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What Richard saw:
Category: Masters 70+
Result: Top ten
Getting up this morning for Pinole was much more civilised than last
week. Garry and I arrived within a couple of minutes of each other with
a bit over an hour to our start - plenty of time to do the necessary
pre-race stuff. I did a couple of hard efforts on the trainer to get the
heart rate up somewhere close to LT. Our plan was simple - we would try
to ride at the limiting LT heart rate, be that Garry's or mine, and then
attempt to kick for home on the return leg.
We got the start with about 4 minutes before we were off, and noticed
the large numbers of the new Morgan Hill team, the Wolf Pack. We were
chasing a pair, and there were two pairs behind us in the Masters 70+
event. We thought we would see our minute men again, but beyond that, I
had very little idea about our competition.
We got the countdown from Barry Orlando and we were off! It wasn't long
before my HR was up close to LT, now to try to keep it there. We caught
our minute men at the first junction which was more of a reflection on
their slow speed, not our high speed.
The course has changed since I did it 2 years ago. It is now a direct
out-and-back run along Pinole Valley Road with the turn, as we
discovered to our pain, at the top of a climb. The climb hurt big time
and seemed to go on for ever.
After the turn we charged down the hill, but the return leg seemed to
have far more uphill than it should, so our progress was slower than we
would have liked. About 2 miles from the finish, I was really beginning
to feel my effort from the climb. We dug deep up the final roller and
then the finish was in sight and it was time for one last effort.
Our official time was 25m39s and was good enough for 7th out of 20 in
the Masters 70+ event. Respectable.
After Mike & Carlos and Jeff & Jason did their rides, we (save for
Jason) rode the Berkeley Hills RR course - it was a wonderful day to be
out on the bike.
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What Mike Z. saw:
Category: 4
Result: 4th
Our 10:25 start time was much warmer than last year when Ziggy and I rode at 8:20. The course was unchanged from last year and includes the 1 mile, 300 foot climb to the base of Pig Farm Hill.
Both Carlos and I needed to pay more attention to our warmup. I was chatting with too many people, especially some random guy asking us about our trainers. I only had one hard effort on the trainer and only for a minute or two. I think Carlos said he didn't have any.
We rolled up to the starting line just behind our 1 minute men, Jeff and Jason, see attached pictures (Photos by Jim Turner). With a few minutes to spare, we went over our battle plans, and then were off. All in all, the race was uneventful. My heart rate popped above 180 within the first minute and stayed there pretty much the entire time. I felt like we had good communication throughout the race, making sure that we were staying together especially up the hill. We turned around somewhere at the 15 minute mark and blasted home for a time of 25:18. That was good enough for 4th place in the Cat 4s. It was a nice effort for late February.
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Pictures
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