, I'd left my heart-rate monitor hanging in the laundry room, so have no data on that. Stay tuned.
