Thursday, August 27, 2009

Not so bad after all

The final results are in from last weekend's race and I wasn't dead last. Among all beginner men, I finished 43rd out of 49. In the age appropriate category, I finished 12th out of 16. Probably the most interesting statistic (interisting statistic, isn't that an oxymoron?) was that if I finished 10 minutes faster like last year, I would have had the same place finish in my age group and would have only moved up 1 place overall. Weird.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Well, at least I finished

Somehow, I knew that 17.2 average speed on the road bike wasn't enough. I did finish the race in Flagstaff, but I was a full 10 minutes off my time from last year. And, from the posted results, I finished dead last in the over 40 beginner class. maybe next year.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Trained and as ready as I'll ever be

So I've done all the training I can do before the Absolute Bikes St. Mary's Food Bank race in Flagstaff this weekend. I was hoping beyond hope to be a little stronger than I seem to be. As noted before, my out of shape average speed on my road bike is about 15mph. Last week it was right at 16. I managed to get it up to 17.2 this morning. Tomorrow is a rest day. We're going up to Flag tomorrow afternoon so we can star gaze at Lowell Observatory tomorrow night, then race in the morning. Last year I finished the lap in 1:26:36. Probably won't beat that this time. We'll see.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Racing Next Weekend

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!