| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
8.41 miles
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Altitude Gain:
260 ft
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Avg Speed:
14.12 mph
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Route:
Empire State Senior Games
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 139 bpm
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Avg HR: 113 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Litespeed Vortex Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 81 F S wind @ 5 mph |
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Distance:
3.84 miles
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Altitude Gain:
78 ft
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Avg Speed:
22.43 mph
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Route:
Empire State Senior Games
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 119 bpm
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Avg HR: 104 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Flat
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Bike: Litespeed Vortex Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 84 F S wind @ 5 mph |
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Distance:
6.52 miles
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Altitude Gain:
164 ft
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Avg Speed:
23.04 mph
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Route:
Empire State Senior Games
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 161 bpm
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Avg HR: 149 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Flat
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Bike: Litespeed Vortex Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 86 F S wind @ 5 mph |
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Distance:
11.84 miles
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Altitude Gain:
604 ft
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Avg Speed:
20.86 mph
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Route:
Empire State Senior Games
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 164 bpm
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Avg HR: 140 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Flat
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Bike: custom built Cipollini RB800 Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 94 F S wind @ 5 mph |
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Had three events today starting with a three-mile ITT a six-mile ITT one hour later and a twelve-mile road race in the early afternoon. Contestants were from fifty into the nineties with age groups separated out in five-year chunks. I wasn't feeling terribly confident at the start as my most recent time trial was well below the win, place or show times for the years I could find data on. Was hoping I might rise to the occasion in the heat of competition and thought my best chance of scoring a medal was in the six-mile ITT.
5K ITT Course was an out and back with pretty much false flats starting off into a headwind. Riders were sent off at one-minute intervals. Figured the short course would be pretty much a sprint and started out strong out of the saddle. Got the speed up into the mid-twenties and felt good until the legs started to waver. Thought I would be in good shape if I had covered a mile at speed but checked my computer and my initial push had only lasted point six of a mile. I was a bit discouraged, and wind tore me apart and average speed dropped rapidly. At the turn around that was probably three fifths of the way into the course, I was closing on my minute man. He had a better turn around than I did and lost a few seconds but was able to close and pass him on the backstretch. Ended up finishing at around nine minutes where I would have had to be close to eight minutes to be in the money.
6K ITT Same course as the 3 K except went another one and a half Ks before turning around. Started out a bit slower on this outing and was quite a bit steadier though wasn't really tearing the road up. Felt much better than on the 3K and caught my minute man after about 2Ks. Kept the pressure on and caught my two-minute man at the turnaround. Unfortunately, he was using a dying quail turnaround technique and pretty much blocked me out of a quick turnaround. Ended up having to brake hard and actually had to unclip a foot and drag it going through the turn until he got out of the way. The guy yelled an apology for slowing me up as I tried to get back up to speed. I had downshifted on the rear cassette and my bike actually dropped onto the small front chainring at the same time. Lost a little more time carefully shifting back into the big chainring. Got back up to speed and had a fair return trip but road was empty ahead of me so lacked a carrot to chase. Ended up in fourth place. I don't think I was far out of third but haven't seen official times yet. Felt much stronger than the first run. Really needed a better turnaround and should have pushed a little harder at the start as still had leg left at the end unlike the 3K where I was tapped out.
12K Road Race Every age group and gender group had a mass start for this event. Course was a rectangle that descended for the first third followed by a long upgrade and finishing with some stiff rollers. Plan was to hang on to the strong riders as long as I could as previously records indicated a very brisk pace. It was hot with a temperature of near ninety. There was a moment of silence for the rider that had died on the course last year and then we were off. There was a controlled pace for the first half mile before we were given the green flag. I stayed up near the front for the first couple of miles and was waiting for a jailbreak, but it never came. We were cruising in the mid-twenties and I was anxious for the festivities to begin. Thought a couple of times about taking a flyer off the front as legs were feeling good but continued to set in. Halfway through the course we started heading uphill and got into a paceline with four or five other riders. Took a strong pull on the front and when I pulled off the front of the line and nobody went by. I slowed down before the group finally went by. Hopped on back of the line in about the fifth position and cycled through the line again. After taking my pull the guy behind me rode up and said we had a gap and did I want to fly. Told him I needed a little rest, but he didn't take a pull, so I just kept riding tempo. Nobody went by us through and just fell back into my draft. Ended up picking up the pace and riding a fast tempo on the upslope with occasional accelerations when the grades increased. I was worried I wouldn't be able to match the accelerations of some of the younger riders if they decided to attack and just kept plugging away. Felt good and kept the pressure on through the third and final corners. Ended up pulling at least four of the twelve miles on the front but legs felt great, and I was putting out good watts. Things fell apart on the hill immediately after the fourth turn. I had lost some momentum through the corner and the train of riders behind me swarmed me and I was separated quickly. I looked behind me hoping to have someone to work with to hopefully close the gap with the front pack, but the road behind was completely empty. With only a mile left figured I couldn't catch the boys but on the other hand there was no one behind to catch me. Ended up probably seventh or eighth overall but was able to win the first-place medal for my age group.
I was pretty disappointed overall as had really been focused on the time trials. Turns out that my best time trial was in the road race. After the race the guys in the front winning pack were nice enough to complement my strong ride and lack of racing strategy. Probably would have done better if I hadn't ridden the half century yesterday but had a good time on both days and glad I had spent both days on the bike.
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