The annual St. Mary's food bank race is coming up in Flagstaff next weekend and my only preparation for it has been registering for the race. I've fully recovered from the kidney stone incident, and since then have been out on my road bike twice, for a total of 27 miles. That means I have seven days to get back the lungs and legs.
We live at 1300 ft elevation. Its hotter than hell here in Phoenix this time of year, but at least there's oxygen.
Flagstaff is at 7000 ft and the course consists of about 1000 ft of climbing, up to about 8000 ft. It isn't a steep or particularly hard climb, but the elevation lets you know that oxygen deprivation is a real condition. With any luck, the temperatures will be in the 60s and humidity will be low. Otherwise, ... I don't think I want to talk about it.
I'm going to hit the road bike hard starting tomorrow morning and every morning until Friday, when I'll sleep in until 6.
When I've been off the road bike for a while, I struggle to average 15 mph for an hour. To be halfway decent in the race, I need to be at an average speed between 19 and 20 mph. Given the time to train, I may have some trouble achieving that. That means race day could be somewhat worse than last year.
I'm not exactly the sort of rider who will set fire to the course. I ride in the older than 40 beginner class, and expect to be relegated to that status as long as I'm willing to race, since mid- pack is where I'll end up.
The real objective is to finish the course without getting run over by some elite or sport rider. They're a bunch of animals!
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