Another Age Group

An easy group ride out to the Spillway on Friday after Thanksgiving

When I rode my very first bike race I was a 17 year-old Junior. My brother and I had ridden from home to City Park for one of the NOBC's Novice Races. These were 20-mile races around the Roosevelt Mall / Palm Drive loop that would still be an excellent place for a bike race if they would ever re-pave it. I didn't finish that race because of a piece of Oak branch that got lodged in my derailleur. After that there were many years of racing as a "Senior," which is what we used to call everyone from 18 to 34, at least until McDonald's started offering "Senior Discounts" to people over 50. The old guys were called "Veterans," or just "Vets" for short, and there weren't many of them back then. In 1980 a bunch of us drove non-stop to Bisbee, Arizona for "Senior" Nationals where we mostly got our butts kicked on the 6-mile road course that just went straight up and down a mountain.

Road trip to '84 M-Nats

The next thing I knew it was the summer 1984 and I was squeezed into a van with Candy and our new baby Danielle, and a box of diapers, and Jim Bergin and Stan Truxillo and I think a couple of others and we were on our way to North Carolina for one of the very first "Masters Nationals" where I'd be racing in the 30-34 (or maybe it was 30-39 then?) age group. They called us "pre-mature" Vets.  Pun intended. Candy raced the road race first while I watched the baby, then when she finished I handed Danielle to her, jumped on the bike already overheated, and did my race. Candy made the podium in her TT age group and I was 7th in the road race and Stan made the podium. There wasn't a criterium back then.

USCF Nats Awards '84

Pretty soon the Masters concept kind of solidified at the USCF. They changed how our racing ages were determined, they changed our license numbers, and fairly quickly moved to 5-year age groups and the requirement that one have a Cat. 1, 2 or 3 license for the larger mass-start age groups. By '88 I was back at M-Nats in Pensacola in the 35-39 age group. I think that was the year that Billy Richards won a couple of medals in the incredibly old age group of 60-64.  Next was Augusta, GA in '94 when I finally made the podium in the Criterium in, I think, the 40-44 age group. I might have made the podium in the road race as well but as I came over the big hill 300 meters before the sprint my chain jammed between the freewheel and frame and all I could do was coast across the line as half the field passed me up. Most frustrating finish ever.

In '97 and '98 I went to Tallahassee for M-Nats, by then racing in the 45-49 age group. That was my last trip to Nationals. 3rd in the Crit. Every year since then I just sigh when I renew my license and see my new racing age. With a birthday at the end of November, my racing age is always kind of a year ahead of me. That pill seems to get more bitter every year. Well, despite my best efforts, I had another birthday last week, which means my next racing age will be 65 even though I don't feel more than two days older than 64 at the moment. Racing in an older masters age group race makes me feel very conflicted. On the one hand, the field is usually smaller and somewhat safer, the distances shorter, the speeds slower, and the chance of placing higher, if only due to the basic statistics of random chance. On the other hand, there isn't really a whole lot of fame and glory to be had by beating out five or six other old beat-up guys who get fat in the winter. In a way, I prefer racing in the larger open-ended age groups like 40+ where, even though I might get hammered by the fitter younger masters who are sometimes young enough to be my children, and even though it is entirely possible I'll be dropped like a rock at some point and be left to limp back to the finish line in quiet reflective solitude, at least I might have a chance to really feel like I'm in the mix for a while, however brief it might be.

Nice rotating paceline down Chef Highway for the Giro

Anyway, aside from getting a year older, the long Thanksgiving weekend was pretty nice. A cold front had come through, so mornings were chilly, but I got in a fair amount of riding, even if most of it was in easy mode. On Thanksgiving morning we had a holiday Giro Ride that was pretty nice. Then on Friday I did an NOBC ride out to the Spillway. That one was an intentionally controlled pace but by the next morning I could feel my legs a bit anyway. Saturday and Sunday were back-to-back Giro Rides. After four days of longish rides a lot of the local riders were feeling a little tired by Sunday and I guess that's what kept things so civilized for that ride. I ended the week with 330 miles thanks to the extra two days of longer rides. Next week I guess I'll miss riding both Saturday and Sunday in order to officiate cyclocross up in Jackson MS, so it all kind of balances out in the end, I guess.