Monday, August 10, 2009
2009 Paramount Grand Prix Criterium
Paramount Grand Prix Criterium, May 31, 2009: This is the District Masters’ Championships and is put on by Paramount Racing, so I raced it and supported it, working the wheel pit with Mike. Before the race started, John suggested that if I felt good toward the end, say, with 2 laps to go, and if there was an opportunity, I might want to think about going forward to push the pace a bit. I thought to myself: How cool, I’ve got something to do! In the prior crit, the group slowed before the end, then the sprint finish was very crowded, and resulted in a crash, because everyone was so close together at the beginning of the sprint. The venue was Dominguez Hills, a square, 4 sided loop with very mild descent on the 2nd leg, and a very mild climb on the 4th. I hung in the middle/back trying to find the best line around the corners. I found that the inside sometimes resulted in having to use the brakes, due to someone ahead braking, so I preferred being a bit further away from the apex of the turn. At the beginning of the 3rd from last loop, the group slowed considerably, and I found an opening and slowly off the front, expecting to see some others behind me, but no one followed. In short course I was ahead by about 100 meters, and stayed there for the next 2 laps. The good part of this portion of the race was that I had anxiety going around the corners. On the 3rd leg of the last lap, the group rolled by me, and I finished off the back, 22nd of 27. Great day!
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Hi, Dan. I'm not a cyclist, but I have an understanding of that world. I found you via the Badger. I'm new to blogging myself, but loving it. I wanted to say how impressed I am seeing the things you take on at age 50 and 64. It is good to see people of our era remaining so vital! In addition to my blog, in December I will do my first walking marathon. Not ready for the rocking chair on the veranda just yet. Best of everything! The Badger was pleased to see your new blog. He was afraid the woman in pink had taken you hostage.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you, also a new blogger. I picked "The Rest of My Life" as title for the blog because when I turned 60 I commented to a friend that though 40 didn't bother me much, and 50 seemed ok, when I turned 60 I begin thinking seriously about the rest of my life ... how we can make decent use of the time we have left. Let's keep in touch!
ReplyDeleteHey, it's fun watching you experiment with color and layout on the blog! It almost makes me feel like a veteran. I was lucky re: age. At 40 I was a rather new mom, so I felt "young". At 50, I kicked off decades of an unfulfilling life. In a few days my odomoeter will kick off another few hundred thousand miles. I've got a little ways to go to hit 60. But I know this: the me right now is the best me that there ever was. I want to keep exploring it, pushing the envelope, and grabbing everything there is to be had. Pop on over and take a ride on my bus (blog) sometime.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's staying with me between graduating from UC Santa Cruz this June and starting grad school (hopefully) in 2010. I asked her to help with the layout and colors, and she did. It's like when she arrived last week and I bought a DVD player. I dreaded the instruction book about how to hook it up. She just picked up the cords and said "Ah Dad, you just connect white to white, yellow to yellow, etc ... and it worked! That's how she did the layout for my blog!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I agree that life gets better as you get older, so long as the health holds out (knock wood!). I'm not so worried about what others think, I suppose. Yes, I'll give a look at your blog.