August 22, 2004, BC Masters Road Race
Cobble Hill, BC   40.3 miles

This was a BC Masters race, where the only categories are for those over 30 years of age and broken up by 5 year age groups. The start times are handicapped for each 10 year age group, 70+ starting first, then 6 minutes and the 60+ start, followed by 5 minutes and the 50+, etc. Thus there is an overall handicap race along with the age group class races. I was in the Masters 50-54 age group race, which had only 3 entries.

Our race was 7 laps around the 5.75 mile course. There were a few mild turns, but the main characteristics were the climbs. There was a mild, but longish climb at about 1 plus miles and then a little more than a mile from the finish, there was a two step climb that was fairly steep. Following this, the course was mostly downhill before taking us to the 400m mark where it starts to rise and continues at the same upwards slope to the finish line. The course was not closed to traffic and there were marshals at all the intersections.

The weather was sunny with temperatures around 70, but became more overcast towards the end of the race. There was a slight tail wind at the finish. I carried two water bottles with some electrolyte supplement to help alleviate my problem with cramps.

My competitors were Murray Drew and Bill Yearwood again, who I had beaten at the Cobble Hill race a month ago. I was surprised that Duane Martindale did not show up as he won the event last year and had won most of the other longer, hilly races this year. So all I needed to do was stay with my class and I should be able to win the sprint. However, it has been approaching the end of the season and I have not been recuperating from my hard training efforts (legs remained tight and felt stressed), so I hoped I had enough stamina remaining for this last race of the season for me. I'm looking forward to a few months of off-season easy training time.

The start got off to a moderate pace and we were down to five riders after the very first climb, the 50-54 riders and a couple from the 55-59 age class, Bob Thompson and John Sullivan. We were all taking good pulls in sequence in our attempt to chase down the older classes ahead of us (and to make it harder for the younger riders from eventually catching us).

On the second lap, we still had not caught the older age classes, but the organization started falling apart. Typically, we would work together to catch the other classes and then start doing our own competition. But already, Bill and Murray were not taking turns, just myself, Bob and John. And when Murray did come through, he pulled through quickly and immediately pulled over, so that the rider behind would gain no benefit from his turn, which more often than I preferred happened to be me. It was still early in the race, so I was not too concerned, but I was perturbed that they were not contributing like the rest of us. As we came to the first climb on the second lap, Bob attacked from behind and Murray went with him. This was just after my effort at the front and I had not expected an attack so early in the race. I did my strongest effort up the climb to try to close the gap, but they still had five lengths on me going over the top. I continued to try join them for the next half mile, but it was two against one and I just didn't have the speed. I had to watch them ride away and possibly the gold medal was gone.

Typically, the younger riders will catch all the rest of us. We still had five and a half laps to go and I didn't want to ride it all by myself. Plus, doing so might wear me out too much so that I could not stay with the younger riders when they joined me, especially on the climbs. Perhaps the larger group of younger riders could assist me to catch those two. I eased my pace a bit, as I could see a lone rider not too far behind. I assumed it was Bill, the other competitor in my class, but it turned out to be John from the older class. He thanked me for waiting for him, however I just didn't want to ride a major portion of the race on my own.

John and I took even turns and would occasionally catch older class riders and eventually lose them on the climbs. John was riding about as strongly as I was. He seemed to have a bit easier time on the first climb and I was more dominant on the steeper climb, but we didn't try to lose each other. As the laps wore on, it wore on us. We were both working pretty hard, but not at max, and wondering when we were going to get caught by the younger riders to give us some time to sit in.

With about two and a half laps to go, we caught up with David Steen (the web master for the BC Masters Cycling web site) from the 60-64 age class. As with the others, we yelled "jump aboard" as we approached and he sat on our wheels as John and I took turns at the front. David stayed with us up the steep climb and even took a short turn at the top of the first hill with one and three quarters of a lap to go. On the sixth time up the steep hill, it felt like someone had jacked up the steepness (we were all getting fatigued). I'd look behind us to see if any of the younger riders were approaching, but we were still in the clear. On we go as best we can.

Finally we had just one lap remaining. I was glad that this was it, because I didn't know if I'd be able to do any more than that. We kept the pressure on, since if the younger riders caught us at this point, we wouldn't get much time to rest by being with them and they'd probably be putting in a strong effort for their finish. Up the first climb and my legs were not feeling right, as if they wanted to start to cramp again. I had already consumed over a liter of my electrolyte concoction and I had slurped back two gels for energy over the course of the race. I let John set the pace for most of the first climb and David again came to the front at the top of the climb! We went around the back stretch and I continued to scan behind us; still clear. Down the hill and through the turn at the base of the final steep climb and I was feeling pretty good. Half way up the climb I can see all the way back to the downhill stretch behind us and it appears that we're going to stay clear of the younger classes. My fellow riders see my scan and ask if we're doing ok and I let them know that we're still clear. I get about three lengths on the other two by the the top, but I don't feel that I need to try to solo the last mile and a half. John and I continue to take turns, but I keep an eye on David as well, because now we are also competing for third in the overall contest, assuming that we've passed all the other older class riders.

Just as we pass the 1 km to go sign, my calves start to twinge with cramps. Great; probably a good thing I wasn't riding at the pace of the leaders. It wasn't hot and I was consuming electrolytes, this wasn't supposed to happen. Since we had enough of a lead on the other classes, I eased my effort a bit, but would continue to occasionally glance behind us just in case. John continued to keep us going, realizing that he had little chance of outsprinting me (and not knowing that I was starting to run into problems). At the 200 meter to go sign, I got out of the saddle and began my sprint, coming around John on his left. I passed him pretty quickly and I just ignored the cramps that were presenting themselves again. I looked back between my legs with 30 meters to go and saw I had several lengths on the other two, so I could just cruise to the finish.

I got the Silver medal for my age group (50-54) and the bronze in the overall. Murray and Bob were about four minutes ahead of us. Bill came in about six minutes later with the 30 age group. John was second in his age group (55-59), behind Bob. David won the gold in the 60-64 class. I don't have any speed statistics as my speed sensor got whacked out of alignment during the drive to the race and I did not adequately check it before starting.

I have no more races on my schedule for 2004. I'll probably be competing again next year and can hopefully build upon this years foundation.

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