I will have to fill in all of the details when they post the official results but I was dissipointed in my racing. I guess my legs were just not recovered from the half marathon last weekend. They felt heavy and tired even as I starated the race.
This was interesting as I had never been in a bike race before. The bikers seem pretty serious about this sport and I wasn't really able to strike up a conversation with anyone except the lady taking the entries. The start was from a raised platform and each rider was released in 30 second intervals based on your estimated speed. I had entered 20 mph but actually expected to average more like 21 mph. The route turned out to be very hilly. At the end of the race I heard several racers talking about how difficult the course was. I would say it is was a little tougher than my typical practice routes around my house but not enough to take so much time off my average speed. Even though my legs were tired I still averaged about 23 mph throughout the first half of the race. At mile 8 I had dropped to 22 mph but at the end of the race, where the real hills were, I dropped to 19.7. Even with that I passed two riders in front of me who had 30 seconds and 1 minute leads on me. I was thinking as I passed them and got close to the finish line that everyone was probably having trouble with the hills.
Anyway, I ended up 4th in my age group (probably 25 entries) so it wasn't too bad. The top rider in my gorup was 20 mph avg. overall.
Psalm 121:1-8
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
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