Kitsap County, Port Orchard,
Wa 2008-
Masters Championship
This was a great course, smooth roads. 3000 feet and 56 miles of rolling hills and rural. I met Gary Hocking, Eric Jeppesen, Alex Telitsine, and Jim Petersen there. The race started late and Jim had to leave to watch his kids at soccer, without getting on the course. Alex joined the Master's C and us geezers joined the Master's D.
My Garmin showed that we finished in about 2:25 minutes averaging 22.5 mph. Same as Gary's reading. If I did not skillfully round a turn my heartrate would torture me at 190. I thought I would explode, but Gary and I managed to stay in the middle of the group the whole way. I lost sight of Eric, I don't know when.... because I was in my own little world.
We passed Alex unbeknowst to me and I heard Gary shout, "Go Alex", Gary said we just passed him. We passed him again and he told me he dropped his chain and was just doing the loops now. Gary and I would frequently move up past each other, and the other cyclists were composed....anyone could be aggressive, but not squirrely. I was very vocal if need be in a pleasant way with others as they might be with me. I did not feel as vigilante as I would be in a Cat 4/5 race. At the end we were going downhill at 28 to 30 mph followed by a massive sprint uphill to the finish on a 11 to 14% grade which we had passed 3 times before...and I had shifted gears so well before...but the final climb I missed my gear and did not finish as well as I could, it was that quick. Gary, who was only a few feet in front of me finished 17th. The difference of getting your gears right .Last year I said I would not do RR's anymore, following a terrible crash. However, I have come out of my timidness some...being picky about which RR's I will do.
